Inside NIRMA Summer 2021

Issue # 11, Summer 2021 

Inside 

Leading the way in Nuclear Information and Records Management 

magazine 

Visit us at: NIRMA.org 

NIRMA’s 45th Conference 

Remembering the Past, Celebrating the 

Present, Enthusiastic about the Future! 

NIRMA Conference Keynote Speakers 

Overcome Microfiche Challenges, nextScan 

Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning Are 

Changing the Face of Document Digitization, iBridge 

Visual Navigation, Integrated Scanning of America/ISAUSA 

NIRMA: The Beginning - How NIRMA Came to Be, KISMET 

Consulting, Inc.

Contents 

Summer 2021 

5 

7 

9 

12 

Overcome Microfiche Challenges 

By Matt Anderson, Vice President of Marketing, nextScan 

NIRMA Conference Keynote Speakers 

Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning Are Changing the Face 

of Document Digitization 

By Desh Urs, CEO and President, iBridge LLC 

Visual Navigation 

By Manual Bulwa, Integrated Scanning of America/ISAUSA 

14 

NIRMA: The Beginning: A How NIRMA Came to Be 

By Eugene Yang, KISMET Consulting, Inc. 

16 

18 

20 

21 

22 

26 

27 

Lifetime Member Profile: Meet Cheri Susner, CRM/NS 

From the CRM: It’s Time to Take Your Career to the Next Level 

By Rick Surber, CRM, IGP 

Working in New Ways with Robotic Process Automation 

By Bob Larrivee, NIRMA’s Director of Technical Programs 

ICRM Exam Prep Workshop Series Registration Summary 

Chronicles of NIM: A Retrospective on Information Management in Nuclear Power 

By Eugene Yang, KISMET Consulting, Inc. 

NRC’s Implementation Plan to Comply with M-19-21 

By Margie Janney, CRM/NS/FED 

On Becoming a Leader 

By Lou Rofrano, PDBU Co-Director 

2 Summer 2021 NIRMA.org Inside NIRMA

CONTENTS 

Summer 2021 

in every issue 

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE—28 

FROM THE VICE-PRESIDENT—29 

TREASURER REPORT—29 

PDBU NEWS—30 

RIMBU NEWS—31 

M&MBU NEWS—32 

INDUSTRY NEWS—34 

Letter from the Editors 

We at Inside NIRMA, value your opinion and are 

always looking to improve our magazine. Let us 

know what you like and dislike and what you’d 

like to see more of. Share your thoughts with our 

Communication Team at 

DevereauxInc@outlook.com. 

If you haven’t already done so, please take a 

moment to follow us on Twitter and Instagram, 

like us on Facebook and connect with us on 

LinkedIn. 

Thanks for reading. Please keep in touch! 

Neal and Sandra Miller 

Editors 

Editors 

Neal and Sandra Miller 

DevereauxInc@outlook.com 

Advertising 

Neal.F.Miller@gmail.com 

NIRMA Headquarters 

Sarah Perkins 

NIRMA Administrator 

245 Sunnyridge Ave., #41 

Fairfield, CT 06824 

nirma@nirma.org 

In addition to our own 

articles, Inside NIRMA 

publishes guest articles from 

agencies and vendors. Please 

be advised that the views and 

opinions expressed in these 

articles are those of the 

authors and do not 

necessarily reflect the 

opinions of NIRMA or its 

Board of Directors. 

Back to Content | Inside NIRMA NIRMA.org Summer 2021 3

Overcome Microfiche 

W 

Challenges 

By Matt Anderson, 

Vice President of Marketing, nextScan 

hile fiche is an excellent 

medium for long term 

storage of documents and 

files, retrieving the 

contained information can be 

challenging. Beyond the difficult 

nature of the medium, the three 

unique challenges microfiche 

presents include the condition of 

the microfiche, how the documents 

were filmed onto the microfiche, 

and how the files should be sorted. 

In addition, conversion should 

provide assurance that all the 

information was 

captured. nextScan approaches 

these challenges head-on delivering 

the fastest and smoothest 

microfiche conversion solution. 

Is All Microfiche Flat? 

Since microfiche is a flat sheet, 

it is very stackable and made for 

simple storage. In perfect 

condition, a stack of microfiche 

should be able to be loaded and 

scanned automatically. We have 

experienced instances that a group 

of microfiche will be combined, 

with a paperclip or with a rubber 

band, to keep them together. Over 

months, years, and possibly 

decades, the tightness of being held 

together will warp the microfiche. 

Now, instead of neat, flat pieces of 

microfiche, you have microfiche 

that may curve from the middle to 

the edges or be wrinkled in some 

areas. This may require individual 

attention and is not ideal for a 

quick conversion project. 

Imperfections with fiche must 

be addressed before being able to 

properly convert the microfiche to 

a digital format. To keep 

microfiche in place, it is placed 

between two pieces of glass. One 

effective solution that nextScan 

employs is to use a heavy piece of 

Continued on next page. 


Continued from previous page. 

glass to hold the microfiche in 

place. This will ensure the media is 

as flat as possible as it is being 

scanned. When converting, make 

sure your scanner can handle the 

condition of your microfiche. 

Microfiche Irregularities 

Microfiche created today uses a 

machine called an archive writer. 

This machine essentially takes a 

picture of an open digital file and 

records it onto the piece of 

exposed film. The microfiche is 

then processed using chemicals to 

create the visible image on the film. 

With so many variables, if one is 

not performed properly there is a 

chance the produced images could 

be in poor quality. Special highdefinition 

scanners will be required 

to bring the lost information back 

to life. 

Another issue a microfiche user 

may experience is if the files were 

not filmed straight, or the images 

are skewed on the microfiche. This 

happens when the microfilmer 

does not line up the documents 

correctly. nextScan’s software 

automatically recognizes the image 

as being crooked and automatically 

straightens the image. 

Microfilm Archive 

Orderliness 

One aspect often overlooked in the 

microfilm conversion process is 

refiling the documents to their 

original position in the archive. 

Many times, these files are in 

sequential order or filed by date. 

nextScan’s autoloader on the 

FlexScan has been designed to hold 

hundreds of microfiche, 

automatically move the microfiche 

to the scanning area, scan the entire 

document, and move the 

microfiche to a holding tray. Not 

only does this recreate the same 

stack of microfiche from where it 

started, but it also frees up the 

operator for other tasks. 

Line Scanning Technology 

Finally, the only suitable way to 

guarantee a 100% capture rate is 

with a line scanner used in all 

nextScan equipment. Cameras and 

imaging systems utilize different 

techniques and components for 

capturing images. Two common 

methods for capture are line scan 

and area scan. Line scanning 

technology is best applied to large, 

high-resolution and/or high-speed 

capture, such as high-speed 

microfiche conversion. This 

technology allows for movement 

of the media during the continuous 

capture process, guaranteeing a full 

digital copy. Comparatively, the 

area scan method relies on the 

software to determine each frame, 

move to position, stop to capture, 

and find the next frame. Not only 

is that a longer process, but it does 

not guarantee full capture of the 

microfiche. 

Your archives hold some of the 

most important documents. Many 

may have been there for decades. 

Make sure to use a system designed 

to meet the challenges of scanning 

microfiche. Whether the media is 

flat, curved, skewed, straight, 

ordered or not, your scanner 

should create an exact digital 

replica of your documents. Don’t 

leave your conversion project to 

chance. 

nextScan manufactures a wide 

range of scanners designed for the 

high-speed conversion of 

microfilm, microfiche, and aperture 

cards. For more information on 

our microfilm conversion scanners, 

call us at 208-514-4000 or email us 

at sales@nextScan.com. 

Register for the 

45th Annual NIRMA 

Conference Today. 


NIRMA 2021 CONFERENCE 

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS 

David Nelson 

currently serves as 

the Chief 

Information Officer 

(CIO) and Chief 

Data Officer 

(CDO) of the 

Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission 

(NRC). Mr. Nelson 

was selected for this 

role in 2016 to 

oversee the NRC’s 

information 

technology/ 

information 

management (IT/IM) portfolio, including those IT 

systems supporting nuclear reactor safety and nuclear 

materials and waste safety. In addition to the IT/IM 

portfolio, Mr. Nelson is responsible for the NRC’s 

information resource management, enterprise 

architecture program, cybersecurity program, 

information and records management program, 

information collection program, and the agency’s 

implementation of the Freedom of Information Act and 

the Federal Privacy Act of 1974. 

Mr. Nelson previously held several executive roles at 

the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), 

including CIO and Director, Office of Enterprise 

Information; Director, Office of Information Services; 

Director, Office of Enterprise Management; and 

Director, Data Analytics and Control Group for the 

Center for Program Integrity. Mr. Nelson’s office 

managed the CMS’s $2.6 billion IT portfolio, including 

the complex ecosystem of applications and trusted data 

exchanges supporting Healthcare.gov, the Medicare 

claims processing system, and the Medicaid support and 

quality reporting systems. Mr. Nelson joined CMS in 

2004 as the Director, Division of Call Center Systems, 

Office of External Affairs and Beneficiary Services, and 

was charged with improving access to information for 

40 million Medicare beneficiaries. 

Before joining CMS, Mr. Nelson served in a variety 

of challenging private sector leadership roles, including 

co-founder of two broadband development companies 

that provided access to underserved markets in the 

United States. Mr. Nelson also served in executive 

operations roles both in the United States and abroad 

for several leading IT development and 

telecommunications companies, and as Vice President 

of Operations for a telecommunications firm where he 

managed the commissioning of several hundred satellite 

earth stations in 50 countries across Europe, Latin 

America, and the United States. 

