We have a structure of quals for our shippers that range from excepted qty shippers, LSA equipment shippers, and waste shippers. When you bring in a contractor, they have to demonstrate they can follow your procedures to achieve the correct result. Outside of the normal shipper quals from the vendor, the Technical Grp Mgr is responsible for assessing their ability to follow our procedures and complete a training form that the RPM signs attesting to the person's ability to have the same qual as the utility shipper. I'm sure every utility has a process for equivalency assessments for qualifications and that is the process we use. Our program has you explain why the person's vendor qual and experience are good enough to give them a utility qual. If you and the RPM don't feel good enough to sign it, then you shouldn't sign it. Very clear GO / NO-GO gate. Depending on the experience of the Technical Mgr doing the evaluation, you can get varied results. I considered shipping as a critical qual and made sure I was a qualified shipper to understand how to manage the program and shippers properly. In the end, they should have the same looking quals as your normal utility shipper. When the NRC comes in, they typically look at the names in a shipping pkg and ask to see their quals and they all look the same.
I used to have the vendor shipper explain our shipping procedures to me to demonstrate they knew the content of our procedures, asked them key techno questions about Radman, and had them do a couple of manifests of what we intended to ship. They're not going back through all of the qual stuff for a new person that has never shipped, but I'm verifying this vendor-qualified person can follow my procedures and represent my utility. I'm personally responsible for this person's performance, so I make sure they're as good or better than another acceptable shipper. Even after giving a contractor a qual, you need to review their work before it is used to ensure they are implementing the right standard. There have been multiple issues in the industry where people have come in to ship for Technical Mgrs who didn't understand shipping and the Technical Mgr didn't know the contractor was off track until an external stakeholder pointed it out. Glen Vickers Exelon Corp RP Technical Lead, CHP 815-216-2723 (work/cell) From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2014 7:22 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Powernet: Contractor shipping qualification program SONGS would like to know if your site has a contractor shipping qualification standard you use to screen personnel coming to your site to perform, or assist in the performance, of shipping/packaging RAM? Or, do you rely solely on a QA audit or procurement agreement that addresses qualification? Or, do you simply run the incumbent through an in-house qualification process, normally designed for in-house personnel, to address this? If you have a qualification process specific to on-boarded contractors or an associated qual manual, would you be willing to share your process? Thank you, Jeff Carey General Supervisor of Radiation Protection San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Internal: 949-368-7545 External: 951-440-4250 x87545/86457 Pony mail: SONGS-J72 ----------------------------------- Powernet - a service of the Health Physics Society Power Reactor Section Powernet archives at http://www.mail- archive.com/[email protected]/<mailto:archive.com/[email protected]/> Reply to: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> If Questions, contact Mike Russell, CHP at [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> This e-mail and any attachments are confidential, may contain legal, professional or other privileged information, and are intended solely for the addressee. If you are not the intended recipient, do not use the information in this e-mail in any way, delete this e-mail and notify the sender. -EXCIP
