Projects Aren’t done until their done.
The Fukushima disaster caused the NRC to issue orders, which spawned NEI guidance documents, which spawned FAQs, which spawned meetings with the NRC and so on. As time went on over the past several years, the NRC and industry really refined what the new requirements were supposed to look like. In the process though, it spawned hundreds of requirements.
So How Do You Keep Track of All of This?
At XCEED, we developed a tool to track all of this. We call it the Compliance Matrix. It’s not a new idea, but they way we used it is somewhat different.
We took the requirements from all of the NRC orders, guidance documents, FAQs, and other miscellaneous letters and we put them in an access database. All of the requirements were back linked to their source so it was all easily traceable.
For each requirement, we explained how the site achieved compliance. We linked reference documents and equipment so future users could trace the basis for compliance.
The real purpose of doing this initially was simply to get a better understanding of the project requirements. The first project we worked on was over $30 Million, and missing a requirement could cause a huge impact to the project.
Unintended Results
By having the compliance matrix, we could really refine the design of the project. Overall, we saved the first utility over $8M in modification cost. It was all because we thoroughly understood the requirements of the project.
When everything was done, the NRC had to inspect sites for compliance with all of their requirements. It was simple for us, because we already had all of the NRCs requirements documented, and for each one, we had described how compliance was achieved, including references.
We’ve had the opportunity to share the compliance matrix process (For Fukushima) with seven nuclear sites across the country, preparing them for their NRC inspections. If you’d like more information, please give us a call. We’d be happy to share our experience with you.