Whitney McCollum 

is the Vice President, 

Assistant General 

Counsel for Data 

Protection & 

Technology at 

AECOM, a Fortune 

500 company that 

designs, builds, 

finances and operates 

infrastructure assets 

for governments, 

businesses and 

organizations. With 

offices in over 100 

countries, Whitney is 

responsible for AECOM’s global privacy compliance 

program, and works with AECOM’s Information 

Security and Technology, legal, HR, compliance, and 

business teams worldwide on mitigating privacy risk. As 

AECOM’s technology counsel, Whitney partners with 

business teams globally to protect AECOM’s intellectual 

property. Whitney is based in Washington state and is 

an alum of the IP litigation teams at Morrison Foerster 

and O’Melveny & Myers, is CIPP/US certified and a 

member of the U.S. Patent Bar. 


Are You Still Just 

Scanning Media? 

Artificial Intelligence not only enhances digital 

conversion… 

It is the POWER TO TRANSFORM! 

Sentiment 

Analysis 

Thematic 

Modeling 

Syntactic or 

Structural 

Matching 

Intelligent 

Document 

Processing 

Text 

Segmentation 

Relationship 

Analysis 

Topic Discovery 

For more details go to 

www.ibridgellc.com/IDP 

Information 

Extraction 

www.ibridgellc.com

By Desh Urs, CEO & 

President, iBridge LLC 

Natural Language Processing and Machine 

Learning Are Changing the Face of 

Document Digitization 

T 

he operational flexibility 

that business process 

outsourcing (BPO) offers 

has long been a key growth 

driver for enterprises. Document 

Digitalization has helped accelerate 

this growth, and emerging 

technologies are pushing it even 

further. 

At its core, BPO has been a 

mechanism for improving cost 

efficiency. Enterprises face a 

complex landscape of client 

requirements, changing 

methodologies, and regulatory 

mandates. External partners provide 

the necessary expertise and 

experience to cost efficiently close 

operational gaps. 

How Do Enterprises 

Utilize BPO? 

BPO vendors add value by 

supplying external resources to 

complete mission critical tasks for 

the organization. When enterprises 

outsource business processes that 

are outside their core value, they 

earn the ability to dedicate valuable 

time and resources towards highimpact 

strategic initiatives. 

Some of the most commonly 

outsourced business processes 

include: 

• Document Digitalization – 68% 

of enterprises outsource their 

document, film and fiche 

digitalization, indexing and image 

enhancements. 

• Accounting – 37% of enterprises 

outsource accounting processes to 

specialty firms. 

• IT services – 37% of enterprises 

outsource IT services to managed 

service providers. 

• Digital marketing – 34% of 

organizations outsource their 

digital marketing processes to 

agencies. 

• Lead generation – 28% of 

companies outsource lead 

generation to cut costs. 

• Customer service – 24% of 

organizations believe outsourcing 

customer service gives them 

enough time to focus on higherimpact 

processes. 

Outsourcing to Optimization 

Emerging technologies like natural 

language processing, artificial 

intelligence, robot process 

automation (RPA) and cloud 

integration are rapidly changing the 

traditional cost-arbitrage thinking 

that has historically defined BPO. 

Vendors that invest in these 

technologies are not only able to be 




more cost effective than internal resources, but these 

elements also transform BPO to return optimization 

benefits. Thus, making their role even more important 

to operational success. 

Emerging Technologies and Their Impact on 

Document Digitalization 

That is why enterprises of all sizes are turning towards 

vendors that deploy emerging technologies that 

automate the time-consuming manual tasks. Natural 

language processing, artificial intelligence, and machine 

learning have demonstrated powerful efficiencies in 

completing a variety of document conversion functions. 

Natural Language Processing 

Natural language processing (NLP) is a type of 

artificial intelligence that allows computers to read and 

identify key words, phases, document context, and 

topographic map symbols and fashion thematic 

understanding. 

NLP delivers a cost-efficient way to automatically 

filter and categorize large volumes of content. 

NLP algorithms are also behind many other useful and 

innovative technologies. These include voice-activated 

personal assistants, real-time translation tools, and email 

spam filters. 

Artificial Intelligence 

Artificial intelligence (AI) in digital conversion is a 

broad collection of emerging technologies designed to 

handle large quantities of unstructured data quickly and 

accurately. It achieves this using computational 

techniques designed to mimic the way the human brain 

processes data through structures called neural 

networks. 

One of the transformative technologies artificial 

intelligence enables is optical character recognition. 

Allowing computers to recognize document text and 

formatting makes a significant amount of costly and 

time-consuming data entry work redundant. Data can be 

indexed and accessible the moment an employee 

introduces it into the system. 

The ability to interpret large quantities of unstructured 

data is key to enabling next-generation document 

control processes. Instead of painstakingly entering data 

into a database manually, artificially intelligent data 

repositories can index scanned document images directly 

– with no need for file format conversion. 

The practical benefit of this approach is minimaltouch, 

straight-through processing. Any process that 

relies heavily on manual, high-touch processes is a 

potential candidate for AI-powered restructuring. 

Higher impact operational benefits are achievable 

through AI as well. Artificially intelligent support 

systems can cost-effectively read through years of 

complex documents, land records, and contracts and 

store them digitally for ready access. 

Machine Learning 

Machine learning (ML) is a subset of AI that focuses 

on teaching computers to process data without giving 

them explicit instructions on how to do so. Machine 

learning systems can interpret data without relying on 

human intervention influencing the results. 

Basic optical character recognition (OCR) systems are 

unable to decipher the location of text in icons or 

symbols. Digitizing intricate paper documents, 

especially land maps and blueprints, which often contain 

numerous geometrical figures, complicates the 

recognition of the text. 

An ML-based system first identifies the objects, icons 

or symbols and inherently searches for the text within 

these objects. A ML-based workflow prevents the OCR 

system from overlooking potentially important 

information. 

Machine learning enables AI equipped vendors to 

automate analytics processes that traditionally come with 

steep learning curves and operating costs. 


Optimize Business Processes with Tech-Enabled 

Outsourcing 

It’s important for executives and leaders to 

understand that these new outsourced technologies do 

more than digitize documents. They enable your 

employees to maximize their productivity by focusing 

on the tasks that only humans can do. 

This puts greater value on the human element of the 

process itself – whether it’s helping a customer solve a 

technical problem, processing an insurance claim, or 

identifying a malware attack. In each case, tech-enabled 

business process outsourcing vendors make it possible 

for enterprises to emphasize the value their employees 

generate. 

Deploying automated solutions to high-volume, lowimpact 

processes is key to achieving best-in-class 

workflow efficiency throughout the enterprise. 

Records managers and administrators who look for 

vendors that incorporate these technologies into their 

organizations will enable smarter decision-making and 

more flexible leadership. 

Business process outsourcing vendors that 

implement emerging technologies can facilitate this by 

making process efficiency their core value. 

For an enterprise, whose core value may not include 

emerging technologies, it’s a strategy that prioritizes 

efficiency, flexibility, and agility. 

About iBridge: 

iBridge Is a Digital Transformation Company. We help 

NIRMA members, manage, and analyze their data to create 

meaningful operational control and improved profitability. For 

more than a decade, iBridge has successfully distilled complex 

information into actionable results. 

www.ibridgellc.com 

“It is my pleasure to introduce to you our new digitalization 

Solutions Account Executive, Suzanne King. Suzanne is based in 

Atlanta and brings a decade of digitalization experience to iBridge.” 

Desh Urs, CEO and President, iBridge LLC. 

Suzanne’s contact information: 

Direct: 503.906.2596 

Email: Suzanne.king@ibridgellc.com 


By Manuel Bulwa, Integrated Scanning of America 

www.isausa.com 

m 

ost DMS products provide search capabilities 

based on a combination of structured index 

fields and full text search (FTS). Structured 

indexing and full text search are two legs 

supporting the proverbial search stool, so we need to 

add a third leg: Visual Navigation (VN). Visual 

Navigation allows users to refine their search looking at 

folder tree structures, bookmarks and thumbnails. 

These visual entities convey valuable information and 

are captured from covers, folders, staples, clips, divider 

tabs, barcoded target sheets, envelopes, microfilm blips, 

email attachments, title blocks, headers, footers, logos, 

etc. 

Visual Navigation markers are small raster images 

that can be captured automatically or with the mouse, 

drawing rectangles around divider tabs, title blocks, 

headings, dividers, etc. 

In the example below, visual markers were captured 

through mouse rectangles, barcoded sheets on stapled 

or clipped pages and automated capture of text 

headings. As you navigate through the multiple pages of 

a document, the corresponding visual marker will be 

highlighted in blue (left pane). Conversely, if you click 

on a visual marker, the first page pointed at by that 

marker will become visible (top right, blurred to protect 

confidentiality), showing any highlighted keywords used 

in the full text search (green box, bottom right): 

Visual marker images are also snippets that can be 

distributed to remote (even off-shore) data entry 

operators, volunteers and interns, making human 

capture more efficient and less costly. 

Besides paper documents and books, visual 

navigation proves very helpful in other areas. Examples: 

Smart video inventorying: used to reduce costs and 

liabilities creating a manifest/inventory of a collection: 

An operator wearing smart glasses (shown above) 

captures (hands-free) a video of the contents of a box 

or drawer. Using his/her hands, the operator simply 

makes sure that every label is exposed for a fraction of a 

second before exposing the next label or tab. A typical 

box or drawer can be captured in two to four minutes, 

depending on how packed the folders are, their 

orientation and their location. 

