Results of cost-beneficial licensing actions programs

Journal Article · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society

OSTI ID:186624

Sokolsky, D ^[1]; Ross, A M

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1. Pacific Gas & Electric Company, San Fransico, CA (United States)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) formally established the cost-beneficial licensing action (CBLA) initiative in April 1993. This initiative provides an opportunity for nuclear plant licensees to reduce costs through either relief from regulatory requirements or changes in their commitments that are marginal to plant safety. The NRC recognized that licensees may have {open_quotes}overcommitted{close_quotes} to meet regulatory requirements and that revisions to these commitments Could result in cost savings. The NRC has defined CBLA as those licensee actions that are of relatively high cost and low safety significance. Since the CBLA initiative was established, licensees have made - 150 CBLA requests to the NRC. However, before and after the CBLA initiative became effective, licensees had made hundreds of regulatory reduction and commitment change requests to the NRC that were not identified as CBLA. The CBLAs discussed in this paper include both types of requests. Two types of cost savings can result from CBLAs - direct and averted. Direct cost savings result in an immediate cost reduction from the {open_quotes}bottom line{close_quotes} as a result of the elimination of personnel or equipment. Averted cost savings, commonly known as resource reallocation, occur when a licensee action that takes up a small percentage of an employee`s time is eliminated. In this instance, the employee would not be terminated, so no direct cost savings result, but that employee is available to perform other, more safety-significant actions.

• OSTI ID: 186624
• Report Number(s): CONF-950601--
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. 72; ISSN 0003-018X; ISSN TANSAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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