View all text of Subpart M [§ 26.601 - § 26.619]

§ 26.608 - FFD program training.

(a) FFD program training. (1) Individuals must be trained in the FFD policy and procedure, including fatigue management, and their FFD program responsibilities. Individuals who collect specimens for testing must also be trained in specimen collector duties and responsibilities, including, at a minimum, specimen collection, custody and control, identification and response to subversion attempts, and privacy. For licensees and other entities of commercial nuclear plants, the FFD program training program must use a systems approach to training as defined in § 53.725 of this chapter and described in § 53.830 of this chapter for those individuals in § 26.4.

(2) FFD program training must include training on the behavioral observation program. The behavioral observation program training must include the detection of physiological behaviors or conditions that may indicate—

(i) Possible use, sale, or possession of illegal drugs or illicit drugs, or substance abuse on- or offsite;

(ii) Use or possession of alcohol onsite or use while on duty offsite;

(iii) Impairment from fatigue or any cause that, if left unattended, could result in inattentiveness or human errors; and

(iv) Any individual's inability to safely and competently perform assigned duties and responsibilities or act in a trustworthy and reliable manner while having access to protected areas, SNM, or sensitive information.

(3) Training must explain that an individual's FFD policy violation will—

(i) Subject the individual to an FFD program-required sanction designed to preclude recurrence of an FFD policy violation;

(ii) Contribute to the licensee's or other entity's assessment of whether the individual can be trusted and relied upon to safely and competently perform the assigned duties and responsibilities making the individual subject to this subpart;

(iii) Be used to inform the licensee's or other entity's insider mitigation and access authorization programs under § 73.55, § 73.56, § 73.100, or § 73.120 of this chapter; and

(iv) Be used to inform other NRC licensees and other entities subject to this part when FFD program information is requested to support authorization determinations under subpart C of this part or § 73.56 or § 73.120 of this chapter.

(b) Training and assessments. Training and a trainee assessment must be conducted before pre-access testing, and FFD program refresher training and trainee assessments must be conducted on a nominal 24-month frequency, or more frequently where the need is indicated. Indications of the need for more frequent training include, but are not limited to, an individual's failure to properly implement FFD program procedures and the frequency, nature, or severity of problems discovered through audits or the administration of the program.

(c) Training program review. The licensee or other entity must periodically evaluate its FFD training program and revise it as appropriate to reflect industry experience as well as applicable changes to the regulations in this part, the HHS Guidelines, if used, and specimen collection and testing processes implemented by the licensee or other entity.