2.1.1 THE APPLICATION OF SYSTEMS ENGINEERING TECHNIQUES IN A REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT: NRC HIGH‐LEVEL WASTE REGULATORY PROGRAM

Abstract

AbstractThe Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and its Federally Funded Research and Development Center, the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses (CNWRA) are streamlining the NRC high‐level radioactive waste (HLW) regulatory program by applying systems engineering (SE) techniques. This effort is partially in response to a statutory mandate requiring a licensing decision for construction of a geologic repository for HLW within three years after license application submission. The tailored use of SE presented herein has evolved from experience gained attempting to apply classical SE techniques to evaluating regulatory compliance. This compliance evaluation is made against the criterion of “reasonable assurance.” The resulting subjectivity prevents a clear definition of a requirements hierarchy and development of specifications. Efforts have been made to streamline the HLW program in the following areas: (i) definition of a regulatory structure for program execution, (ii) provision of regulatory guidance to the license applicant, (iii) provision of guidance to the NRC staff in the form of compliance determination strategies and methods, and (iv) establishment of criteria to support prioritization of technical and regulatory work.