A legible still frame is extracted via software off the 

video for each label. Using Binary Search (a 

combination of automation and visual navigation that 

relies on responding to Yes/No or Lower/Higher 

questions) a user can locate any of 2 n records with zero 

indexing cost in less than n clicks. For example, a 

collection of over 30,000 documents would require less 

than 15 clicks to locate any document or to determine 

that it does not exist. 

See also: https://youtu.be/9TltKt5HGi0 

COM Fiche: Every 

fiche sheet has a title 

block that is visible as 

pdf file names that can 

be navigated visually 

and/or through windows 

search. Double 

clicking on a named 

PDF file will show all 


An improved variation of this method is based on 

defining “hot spots” in the fiche index frame, so clicking 

on a coordinate will link straight to the image without 

having to use the bookmarks. 

frames in that fiche sheet. The last frame of a sheet 

(“fiche index frame”) contains the coordinates of the 

row and column that will show the starting frame of the 

document sought. All you need to do now is to click on 

the bookmark matching that coordinate and visually 

navigate the document frames: 

This makes possible the finding of records: 

• without the cost of keying in certain title 

block data fields ... 

• without the risk of keying or recognition 

errors and the cost of subject matter 

expertise to decide which ones to 

capture. 

• adding the convenience of improvising 

selection criteria on-the-fly ….. 

Large Format Drawings and Maps: A drawing set 

typically includes one or more sheets. After a quick 

search, the few sheets of the selected set can be visually 

navigated through a small number of images of the title 

blocks (bottom right). This makes possible the finding 

of records: 

• without the cost of keying in certain title block data 

fields such as sheet number, revision number, 

section, task, etc. 

• without the risk of keying or recognition errors and 

the cost of subject matter expertise to decide which 

ones to capture. 

• adding the convenience of improvising selection 

criteria on-the-fly by seeing stamps, signatures, 

handwritten annotations, logos, etc. 

Microfilm Rolls: If the filming is blipped and that a 

catalog or manifest exists naming each blip, then the 

entire roll could be contained in a bookmarked PDF 

file. The bookmarks can be navigated visually and/or via 

text search. Producing separate smaller PDF files per 

bookmark is not recommended, as blips are known to 

be less than perfect, so document frames may extend 

beyond a blip. 

In summary, visual navigation provides the third leg 

needed to stabilize the search stool. It can also save 

money, defer costs, reduce errors and facilitate 

progressive indexing as dictated by use and practical 

experience. 


NIRMA: The Beginning 

I 

t’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s SUPERMAN! 

Those stirring words announced the arrival of a 

superhero who fought for truth, justice, and the 

American Way. But, in the beginning… 

On the far-off world of Krypton, its destruction 

imminent, a scientist and his wife place their infant son, 

Kal-El, in a small spacecraft and send him to Earth. 

The spacecraft plows into a farm field upon arrival and 

is discovered by an older couple named Kent. They 

adopt Kal-El and name him Clark. They (and 

eventually the people on Earth) discover that Clark has 

superhuman abilities, such as the ability to fly, 

incredible strength, and x-ray vision. Clark, aka 

Superman, then strives to fight crime and protect Planet 

Earth. 

I just love origin stories. They set a historical 

context for a person, place, or thing. They provide 

insight into the whys and fundamental motivations for 

what we see today. Typically, from humble beginnings 

(Apple started in a garage, HP started in a garage, 

grunge rock started in a garage…wait, what’s with 

garages?), brands and companies emerged that grew 

into multi-billion-dollar behemoths. 

Here’s an origin story you probably haven’t heard 

much about, and it’s “how NIRMA came to be…” 

REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT 

BACKDROP 

Back in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, nuclear energy 

was being embraced wholeheartedly by electric utilities 

as cost-effective for putting electric power on the grid; 

this surge is known as the Great Nuclear Bandwagon 

Era. In June 1970, the Atomic Energy Commission 

(AEC) issued 10 CFR 50, Appendix B, “Quality 

Assurance Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants and Fuel 

Reprocessing Plants”. The Commission then issued 

Regulatory Guide 1.28, that endorsed the implementing 

By Eugene Y. Yang, 

Principal Consultant 

KISMET Consulting, Inc. 

ANSI nuclear standard, N45.2-1971. However, the 

guidance was deemed not sufficient to answer the 

“how” to implement a QA program, let alone 

implement a records management program to address 

Criterion XVII. In 1974, ANSI published ANSI 

N45.2.9-1974, establishing a standard on the collection 

and storage of quality assurance records; the AEC 

endorses this standard through Regulatory Guide 1.88. 

Finally, in 1975, the creation of the Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission is finalized. It is from this regulatory 

environment that the Association emerges. 

RECORDS MANAGERS, UNITE! 

In 1976, a call was put out to the industry (utilities, 

A/E’s, NSSS vendors, services consultants, etc.) to 1) 

gain further understanding of the ANSI Standard’s 

requirements, and 2) provide a forum to share 

implementation lessons learned and methods. The 

common need was to find solutions for maximizing the 

value of the flood of information, while bringing a 

sense of order and cost effectiveness. This initial adhoc 

meeting was held in Miami, FL, attended by 135 

charter members. 

The general consensus from this meeting was that 

a) the information presented was of high value to the 

industry, b) another meeting (and subsequent meetings) 

need to occur, and c) the industry needs standards and 

guidance in the methods for managing documents and 

records. To that end, in 1977, a Steering Committee 

was formed; from this committee, the Nuclear Records 

Management Association (NRMA) was incorporated in 

1978. 

NRMA Logo, circa 1978 


THE EARLY YEARS 

NRMA was challenged from the beginning on 

several fronts. First, the Association needed to get 

organized, with mission and purpose, and codified into 

bylaws. Second, the Association needed to be on the 

forefront on anticipating and reviewing proposed rule 

changes from the NRC – and providing feedback. 

Third, the Association wanted to continue to meet 

annually, providing a venue where lessons learned, new 

methods, and the use of emergent computer 

technologies could be presented and discussed. Finally, 

to be in a position to provide guidance for standardizing 

methods, committees needed to be formed to carve out 

specific areas of work. 

Then, the Three Mile Island event occurred. 

Though the Association’s overall mission and purpose 

didn’t change, many members saw dramatic changes 

occur at their plants in accountability and traceability 

rigor, and the accessibility and availability of records 

when needed. As the political aftermath wended its way 

through the general population and Congress, rule 

changes were coming fast and furious, many of which 

were deemed burdensome to the utilities. NRMA 

established a liaison with the Office of Management and 

Budget to provide input and feedback on these issues; 

interestingly enough, many of the proposed rule changes 

never saw the light of day. 

The big issues back then were a) how to overcome 

the huge volume of paper flooding the workplace and 

vaults; b) configuration management issues like drawing 

updates and accuracy; c) records retention schedules; d) 

the processing and use of microfilm, and e) anticipating 

issues concerning plant life extension and plant 

decommissioning. 

industry. Others felt that the Association needed to 

expand its vision; the rapid increase and use of 

computer technologies was beginning to blur lines on 

“what’s data”, “what’s a record”, as well as the promise 

of establishing integrated suites of plant management 

applications. In 1985, the vote was taken, and the 

Association changed its name to the Nuclear 

Information and Records Management Association 

(NIRMA). 

NIRMA Logo, circa 1985 

YET, ANOTHER BEGINNING… 

And, in 1986, a certain young engineer resigned his 

job with a southern utility, where he was part of the IT 

staff that supported plant applications for that utility’s 

nuclear plants. He went to work at a consulting 

engineering firm out of Boston, MA, and thus attended 

his first NIRMA Symposium in 1987… 

Current NIRMA Logo 

THE “BEGINNING” OF NIRMA 

Ten years after that first ad-hoc meeting, the 

Association met with a piece of controversy of its own: 

putting the “I” (Information) in the name. Looking 

back, it seems obvious that the Association should have 

“information management” as part of its mission, but in 

this timeframe, it was met with stiff resistance. Many 

felt that there was a compelling argument for the 

Association to be dedicated to “records”, as there was 

the Appendix B basis, and it carved a niche out in the 

Eugene has been a member of NIRMA for over 34 

years. At the time he joined, 

NIRMA had only been in existence 

for 11 years. He would love to hear 

about stories and anecdotes from 

others, so please email him at 

eugene.yang@kismetconsulting.com. 


Lifetime 

Member 

Profile 

Meet Cheri Susner, CRM/NS 

“Cheri was on the Board when I was newly elected. I recall her giving each new Board "the talk" about what it meant to be involved 

in NIRMA and being on the Board, its history, etc. The Lifetimes seemed to have "skin in the game" in all they do for NIRMA, 

meaning they weren't going to let NIRMA decline on their watch, as they say. That is what makes them special and comes out in their 

stories and memories.” 

Janice Hoerber, NIRMA President 

Tell us about the locations have you worked at and 

positions held during your nuclear career? 

In 1983, I started to work for Exelon Generation, 

Nuclear Division. I spent 24 years at Braidwood Station 

and the remaining time I worked at the Centralized 

Training Center and the Nuclear Corporate Office. 

After 30 years, I decided to retire and relax; that didn’t 

last long because within 6 months I came back as a parttime 

Contract Instructor for Inprocessing for 

Braidwood, Dresden, and LaSalle Stations. I retired 

from the Training Department at Braidwood Station 

where I was an INPO Certified Instructor and I 

coordinated the General Employee Training for Exelon 

Employees and Contractors. Also, I was the First Line 

Supervisor Training Coordinator. However, the majority 

of my tenure was spent in Records Management/ 

Document Control at the Station and at Corporate. I 

worked up through the ranks from a member of the 

Clerical staff to management, and then as the 

Department Head for RM/DC. That was called learning 

the RM/DC business by fire. 

