Items To Note Before Proceeding With An ORR

Thoroughly review the ORR Plan of Action, which, among other things, defines the scope of the ORR and lists the prerequisites for the ORR. The success of the ORR will be enhanced if the POA provides specific detail as to the scope of each core requirement, and defines the prerequisites in sufficient detail. Prerequisites should be specific and define measurable conditions. If the ORR Team Leader is identified prior to final approval of the POA, he or she should be included in the POA review and approval process and should ensure that the POA contains adequate detail to support a successful ORR. The POA should be approved as early as possible in the startup/restart process.

Gain familiarity with the facility and the project programs prior to the start of the ORR. Site access training, facility walkthroughs, and document reviews are essential for team members to gain the necessary familiarity with the project prior to the kickoff of the ORR.

Unescorted and unrestricted access to the facility is essential to effectively complete the review. This will require some investment of time and money in the preparation process. Get agreement, during development of the ORR plans, between the facility contractor and the Department of Energy on the details of the operations that are available for demonstration. Cold runs, partial simulations, and full walkthroughs are options, but an effort must be made to achieve a demonstration as close as possible to actual operations as allowed by the current restrictions of the shutdown.

Obtain and review the documented results of the contractor ORR/RA, including corrective action plans and evidence files documenting corrective action taken. Copies of corrective action documentation need to be readily available to the DOE ORR/RA team. Corrective action closure packages should be prepared in accordance with DOE-STD-3006-2000, Section 5.7.3.

Give consideration to requiring the contractor to deliver a completed set of surveillance procedures and authorization basis documents to the team leader as a prerequisite to the ORR/RA.

Ensure that records, plans, and other documentation requested by the ORR/RA team are readily available, preferably in a central location. A review several days in advance of the ORR/RA should be used to verify that what was requested is really there. In addition, this will reinforce the importance of the information requests by the individual team members.

When compliance is measured against local/contractor instructions, it is important for team members to verify that these local instructions adequately capture the requirements of higher-level documents.

For further information or comments on the ORR web site, please contact James M. Heffner.