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U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200
Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov

No. 98-205

November 10, 1998

STATUS OF NRC OSRE PROGRAM

After a series of internal briefings and discussions, Chairman Shirley Ann Jackson of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) today directed the NRC staff to reinstate its program for Operational Safeguards Response Evaluations (OSREs) at nuclear power plants, effective immediately. The initial focus of the program will be to complete OSREs at the 11 facilities that have not received this evaluation to date. The Chairman stated, further that:

  • The purpose of NRC oversight in this area is to test the actual efficacy of licensee programs relative to NRC regulatory requirements;

  • In parallel with continuing the OSRE program, the NRC would accelerate an ongoing study to determine the proper level of performance testing appropriate to ensure that nuclear power plants can withstand the design basis threat, as defined in NRC security requirements;

  • The NRC staff also would initiate an evaluation of the adequacy of existing NRC regulations in this area; and

  • Results of these studies, as well as the results from past and future OSREs, would be incorporated into the new NRC risk-informed baseline inspection program currently under development.