What are your Professional Affiliations and 

Education? 

• Nuclear Information and Records Management 

Association (NIRMA) 

• Institute of Certified Records Managers (ICRM), 

earning my CRM designation in January 1999 and 

my NS designation in July 1999 

• Bachelors Degree in Business Management in 2005 

• Masters Degree in Adult Education in 2007 

When did you join NIRMA? 

I attended my very first NIRMA Symposium (as it was 

called in the ‘old’ days) back in 1994 in Milwaukee, WI. I 

remember that first time as being overwhelming and an 

awesome experience. After that, I didn’t miss a single 

conference until 2017 when I fully retired. 

What NIRMA Leadership positions have you held? 

In 1996 I jumped in the deep end and I joined the 

Regulations Committee and became the secretary. I was 

on the subcommittee that created the original Technical 

Guidelines (TGs) for Electronic Records, which was 

recommended to the industry by the NRC. In 2001 I 

“I have to say that Cheri was my first introduction to Nuclear 

Generation in 1984! Cheri and I progressed through the IBEW 

bargaining ranks until we were asked to become supervisors and 

managers over the Records & Information Management 

environment during the many years of working together. During 

the early years not only was I her good friend, but I was Cheri's 

Supervisor/Manager in Records Management and it was 

incredibly apparent to me that this chick had a lot to offer the 

world. She is a people person and never attempts to elevate herself 

above anyone no matter what position she holds, and boy can she 

carry her own when it comes to debating the ins and outs of 

records and information management!!! As Cheri's Manager/ 

Mentor when she became a Supervisor it was time to let this kid 

fly and show her stuff. Given the right opportunities (work and 

NIRMA), introducing her to the appropriate audience, getting 

the needed guidance on the education needs, she flew to the highest 

levels in her job and in NIRMA!” 

Jo Ann Chovan, Chovan Associates 


was elected to 

the Board of 

Directors 

beginning my 

term in 2002. I 

was proud to 

be the first 

Female to 

serve two 

consecutive 

years as 

President for 

the 

Association. I 

was Vice 

President for 

four years and 

in 2009, my 

last year as a 

Board Member, I served as the Secretary. 2009 was the 

year I received my Lifetime Achievement Recognition, 

and that, my friends, is a humbling experience. 

As President, we changed the title of the NIRMA 

Symposium to the Nuclear Information Management 

Conference. This move was to stress Information 

Management but not lose the importance of Records 

and Documents. Also, to have NIRMA recognized as 

the leading authority as a training organization in IM, 

RM, and DC. 

During that era, NIRMA was faced with financial 

issues and my goal was to have the Association be 

solvent and to create a strong foundation for the future. 

Another change that was important to me, as President, 

was to have the Board available and approachable to the 

Membership. With the Board taking on the planning 

and coordination of the Annual Conference, I felt that 

Board Meetings should not be held during the 

conference and the expectation was that the Board 

Members be out interfacing with the membership 

during the entire conference. 

How did you get started with NIRMA? 

My boss at the time, Jo Ann Chovan, brought me to 

my first conference and set me loose. My second 

conference was in 1995, Washington DC, where I was 

taken under the wing of Hans Ebner and he directed me 

where to go and what to do. He also told me that I need 

to get involved so I can grow in my profession; he also 

pushed to do a presentation. The third year, 1996 in 

Orlando, FL, I gave my first presentation and from 

there I got much more involved with NIRMA. I was 

lucky to have Bruce Evans and Eugene Yang as mentors 

and between Jo Ann, Bruce, and Eugene I got pushed 

and prodded to expand my comfort zone. 

How did being a member of NIRMA assist you 

with your career? 

Being a member of NIRMA increased my knowledge 

in IM, RM, and DC through the training and mentoring 

opportunities that the Conference provided. Also, giving 

presentations provided me with experience in public 

speaking, which, in turn, provided a level of comfort to 

train the Station personnel in RM/DC processes. The 

time spent on the Board also improved my Project 

Management techniques, due to serving as VP and 

responsible for coordinating the annual conference. 

Finally, by serving eight (8) years on the Board provided 

leadership skills. All of these pieces to my professional 

puzzle was priceless. 

“When Cheri first joined NIRMA, she was pretty shy, to the 

point of being very unassertive. It was clear to me, from her 

questions and her personal "OE" at Braidwood that she was 

smart, experienced, and could hold her own. It drove me crazy 

how she was being so "mamby-pamby" on one hand, and then 

being so blazingly insightful on the other hand. During the 

opening night festivities one year, I pulled her aside and quoted her 

the riot act. She needed to cut out the "mamby-pamby" and step 

up; she had too much to offer. So, she started to move up the 

NIRMA ranks - secretary of a committee, chair of a 

subcommittee, chair of a committee, Board Director, and then 

President. And look where she is today...retired and doing a 

wonderful job making delightful home-made cards while riding in 

a Slingshot!” 

Eugene Yang, KISMET Consulting 

Cheri in her slingshot with her beloved dog, Chewie. 

Continued on page 32. 


From the CRM 

It’s Time to Take Your 

Career to the Next Level 

I 

t's a great time to be in the 

Records and Information 

Management (RIM) industry. 

Advances in technology and an 

increase in knowledge workers 

worldwide have enabled a more 

efficient and prolific environment 

for creating records and information. 

This progression has increased the 

volume of data and information 

created annually from 2 zettabytes in 

2010 to 59 zettabytes in 2020. And 

people are working from everywhere, 

from traditional offices to home 

offices, to tropical beaches, which is 

contributing to this abundance of 

information. An organization's 

information is its most powerful 

asset, and like tangible assets, 

information needs management to 

function efficiently. Developing the 

capacity to properly manage a 

growing volume of records and 

information being created and used 

in diverse locations has never been 

more vital. 

The premier certification in the 

RIM field is the Certified Records 

Manager (CRM). It's the top 

certification because it accurately 

measures competency to perform as 

a records manager. But more than 

that, it provides a path to becoming a 

well-rounded and knowledgeable 

records manager capable of solving 

the most complex RIM problems. If 

that's not enough, it also offers 

opportunities to continue RIM 

education throughout your career 

while providing opportunities to 

network and grow professionally. 

My Journey 

In high school, a practical law 

class taught by one of the best 

teachers I ever had, Mr. Carlton, 

sparked an interest in regulatory 

compliance. He caught on to my 

enthusiasm and encouraged setting 

law school as a long-term goal. After 

a pre-law track in undergraduate 

school, law school helped me realize 

that I prefer collaboration to the 

adversarial nature of litigation. I 

gravitated towards classes that waded 

into complex areas of statutory 

interpretation, like environmental 

law and tax. I also found that I 

loved performing legal research. I 

realized that researching and 

analyzing difficult areas of law could 

be a way to help people avoid fines, 

penalties, and litigation through 

regulatory compliance. 

What I didn't expect is that my 

path would lead me to the RIM 

industry. After passing the bar and 

dabbling in a few contract research 

jobs, I found an opportunity to apply 

my research and analysis skills. It 

called for extensive research of 

statutory recordkeeping law and how 

it impacts records retention 

schedules. I didn't know what a 

records retention schedule was at the 

time but recognized that this fit well 

with my regulatory compliance 

background. Joining Zasio allowed 

By Rick Surber, CRM, IGP 

me to research the laws in nearly 

every industry worldwide. It also 

opened the door to the RIM field. I 

was privileged to learn the ropes 

from great mentors like David 

Stephens and Kevin Zasio. They 

both encouraged and incentivized 

hard work, dedication to clients, and 

continuing education through 

certifications. The first certification 

they recommended was the CRM. 

Study Tips 

The CRM certification is a set of 

six exams designed to ensure that 

successful candidates are strong, well 

-rounded records managers with the 

tools and knowledge to tackle the 

most complex RIM hurdles. So, the 

biggest tip I can give for studying is 

to take the time to learn and 

understand the material. If you are 

interested in a career in RIM, 

shortcuts gained by memorizing and 

mastering test-taking strategies at the 

expense of truly understanding the 

material will hurt you in the long run. 

I recommend starting with the 

exam outline. My study strategy was 

to make the outline my own by going 

through and adding what I knew 

about each concept. That gave me a 

good baseline for what I already 

knew and helped me understand the 

overall scope of the outline. Then as 

I read through the recommended 

books and acronyms list, I added 

what I was learning to my outline. 


When I finished reading, there were 

still some areas where I felt like my 

outline was weak. So, I researched 

those areas online. Where I was still 

unsure whether I had an adequate 

understanding, I asked my mentor. 

The result was a lengthy outline filled 

with details that I continued to study 

in the weeks leading up to the exams. 

My final step was to understand my 

weak points and distill my outline 

down to a double-sided page of items 

per test that were the least intuitive. 

For some parts, especially part five, 

which covers technology, this was no 

small feat. 

Another study tip is to answer as 

many practice questions as you can 

find. The questions aren't designed to 

trick you into picking an incorrect 

answer. But many have multiple 

answers that aren't blatantly 

incorrect. Understanding the 

concepts helps you realize why there 

is a best answer for each question 

and how seemingly correct answers 

are flawed. Another thing I noticed 

is that the test takers use RIM 

concepts as the incorrect answers 

instead of making things up. So, in 

addition to understanding why each 

correct answer in a practice test was 

correct, I made sure to understand 

why the incorrect answers were 

incorrect. 

