2013 brought significant change to the nuclear industry. As a trusted compliance partner, Certrec developed a number of new solutions in 2013 to help licensing managers better manage regulatory complexity. ~Ted Enos, Certrec President
Fort Worth, TX (PRWEB) December 12, 2013
Certrec, a leading regulatory compliance and licensing provider for NRC and NERC compliance announced today that the needs of the changing nuclear industry has allowed Certrec to greatly expand its compliance solutions in 2013 for resource-constrained licensing professionals.
“2013 brought significant change to the nuclear power industry,” says Ted Enos, President of Certrec. “Decommissioning of plants increased, new reactor projects were shelved, and the financial viability of older plants is in question. Concurrently, a number of plants had significant performance indicators and cross-cutting issues. As a trusted compliance partner, Certrec developed a number of new solutions in 2013 to help licensing managers cope with these new situations.”
INSPECTION MENTORING
In 2013, many operating plants were challenged by necessary preparations for major inspections due to the loss of skills and tribal knowledge from employee retirement, budget pressures, and resource challenges. Certrec’s Inspection Mentor program was developed to allow nuclear compliance managers to leverage Certrec’s 1,000+ years of applicable operating experience on an as-needed basis across a range of inspection topics and performance indicator issues such as preparing for PI&R, CDBI, and Fire Protection inspections, Manual Chapter 0350 Checklist Closeout, and Reactor Oversight Process Management.
ELECTRONIC READING ROOMS
Certrec’s Electronic Reading Rooms (ERRs /Online Reference Portals) gained strong interest in 2013; rapidly becoming the industry standard for managing documents associated with Nuclear Regulatory Commission reviews. More than one thousand regulatory compliance professionals are now using Certrec’s ERRs to manage documents for review of Fukushima Response, licensing amendments, COLA/DCD preparations, NFPA 805 compliance, Life-of-Plant extensions, and special projects.
UFSAR
In 2013, Certrec also launched an enhanced version of their Updated Final Safety Analysis Report (UFSAR) Management solution. Clients that enjoy Certrec’s UFSAR management service are relieved of the administrative burden of preparing and managing the electronic files and avoid the risks of incorrect electronic submittal formats. Certrec manages the process from Change Notice to submittal.
EXPANDED REGULATORY COVERAGE
Daily client updates were expanded to include coverage of Congressional hearings, legislation, and correspondence between NRC and members of Congress. Certrec retained a specialist that follows Congressional activity related to nuclear power so that busy compliance managers can quickly know of critical issues and Congressional actions that may affect them.
ISO 27001:2005 CERTIFICATION
In 2013, Certrec obtained and will maintain ISO 27001 certification through on-going third-party audits and verification. ISO 27001 is an internationally recognized standard encompassing a suite of best practices through which an organization identifies, analyzes, and addresses its business risks including cyber and physical security. The ISO certification ensures that the security of Certrec clients’ data and information has been addressed, implemented, and properly controlled in all areas of Certrec’s organization.
“Licensing and Compliance professionals need better tools to keep up with an industry coping with this much change,” notes Enos. “Our new solutions have proven to free up constrained licensing resources by 30% or more, help managers better manage regulatory complexity, and have the assurance that their compliance data is protected by comprehensive information security controls and risk management practices,” says Enos.
CERTREC
Founded in 1988, Certrec is regulatory compliance service provider with more than 1,000 cumulative years of energy industry experience helping clients manage the regulatory process to their advantage.
Certrec's Office of Licensing and Compliance (OLC), Office of Assessment and Recovery (OAR), Office of NERC Compliance (ONC), and Office of New Plant (ONP) solutions are used by nuclear, fossil, and wind utilities and Registered Entities across the United States when complying with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) licensing and compliance standards.
Certrec is ISO 27001 certified, ensuring that its regulatory compliance web-tools and facilities comply with an internationally recognized standard of best practices regarding business, cyber and physical security and control.