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EXCEL is recognized as the premier supplier of licensing, regulatory compliance, and Technical Specifications (TS) services, and has extensive experience in successful negotiation regarding regulatory, operations, engineering, licensing and TS issues. EXCEL’s corporate offices are strategically located near the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to facilitate the most effective and efficient support of Nuclear Regulatory Commission review and approval efforts of any licensing or regulatory issues.

EXCEL’s professionals have experience in providing all facets of TS and Licensing services, including training and knowledge retention programs. EXCEL has had extensive involvement with numerous nuclear utilities specifically in either improving or amending the TSs to support continued operation. EXCEL has detailed knowledge of Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) and Boiling Water Reactor (BWR), Standard TS, Custom TS, Improved Standard Technical Specification (ISTS), regulations, design and licensing bases, and safety analyses. EXCEL believes that this combination of experience and knowledge ensures the development of the best quality product in a cost-effective manner and in accordance with the highest standards of professional excellence.

Service Offerings Include

  • Licensing Support
  • Training
  • Design Basis Retrievability
  • Knowledge Retention Programs
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Licensing
Support

EXCEL’s professionals have experience in providing all facets of TS and Licensing services. EXCEL has had extensive involvement with numerous nuclear utilities specifically in either improving or amending the TSs to support continued operation. EXCEL has detailed knowledge of Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) and Boiling Water Reactor (BWR), Standard TS, Custom TS, Improved Standard Technical Specification (ISTS), regulations, design and licensing bases, and safety analyses. EXCEL believes that this combination of experience and knowledge ensures the development of the best quality product in a cost-effective manner and in accordance with the highest standards of professional excellence.

EXCEL’s professionals have extensive on-site experience at both PWR utilities and BWR utilities in the development of license amendment requests including Notice of Enforcement Discretion (NOED), Emergency TS Changes, Licensee Event Reports (LERs), No Significant Hazard Considerations (NSHCs) and associated technical justifications. EXCEL has a long history of working on UFSAR projects for operating plants and has been extensively involved in supporting UFSAR validation programs in response to the letters issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission regarding 10 CFR 50.54f. This experience with other operating PWRs and BWRs provides a nuclear utility with a unique resource for TS activities.

EXCEL provides commercial reactor licensees with regulatory and technical assistance, such as creation of license amendment requests, Quality Assurance Program changes, design of regulatory staff training programs, design of docketed information retrieval systems, and independent assessment of licensing actions (peer reviews, challenge boards, etc.).

Training

As the commercial nuclear industry’s recognized licensing, compliance, and regulatory experts, EXCEL provides training to U.S. and international clients on topics such as Technical Specifications usage (licensed operators and regulatory staff), performing regulatory research, writing effective license amendment requests, creating an effective regulatory affairs organization, implementing an effective Surveillance Frequency Control Program, 10 CFR Part 52 (new reactors) regulations, risk informed initiatives PRA applications, engineering, and digital instrumentation and controls licensing.

EXCEL conducts training for regulatory staff that are expected to prepare license amendment submittals that utilize risk-informed information and must meet Nuclear Regulatory Commission guidance, including Regulatory Guide 1.174 and 1.177. The training gives regulatory staff the knowledge to incorporate input from other utility organizations, such as the Probabilistic Risk Assessment staff, to ensure the submittal meets all regulatory expectations and will be accepted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for review. The training also provides participants with a working knowledge of PRA technology, terminology, and methods sufficient to understand regulatory guidance and successfully interface with the utility PRA staff to prepare license amendments and evaluate Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspection findings.

Design Basis Retrievability

Design Basis Retrievability requires confirming or verifying all Statements of Fact (SOF) and providing a summary of the references (e.g., FSAR, Calculations, DBD, Design Specifications) for selected Systems’ design basis information in the Technical Specifications (TS), TS Bases, and Technical Requirements Manual (TRM). This initiative provides review, correction, and documentation of verification, and the production of the Reference Summary for the design basis information verified.

Design Basis Retrievability assists nuclear plant operators in consolidating the Design Basis information, calculations, and references for the SOFs in the TS Bases in a readily understandable and retrievable document. This facilitates knowledge transfer and integration. DBR increases the efficiency of performing Design changes, TS and other regulatory changes, and operability determinations. It also facilitates the Reactor Oversight Performance process by providing the ability to expediently retrieve information to respond more readily to inspection challenges by reducing the time to gather the reference material. This translates into saving many man-hours involved in researching and retrieving Design Basis Information.

Knowledge Retention Programs

EXCEL’s knowledge retention program consists of three stages.
  • Stage 1: Focuses on gaining input to ensure proper focus and planning of the knowledge retention program.
  • Stage 2: Focuses on the knowledge acquisition and capture from the highly experienced individuals.
  • Stage 3: Focuses on the transfer of knowledge to individuals and groups in the organization.
More specifically:

In Stage 1, managers will identify the experienced personnel that will be the focus of the evaluation, obtain input from managers, supervisors, and peers about (1) what knowledge and experience the individuals have that they believe is critical to retain, (2) what time frames are available for capturing and transferring knowledge; (3) to whom they want to transfer the knowledge; and (4) how they want to store captured knowledge.

In Stage 2 we execute plans to capture knowledge through (1) interviewing with highly experienced individuals, (2) creating cognitive maps based on taxonomy of critical knowledge developed in Stage 1, and (3) using cognitive maps to revise taxonomies of critical knowledge, plan group knowledge sharing sessions, and (4) planning Individual Knowledge Transfer Action Plans between highly experienced individuals and less experienced individuals.

In Stage 3, we execute plans to transfer knowledge through: (1) storage and accessibility of documentation artifacts, (2) group knowledge sharing sessions, and (3) development and execution of Individual Knowledge Transfer Action Plans.

Clearly, the processes of learning and communication do not neatly fall into three stages and there will be natural overlaps as the project is executed. However, for purposes of planning, the three stages will help guide efforts and ensure that they meet Client needs for knowledge retention.