One last resource to mention, if 

you are looking for an extra boost to 

incentivize studying, consider an 

exam preparation workshop. With 

virtual options now available, they 

are more affordable than ever. I was 

lucky to sit through an excellent inperson 

workshop and made some 

professional connections that I still 

keep in touch with and consider 

friends. The workshop provided an 

instructor-led review of the outline 

and also gave me access to additional 

practice questions. I found it to be 

worthwhile. NIRMA is again hosting 

a Pre-conference ICRM Online 

Workshop this year, as they have in 

recent years. 

Becoming a CRM is 

challenging, demanding, 

and requires persistence 

and determination. But it's 

one of those 

accomplishments that you 

can be proud of .... 

Test Time 

There are different approaches to 

how close together to take each test 

and which ones to take first or last. I 

decided I wanted to take the one I 

felt most comfortable with first, 

which ended up being part four. 

Parts two and three are also closely 

related, and all have the same 

recommended reading. I found that 

the concepts in parts two through 

four overlapped considerably. 

Prioritizing these three tests also 

provides you with an initial 

certification, the Certified Records 

Analyst (CRA), which eliminates the 

five-year window to complete all 

exams. Unless you have a 

background in either IT or project 

management, I recommend starting 

with parts two through four. 

Part one on project management 

and part five on IT were the most 

difficult because they required me to 

explore unfamiliar concepts. I 

followed the same outline approach 

described above, and I feel like the 

studying process gave me a solid 

foundation in both areas. The great 

thing about part six is that there is no 

new material to learn. It's all content 

from the first five tests, so as long as 

that material is still fresh, you just 

have to be prepared to explain and 

apply the concepts in writing. I 

practiced taking part six, timed, and 

trying to mimic testing conditions, 

which allowed me to stay focused 

with a plan of action when it came to 

the actual test. 

Continuing RIM Education = 

Continuing Professional 

Development Opportunities 

Once you pass the tests, the 

CRM requires completing 100 

continuing education credits every 

five years to maintain good standing. 

While I initially worried completing 

all these credits would be difficult, I 

found this requirement presents 

fantastic professional development 

opportunities. Basically one credit 

equals one hour of traditional 

educational opportunities like 

attending webinars. But many other 

activities also qualify for credits, 

including RIM projects at work. 

Initiatives like records retention 

schedule creation, RIM procedures 

drafting, training, and numerous 

other tasks spearheaded by records 

managers are all included. There are 

also options to write articles, present, 

and grade tests to earn credits. The 

best part is that a lot of these options 

are free. 

More traditional methods of 

gaining credits like attending local 

ARMA chapter speakers provide 

valuable opportunities to learn while 

networking. These also provide 

leadership and public speaking 

opportunities. Further, attending 

conferences like NIRMA or ARMA 

allow you to knock out big chunks of 

credits at a high value. 

Becoming a CRM is challenging, 

demanding, and requires persistence 

and determination. But it's one of 

those accomplishments that you can 

be proud of and continues to pay 

dividends throughout your career. If 

you love RIM and you are ready to 

take your career to the next level, this 

certification should be high on your 

list. 


I 

Working in new ways 

with robotic process 

automation 

have had a great 

opportunity to teach and 

talk about process 

automation within the 

Nuclear Records Management 

community over the years. I enjoy 

engaging in conversations about how 

far we have come in streamlining 

operations and business processes 

through the use of automation 

technologies. 

Businesses are gaining their 

process independence now more 

than ever before, due to increased 

emphasis on intelligent information 

management (IIM) practices and the 

drive to digitalize business processes 

across the enterprise. The main areas 

of focus are typically on the back 

office with finance and human 

resources taking the lead. 

In the Nuclear industry, there is 

great opportunity for process 

automation with the use of Robotic 

Process Automation (RPA) and 

Artificial Intelligence (AI). Within 

the Nuclear Information and 

Records Management sector for 

example, RPA and AI allow these 

business units to gain their process 

independence away from manual 

processes to digitally automated 

processes. 

Robotic Process Automation and 

AI are most suitable for teams and 

individuals: 

• performing structured, 

repeatable, tasks. 

• undertaking simple, or in some 

cases, complex decisions based 

on predetermined rules. 

• accessing multiple systems to 

accomplish a task. 

• with a need to search for, 

aggregate, or update information. 

• performing tasks that are part of 

a workflow sequence. 

Some RPA candidate examples 

include: 

• Inbound digital capture 

• Data Entry and Validation 

• Data Consolidation 

• Data and File Manipulation 

• Automated Formatting 

• Web Scraping 

• User Interface Manipulation 

(clicks, input fields et al) 

• Uploading / Exporting Data 

• Downloading / Importing Data 

• Message Creation, Data 

• Quality Checks 

• More…. 

By Bob Larrivee 

NIRMA’s Director of Technical Programs 

Nuclear Age Examples 

In my conversations with Records 

and Information Professionals in the 

Nuclear industry, one topic in 

particular seems to surface every 

time – decommissioning a power 

plant. The amount of information 

related to the decommissioning 

process is significant to say the least, 

and critical to maintain properly. 

According to TRS 411 from the 

International Atomic Energy Agency 

(IAEA), the types of documentation 

and records collected as part of 

decommissioning include design, 

construction, and modification data, 

and operating, shutdown, and post 

shutdown data. What this means is 

that all forms of documentation 

must be collected, managed and 

archived including drawings, X-Rays, 

procurement records, process maps, 

test reports and much, much more. 

This is where RPA and AI can play 

a significant role as part of the 

capture process. Inbound 

information whether via email, 

uploading to a specific directory of 

storage locations, or manually 

converted from physical to digital 

form, can be fully or partially 

automated to help identify the 

information, classify it, and move it 

through a process for further action. 

The advantage being one of 

consistency, repeatability, and 

improved defensibility while freeing 

up human resources to focus on 

more complex activities or exception 

processing. 

In my view 

Process independence in the 

nuclear industry is a reality. RPA is 

rapidly being sought after and 

embraced by many organizations and 

business unit. Immediate 

opportunity exists to improve and 

automate those processes that are 

still likely manual, seen as chaotic, or 

where activities are repetitive with 

little to no deviation. 

The key in all of this is to align 

RPA with your operational goals, 


focusing on targeted objectives that support the 

corporate vision, operational requirements, and 

regulatory compliance. If you are considering RPA 

because it is the latest technology and you want to be 

the leader in your space to use, think again because that 

is the wrong way to approach this. 

If you are looking at RPA as a way to enhance your 

operations, transform your manual processes and even 

some existing “automated” processes to a new level that 

will help enhance organizational processes and support 

your corporate goals, you are on the right path to 

gaining process independence. 

About the Author 

Bob Larrivee is an Independent Analyst and NIRMA Board 

member. An internationally recognized subject matter expert and 

thought leader, Bob has over thirty-five years of experience in the 

fields of information and process management. Bob is an avid 

techie focusing on the application of advanced technologies to 

enhance and automate business operations. 

PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS 

ICRM Exam Prep Workshop Series 

Registration Summary Marketing Partner: 

Nuclear Information & Records Management Association 

Exam Prep Workshop – 4-hour half day – 

CRA - Introduction and Parts 2, 3 & 4 

Monday, Aug 2, 2021 - 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. eastern 

ICRM Exam Preparation: Certified Records Analyst (CRA) – 

Overview & Parts 2-4. This 4-hour half day workshop will 

cover the introduction to the ICRM Exams, including 

qualification overview & detailed overview of the material 

covered in Parts 2-4, with 20 sample questions for Parts 2-4 

$129 per person 


CRM - Parts 1, 5 & 6 

Tuesday, Aug 3, 2021 – 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. eastern 

ICRM Exam Preparation: Certified Records Manager (CRM) 

– Overview & Parts 1, 5, & 6. This 4-hour half day 

workshop will cover introduction to the ICRM Exams, 

including a qualification overview, and detailed overview of 

the material covered in Parts 1, 5, & 6 with 20 sample 

questions for each part. 



Part 6 Written Case Study 

Wednesday, Aug 4, 2021 – 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. eastern 

ICRM Exam Preparation: Certified Records Manager (CRM) 

– Part 6 Written Case Study. This 4-hour half day workshop 

involves attendees writing one sample case study w/feedback. 


Register for all three 4-hour exam prep workshops: 

Exam Prep Workshop – 4-hour half day– 

CRA - Introduction & Parts 2, 3 & 4 

Monday, August 2, 2021 - 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. eastern 

Exam Workshop – 4-hour half day – CRM - Parts 1, 5 & 6 

Tuesday, August 3, 2021 - 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. eastern 


Part 6 Written Case Study 

Wednesday, August 4, 2021 – 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. eastern 


ICRM Post Certification Specialty 

Designation Registrations 

Tuesday, Aug 3, 2021 

Anyone can attend the post certification specialty 

presentations without requiring registering for any of the 

workshops. The post certification specialty designation exam 

prep sessions will be held after the CRM Exam Prep 

Workshop. 

1-hour Exam Prep Session for Nuclear Specialist 

Tuesday, Aug 3, 2021 – 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. eastern 

Description: The Nuclear Specialist (NS) designation is an 

advanced certification & established around high rigor 

requirements of the nuclear industry (governmental & 

commercial). Applicable to both CRAs & CRMs working in 

the nuclear profession. 


1-hour CRM/Fed Specialist Exam Prep Session 

Tuesday, Aug 3, 2021 – 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. eastern 

Description: The CRM/Federal Specialist is an advanced 

certification & applicable to CRMs whose field of 

professional practice involves RIM programs of the U.S. 

