From June 26 – 28, 2018, The U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) – International Regulatory Development Partnership (IRDP) sponsored a technical training on the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Operation and Maintenance (ASME O&M) Code for Nuclear Power Plants to the Romanian nuclear regulator – the National Commission for Nuclear Activities Control (CNCAN) in Bucharest, Romania. Mr. Mahmoud Jardaneh from NRC participated in the training and provided opening remarks on behalf of the NRC Office of International Programs, and Dr. David Squarer from AdSTM conducted the training. In addition Mr. Jardaneh met with Dr. Rodin Traicu, State Secretary and President of CNCAN, and other CNCAN managers to discuss the NRC’s International Assistance Program.
The ASME O&M Code for Nuclear Power Plants establishes the requirements for preservice and inservice testing, and examination of safety-related components to assess their operational readiness. Compliance with this Code is required of all licensees in the United States as stipulated in Part 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Section 50.55a, Codes and Standards. The course provided participants with an overview of the 2017 edition of the code and the related NRC regulations and regulatory guidance. The workshop focused on the ASME O&M code requirements, which provide assurance that active components such as valves, pumps, and diesel generator systems that are relied on to safely shut down the reactor, maintain it in a safe shutdown condition, and mitigate the consequences of an accident are operationally ready to perform their specified functions. The workshop also included a discussion on the requirements for the preservice and inservice inspection of dynamic restraints (snubbers), condition monitoring of check valves, the differences in the requirements for inservice testing of pumps in plants licensed pre- and post-2000, and the use of a risk-informed approach for inservice testing of components. The workshop was concluded with a discussion of an example licensee’s submittal to the NRC of the required 10-year update to the power plant’s operation and maintenance plan to incorporate the requirements of the latest ASME O&M Code and NRC regulatory guidance.
The workshop was well attended by CNCAN staff and representatives from the Nuclearelectrica, the license holder for Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 and 2.