Federal government, whether as a Federal government 

employee, uniformed military, vendor, consultant, or 

contractor. 



A Retrospective on Information Management 

in Nuclear Power 

i 

am continuing with my multi-part series on the 

fundamentals of electronic records in the nuclear 

industry. In the last issue, I discussed “what’s a 

record”, that electronic records need a man-machine 

interface, and ultimately, how an electronic record is structured. In 

this issue, I’ll discuss the evolution of electronic records guidance in 

the nuclear industry. 

IN THE BEGINNING… 

On December 6, 1953, President Dwight D. 

Eisenhower presented a speech to the United Nations 

General Assembly entitled, “Atoms for Peace.” The 

speech was part of "Operation Candor", a campaign to 

enlighten the American public on the risks and hopes of 

a nuclear future. The speech inspired a focus on 

peaceful uses of atomic energy. It catalyzed the United 

States’ commitment to design, construct, and operate 

electric power plants using nuclear reactors. The 

"Atoms for Peace" program also created regulations for 

the use of nuclear power and through these regulations 

stopped other countries from developing weapons while 

allowing the technology to be used for positive means. 

THE REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT 

When it comes to regulations, the nuclear industry is 

subject to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 

(10 CFR). Title 10 created the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

By Eugene Y. Yang, 

Principal Consultant 

KISMET Consulting, Inc. 

Commission (NRC), and is the basis for the NRC’s 

regulatory actions. A plant must receive a license to 

operate, and as part of that license, it must have a 

quality assurance program based on 10 CFR Part 50, 

Appendix B, “Quality Assurance Criteria for Nuclear 

Power Plants and Fuel Reprocessing Plants”. This 

appendix cites 17 criteria for such a program; two of the 

criteria of interest to NIRMA members are Criterion 

VI, “Document Control” and Criterion XVII, “Quality 

Assurance Records”. 

THE NEED FOR STANDARDS 

The industry wanted to have a say on how to 

implement Appendix B requirements, so standards 

organizations, such as the American National Standards 

Institute (ANSI) and the American Society of 

Mechanical Engineers (ASME) stepped to the fore. 

Standards, such as ANSI N45.2.9, "Requirements for 

Collection, Storage, and Maintenance of Quality 

Assurance Records for Nuclear Power Plants," and 

ASME NQA-1, “Quality Assurance Requirements for 

Nuclear Facility Applications, “ were developed. 

Through these standards, more specificity was provided 

in term of the “what’s” and high-level “how’s”, such as 

additional definition of record types and their related 

retentions. 

ISSUE: THE MANAGEMENT OF 

INFORMATION 

To meet the requirements defined by Appendix B 

and the industry standards, management systems were 

established to properly manage the documents and 

records when operating a plant. Up to this point, plants 

were processing a lot of paper: design changes, drawing 

changes, procedure changes, work order packages, ad 

infinitum…and records, with distribution copy locations 

throughout a plant. Sure, microfilm reduced the 

amount of paper, but the amount of information 

continued to grow. 


ELECTRONIC RECORDS GUIDANCE 

Computers entered into the workplace; applications 

were being developed that not only reduced the paper 

volume further, but also provided a huge benefit when 

searching for and retrieving current and historical 

information. Electronically storing and retrieving 

record content looks good, but does it comply with 

Appendix B, the industry standards, and other 

commitments? What follows is a treatise on how the 

guidance in electronic records evolved: 

Generic Letter 88-18 (GL 88-18): 

Plant Record Storage on Optical Disks 

that had to be met: for example, that the image is 

written to two optical disks; the disks are stored 

separately from each other (dual storage); and periodic 

random inspection is needed of the images on the disk 

to verify no degradation. 

Bottomline: If you wanted to have electronic records management 

for your site, the NRC approved the use as long as you used 

optical disks and you demonstrated compliance to the eight criteria. 

EPRI/NCIG-10: Guidelines for Quality Records 

in Electronic Media for Nuclear Facilities 

During the time that GL 88-18 came out, the 

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) convened a 

Nuclear Construction Issues Group (NCIG-10) to 

better understand the growing trend toward storing, 

maintaining, and retrieving electronic quality assurance 

records. A document was produced (May 1989) that 

presented guidelines and supporting information for the 

creation, storage, retrieval, control and approval of 

quality records in electronic media for nuclear facilities. 

Regulatory Information Summary 00-18: 

Guidance on Managing Quality Assurance Records 

in Electronic Media 

Two utilities and an NSSS supplier requested that 

the NRC approve the use of optical disk document 

imaging systems for storing and retrieving electronic 

quality assurance records. GL 88-18 (issued October 

1988) informed addressees that the NRC approved the 

use of this method when appropriate quality assurance 

controls are applied. GL 88-18 cited eight major criteria 


As computer technologies continued to 

improve and more nuclear plants looked for 

efficiencies opportunities, in the mid-1990’s, 

NIRMA’s Regulations Committee made a concerted 

effort to provide guidance to the industry. In 1998, four 

Technical Guidelines (TGs) were published pertaining 

to the management of, authentication, software 

application control, and disaster recovery when storing 

quality assurance records in electronic format: 

• NIRMA TG11, Authentication of Records and 

Media 

• NIRMA TG15, Management of Electronic Records 

• NIRMA TG16, Software Configuration 

Management and Quality Assurance 

• NIRMA TG21, Electronic Records Protection and 

Restoration 

Key distinctions of these TGs versus GL 88-18 

were: addressing authentication; having a management 

program; and the option of storing electronic objects 

on magnetic disk. The NRC was engaged to review 

these TGs as guidance to the industry. In October 

2000, the NRC endorsed the use of the TGs to provide, 

for those licensees with QA programs, a way to satisfy 

the Appendix B requirements for the maintenance of 

electronic QA records. 

Bottomline: If you wanted to have electronic records management 

for your site, the NRC approved the use as long as electronic 

records system complied with the RIS and the 4 NIRMA TGs. 

• NIRMA TG16, Software Quality Assurance 

Documentation and Records 

• NIRMA TG21, Required Records Protection, 

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuation 

NIRMA, in July 2011, requested the NRC to 

re-evaluate the RIS in light of these new revisions; 

however, the staff at the time declined to take on the 

evaluation, citing that there was little or no interest in 

the industry for a guidance update. 

Position Paper (PP-06) on Alternative Approaches 

in the Implementation of the Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission Regulatory Issue Summary 

(RIS) 00-018 

In 2014, the RIMBU committee grappled with the 

confusion that arose in the industry on how to 

implement RIS 00-18. NIRMA hadn’t stood still; the 

TGs underwent numerous changes since publication of 

the RIS, the most recent revisions of all four in 2011. A 

position paper was developed to provide alternative 

approaches to address the use of these latest revisions 

since the NRC declined to update the RIS. Besides 

continuing to use the RIS-based TGs, this paper 

discussed two other alternatives: 1) a utility/nuclear 

plant can submit a request to the NRC, an evaluation 

through the safety evaluation process; if approved, this 

(On the NIRMA website, to access the RIS and the 

related TGs, you will find a folder called “RIS 2000-18 

and Endorsed NIRMA TGs (1998)” under the 

Technical Guidelines section of the Reference 

Documents area.) 

NIRMA TG Updates and NRC Petitioned 

In 2011, NIRMA’s Regulations and Information 

Management Business Unit (RIMBU) committee 

simultaneously updated and harmonized the four RISbased 

NIRMA TGs. These updates were extensive and 

reflected more current technology trends, such as e- 

authentication, e-transmittal, and sustainable file 

formats, as well as the elements of an electronic records 

program These became: 

• NIRMA TG11, Authentication of Records and 

Media 

• NIRMA TG15, Management of Electronic Records 


would set a precedent that other utilities/plants could 

take advantage of, or 2) insert electronic records 

guidance into a subsequent version of NQA-1 (more on 

that later). 

Duke Energy Safety Evaluation Report Request 

In March 2015, Duke Energy Carolinas submitted a 

request to the NRC to approve a change to the Quality 

Assurance Topical Report (QATR) for its three nuclear 

stations. The request was to revise the QATR to 

reference the 2011 versions of the TGs. The NRC 

found it acceptable that the requirements of 10 CFR 50 

Appendix B would still be satisfied through compliance 

with the TGs. Therefore, the Duke SER satisfied one 

of the alternatives cited in the PP06 position paper. 

Bottomline: If you want to have electronic records management for 

your site, the NRC approves the use as long as your electronic 

records comply with these 2011 versions of the TGs. 

[On the NIRMA website, for these TGs, you will 

find a folder called “NRC-SER Endorsed NIRMA TGs 

(2011)” under the Technical Guidelines section of the 

Reference Documents area.] 

Regulatory Guide 1.28, Revision 5 

Quality Assurance Program Criteria 

(Design and Construction) 

In October 2017, the NRC issued Revision 5 of 

Regulatory Guide 1.28. Prior to that, in Revision 4, the 

NRC stated that, if electronic QA records were being 

stored and managed, its position on electronic records 

was based on Generic Letter 88-18 and RIS 2000-18 

that references the 1998 NIRMA guidelines (TG-11, TG 

-15, TG-16, TG-21). In Revision 5, the NRC stated: 

“For the management of electronic records, 

appropriate controls on quality assurance include the 

following: 

(a) No deletion or modification of records unless 

authorized pursuant to the record retention rule 

(b) Redundancy (system backup, dual storage, etc.) is 

provided 

(c) Legibility is required of each record 

(d) Records media are properly maintained 

(e) Inspections to ensure no degradation of records 

(f) Records are acceptably converted into any new 

system before the old system is taken out of 

service 

The Nuclear Information and Records Management 

Association (NIRMA) technical guides (TGs), as 

listed…, provide guidance to establish the 

appropriate quality controls that incorporates the 

implementation of enterprise content management 

systems, web-based technologies, and higher capacity 

LAN/WAN networks. The NRC approves for use 

the 2011 versions of the NIRMA TGs.” 

Bottomline: The NRC, in Revision 5, essentially leveraged its 

position stated in the Duke SER and approves the use of the 

2011 NIRMA TGs. 

American Society of Mechanical Engineers: 

Quality Assurance Requirements for 

Nuclear Facility Applications 

NIRMA members, in 2015, began to participate in 

the Programs Management Process (PMP) 

Subcommittee of NQA-1. It was surmised that the 

NIRMA TG content is very extensive, but wordy, so 

NIRMA TG (2011) requirements were reduced or 

summarized to fit the ASME NQA-1 format and scope. 

The advantages for the industry are that the 

manufacturers can use these changes very quickly; NSSS 

vendors and new build facilities can adjust, as needed. 

ASME NQA-1 is the “go-forward” strategy for industry 

and NRC review. It will not be tied to any specific TG 

version, so the standard can adjust as technology 

changes. From a NIRMA perspective, there will be 

many ASME interpretations, of which answers can then 

be sought in the full NIRMA TGs. 

Bottomline: The electronic records requirements are published as 

part of ASME NQA-1-2017. (Caution: You have to be 

committed to/and use this standard/year to take advantage of 

this.) 

Whew! Thanks for hanging in there with me. It’s 

been quite a ride in guidance space for over 30+ years, 

and NIRMA has been in the thick of it! In future 

columns, I intend to continue with addressing the other 

aspects of nuclear electronic records, such as 

authentication, sustainability, disaster planning and 

recovery, and more! Stay tuned! 

Eugene has been a member of NIRMA for over 

34 years. At the time he joined, NIRMA had 

only been in existence for 11 years. He would love 

to hear about stories and anecdotes from others, so 

please email him at eugene.yang@kismetconsulting.com. 


NRC’s ImplemeNtatIoN 

Plan to Comply with 

M-19-21 

By Margie Janney, CRM/NS/FED 

t 

he Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) and 

the National Archives and 

Records Administration 

(NARA) jointly issued M‐19‐21, 

“Transition to Electronic Records,” 

on June 28, 2019. The purpose of 

the directive is to guide and support 

Federal agencies’ transition to 

electronic records for increased 

efficiency, accuracy, and improved 

records storage. M‐19‐21 establishes 

four targets with nine requirements. 

Thus far, the Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) has met seven 

of the nine NARA requirements: 

• Managing permanent electronic 

records (by December 2019); 

• Designating a NARA-certified 

Agency Records Officer (ARO); 

• Designating a Senior Agency 

Official for Records 

Management (SAORM); 

• Informing agency personnel of 

records responsibilities; 

• Ensuring agency records are 

covered by NARA-approved 

records schedules; 

• Ensuring that agency records 

schedules are updated as 

business processes transition to 

electronic records management 

(ERM); and 

• Closing agency-operated or 

commercial records storage 

facilities and transferring 

inactive, temporary records to 

NARA-operated Federal 

Records Centers (FRCs); 

The staff is actively addressing 

the two remaining M‐19‐21 

requirements: 

• Managing permanent electronic 

records with appropriate 

metadata (to/from and date/ 

time) (by December 2022); and 

• Managing temporary electronic 

records with appropriate 

metadata (by December 2022). 

The staff developed a strategy, 

based on five actions, to address the 

requirements of M‐19‐21: 

• Assess analog records for 

possible future digitization; 

• Transfer permanent and 

temporary analog records to 

FRCs; 

• Digitize prioritized analog 

permanent and temporary 

records, as appropriate; 

• Ensure that Federal records are 

created, retained, and managed 

in electronic formats, with 

appropriate metadata; and 

• Develop a Communication Plan 

and guidance. 

The staff is implementing the 

five remaining approaches to comply 

with these requirements. We believe 

we will meet the goal laid out in 

M-19-21 to transition the NRC’s 

recordkeeping to a fully electronic 

environment that complies with all 

records management laws and 

regulations. 


ON BECOMING A LEADER 

By Lou Rofrano 

Professional Development Business Unit Co-Director 

R 

ecently, some members of 

the NIRMA team were 

discussing growing the 

organization and 

encouraging participation at multiple 

levels. I have been fortunate that as 

a supplier/vendor, the NIRMA team 

has been able to find my skills and 

experience helpful. It has allowed 

me to contribute in a manner I did 

not expect when I first started 

attending the conferences. Since I 

am not a Records Manager, I have 

relied on many NIRMA members to 

help me understand priorities and 

developmental needs. It has been 

amazing from my perspective. 

This year has extra meaning as it 

represents the 45 th Anniversary of 

the NIRMA Conference. We know 

we are hoping for a great turnout of 

current and past members, some of 

which most would consider legends 

in the organization. So the question 

to be asked is how did some of these 

individuals become legends? How 

will the organization develop and 

create individuals to step into 

leadership roles going forward? We 

have an amazing group of leaders on 

the current board and will have great 

candidates going forward. That 

being said, the first job of a leader is 

to inspire excellence and the second 

is to guarantee that a team is 

ensuring continued excellence 

through leadership development. 

Now is the time to ask the question, 

how many members would be 

interested in a leadership role down 

the road? 

People often ask how do I 

become a leader? Honestly, there are 

truly no magic answers, just solid 

principles and action to create a 

leadership opportunity for yourself. 

Here are some things to consider. 

• Be Motivated: If you look at 

events and elements of the 

NIRMA organization and say to 

yourself that something could be 

improved or augmented as 

yourself, what would you do 

given the chance? 

• Be Willing: Many people see 

the need for change and 

evolution but are not willing to 

get involved or do not have the 

time/bandwidth to participate. 

Being willing is a key element of 

becoming a leader. 

• Be Curious: In the case of 

NIRMA (and other 

organizations as well) there are 

usually multiple areas that need 

participation and leadership. 

Within NIRMA there are several 

Business Units. If you want to 

grow as a leader, you should 

know what each Business Unit 

does and ask yourself if you 

could make a contribution. You 

must be curious. 

• Broaden Your Range: Be 

willing to stretch your current 

areas of expertise and gain 

experience in things that depart 

from your current role. Just 

because you are not a marketing 

person does not mean you can’t 

have ownership in that area. 

• Raise Your Hand: If you want 

to lead or contribute, you must 

raise your hand and let current 

leaders know you want to 

participate or lead at a greater 

level. Current leaders may see 

your talent and wonder why you 

aren’t doing more. If you don’t 

pursue leadership, it will not 

happen on its own. 

• Be Great: To elevate to 

leadership, excel at your current 

level and then reach for even 

more responsibility. Being great 

does not mean being error-free, 

it means achieving your goals 

with vision and hard work. 

• Throw Your Hat in the Ring: 

When we try for a leadership 

role, sometimes we win and 

sometimes we lose. When you 

run for office, apply for a job, or 

seek a promotion, we must be 

prepared to either win or lose. 

Don’t let fear get in the way. 

Even if you lose, people notice 

that you want to grow and make 

things better. 

Finally, the greatest leaders I 

have known personally are dedicated 

to making others and teams better 

than their current state. They 

understand that both recognition 

and legacies are best created through 

contribution and elevation of others. 


T 

A MESSAGE From the 

his is such a special year as 

NIRMA celebrates 45 years 

of providing leading 

industry guidance and peer 

networking relationships that span 

decades! My first NIRMA 

conference in 1997 introduced me to 

all of it. I saw the value and wealth 

of knowledge that NIRMA 

delivered. I was not your typical 

attendee, instead coming from the 

IT side of my nuclear facility, but I 

was welcomed and encouraged to 

participate. I listened and I learned. 

Looking back, I heard many of the 

great legacy names of NIRMA 

presenting and leading the way to the 

future for all of us in a nuclearrelated 

career. In turn, my company 

implemented technology and 

solutions over the years that were 

grounded in the NIRMA Technical 

Guidelines (TGs) and the ANSI/ 

NIRMA Standard CM 1.0 for 

Configuration Management. 

I found my trip report from my 

first NIRMA conference. Some 

topics are still relevant today and 

unresolved. Here is a snippet about 

one of the 1997 presentations: 

Organizational Memory Effects 

on Productivity 

"This session was quite 

interesting as it was presented that 

we should not try to justify our 

investment in information 

management systems by savings in 

manpower, but rather by gains in 

President 

Janice Hoerber 

NIRMA Celebrates its Past, Present, and Future! 

preserving organizational memory. 

Organizational memory was defined 

as the means by which knowledge from the 

past is brought to bear on present activities, 

thus resulting in higher or lower levels of 

organizational effectiveness. The idea 

here is to make the information 

available, centrally accessible and 

friendly enough that it will be used 

on a daily basis to make decisions 

that affect the plant. Examples were 

given that would allow us to make 

better decisions on when to do 

work, when not to do work, and 

when we may prevent work from 

being needed by providing cause and 

effect information from other 

failures. 

This company had offered a 

good retirement package and had 

many reductions in a short period of 

time. They found that they were 

sadly lacking in organizational 

memory without the people that had 

done the work for a long time. He 

also challenged the long time 

practices of only keeping records 

that are required by regulators. He 

felt that we should all be evaluating 

data for retention based on its value 

to the organization in addition to the 

required information. He encouraged 

the Records Managers to evaluate 

the need of keeping E-mail as 

records to support plant decisions, as 

this is currently not a common 

practice. He also encouraged us to 

build in to our databases the ability 

to maintain multi-media information 

to link reports, pictures, audio and e- 

mails to capture histories. We have for 

some time been concerned about how we will 

pass on our plant knowledge to our 

successors with such a large group of us in 

the same age range, this may be an 

opportunity for us to address some of those 

concerns." 

Today, NIRMA continues to 

engage its membership to bring the 

relevant topics to the table. We 

invite you to present a session at the 

NIRMA conference or join the 

working groups (Business Units) to 

share your experiences to help 

develop industry guidance or even 

standards. As an ANSI Accredited 

developer, NIRMA is in a unique 

position with the platform to lead 

information and records 

management initiatives to benefit 

both the domestic and international 

nuclear community! 

Looking to the future, the 

economic challenges for U.S Nuclear 

require us to think differently about 

the way we have always done things. 

We must ask more questions, 

particularly "why" we still do some 

things and can it be eliminated or 

done through automation or 

technology. Earlier this year, the 

NIRMA Board of Directors 

incorporated Process Management into 

the NIRMA Strategic Plan, which 

expands NIRMA into the tools, 



FROM THE VICE-PRESIDENT 

Bruce Walters, CRM/NS 

T 

he 2021 Nuclear 

Information Management 

Conference (August 9-11) 

at the JW Marriott Resort 

and Spa in Las Vegas, Nevada is 

quickly approaching. We have many 

wonderful topics and speakers lined 

up and are awaiting word from a few 

more. Let’s preview some of the 

Keynotes and other Sessions. 

David Nelson with the NRC is 

our intended kickoff Keynote 

speaker addressing “Transformation 

Initiatives around the NRC.” 

Another Keynote is by Laura 

Williams with the American 

Nuclear Insurers who will address 

“Records – The Nuclear Liability 

Perspective.” Another is by my own 

AECOM company attorney, and 

now boss, Whitney McCollum 

addressing “Data and COVID – 

Now & Future.” We will: 

• hear a progress report on our 

successful Mentorship Program; 

• learn about Robotic Process 

Automation and the World of 

Robotics; 

• Deposition Do’s and Don’ts; 

• Decommissioning RM – Lessons 

Learned to Date; 

• Configuration Management – 

NIRMA’s ANSI Standard 

overview; 

• a panel discussion about the 

three ‘balls’ of CM; IG & Privacy 

Management; 

• Cyber Security; 

• Best Practices of Document 

Control; 

• Capture is No Longer About 

Just Paper; 

• the ever-popular Government 

Updates & Benchmarking 

session; 

• some Fundamentals sessions; 

• and more. 

Registration for the Conference is 

open on our website (click here). We 

encourage you to come and 

participate in our 45 th Anniversary 

celebration. This year’s Conference 

will be well worth your while in 

attending. With Las Vegas opening 

back up, I look forward to seeing 

you there! 

NIRMA’s Financial Holdings 

As of: June 2, 2021 

Michelle Smith 

NIRMA Treasurer 

Investment Account $ 124,300.45 

Checking Account $ 16,012.36 


techniques, and strategies you need to improve your 

business agility and operational performance. These 

include: 

• RPA, Robotic Process Automation 

• AI, Artificial Intelligence 

• IG, Information Governance Technologies 

We invite all of you to participate with us at the 

August NIRMA conference, and especially potential 

solution providers/exhibitors. These innovative 

solutions, among others will be necessary to carry us 

into the next generation of Nuclear so we want to hear 

from you! 

Check the NIRMA website at www.nirma.org for conference 

details and to register. Attendance may be in-person or virtual. 

We look forward to a great anniversary conference! 


Professional Development 

Business Unit (PDBU) News 

Tammy Cutts, PDBU Director 

R 

emember: ICRM Exam Prep 

workshops are preconference 

activities this 

year. Read the article here and 

be sure to enroll on the registration 

page. Also, keep an eye out for the 

pre-conference workshop coming 

soon! 

The Memorial Day Holiday has 

come to a close and although 

summer does not begin unofficially 

until June 20 th most of us see June 

1 st as the start of that season. So 

many of us, especially after last year, 

are busy planning picnics, family 

reunions and summer vacations. 

This is also an important time to get 

ready to invest in your development. 

Literally, in about 60 days the 2021 

NIRMA Conference will begin in 

Las Vegas. We are hoping that many 

of you will be able to attend in 

person. Of course, if you cannot 

then you are reserving time on your 

calendar to attend virtually. I will 

lobby here for a few lines that if at 

all possible participate in person 

within the limits of your comfort 

and organizational requirements. 

Why? When you attend in person 

not only do you grow and learn 

during our sessions but also keep in 

mind all of the learning and 

development that goes on between 

colleagues over meals and in the 

discussions outside of the formal 

sessions. That being said, remote 

attendance may be your only option 

for various reasons. To maximize 

your learning and development in 

either attendance method here are 

several ideas to help you get the 

most of the conference: 

1. Focus: I find this is the most 

critical aspect of learning 

success. Try as much as possible 

to stay focused on the session 

either in person or remotely. 

Limit email, side bar 

conversations and cell phone 

distractions where possible. 

2. Selectivity: Really take the time 

to review the agenda in advance 

and select the sessions you really 

want to attend based on content 

and speaker. Choose the 

sessions that will help you 

advance your knowledge and 

skills. 

3. Participation: You will only get 

from the conference what you 

put into it. Ask questions so that 

your peers and 

you can both benefit from your 

curiosity and developmental 

needs. Enter your comments 

and questions if you are working 

remotely and wait for your 

answers. This improves your 

attention level. 

4. Sit Down Front: If you are 

attending the meeting live then 

move to the front of the room 

to the first several rows. We sit 

in the back to lessen the chance 

of being put on the spot. Sitting 

in the first few rows you will 

hear better and also likely make 

eye contact with the presenter 

and that drives enhanced 

participation. 

5. Take Notes: Nothing drives 

retention like active note taking. 

It keeps you focused and helps 

commit key learning to memory. 

It also helps to keep your 

listening skills active. 

There you have five tricks to keep 

your learning and development at 

maximum levels during our 

upcoming conference. 

Not a Member of NIRMA? 

join today! 


News from the Records & 

Information Management 

Business Unit (RIMBU) 

By Stephanie Price, RIMBU Business Unit Director 

ANSI/NIRMA CM 1.0 5 Year Revision 

T 

he 5 year revision to ANSI/NIRMA CM 1.0 is 

nearing completion thanks to Rich Giska, 

long time NIRMA and RIMBU member. Rich 

has been involved since the inception of this 

process, approximately 20 years. The standard is 

recognized throughout the industry as the guidance 

document on Configuration Management (CM). The 

focus of the standard is how to ensure the information 

managed and associated with the plant is in sync and 

properly accounted for. 

The standard was originally published in 2000 with 

an initial revision published in 2007 and reaffirmed in 

2015. ANSI requires periodic maintenance actions be 

taken every 5 years. This revision had no major issues 

to address; however, updates were made to reflect best 

evolving practices, clarify US-specific terms for the 

international nuclear community, and add appendices 

with examples of how the CM principles have been 

implemented in the industry. The process involves 

multiple groups including a working group, NIRMA 

project team, and the consensus body (industry 

members responsible for reviewing and approving, by 

a vote, the document). 

The Consensus Body membership was INPO and 

(Configuration Management Benchmarking Group) 

CMBG, Nuclear Utilities, Architect Engineer and 

NSSS Suppliers. The revision was approved by the 

consensus body and is now ready to be submitted to 

ANSI for final approval. Once finalized, the standard 

will be available for sale by NIRMA and ANSI. 

of COVID as many companies are continuing remote 

working practices and converting to a new normal. 

The RIMBU organization strives to provide our peers 

with meaningful guidance and best practices for 

records management, and that includes recognizing 

and addressing the changing landscape of the industry. 

Doing less with less has been a topic of discussion for 

RIMBU during several of our annual meetings in the 

past. Good benchmarking data on best practices has 

been shared, including: 

• Automation of quality checks on scanned images 

• Elimination of convenience copies on distribution 

• Automation of records submittal process 

• Evaluation of core business processes vs. collateral 

duties 

In order to best serve our peers in the industry, 

RIMBU is attempting to put together a “Less with 

Less” document containing further information about 

how you have successfully streamlined, simplified, 

and/or eliminated things in your organization. If you 

have any feedback in this area, please reach out to me 

at sjprice@southernco.com. 

Get involved with RIMBU 

New members are always welcome! RIMBU is a 

great opportunity to benchmark with others in the 

industry, share valuable operating experience, and 

have the opportunity to influence industry standard 

guidance in records management. 

Doing Less with Less 

The concept of doing less with less goes by many 

names in the nuclear industry. Streamline/Simplify/ 

Eliminate, Stop/Start/Continue, digitization, 

automation, working smarter, etc. This was an ever 

present expectation that has been magnified in the era 

Not receiving NIRMA Email 

communication? Click here & 

scroll to the bottom of NIRMA’s 

website to sign up to ensure 

you receive the most current 

information. 


MEMBERSHIP & MARKETING 

(M&M) Business Unit News 

e are less than 2 months away from 

W 

the 2021 NIRMA Conference, the 

45 th Anniversary. Time to start really 

thinking about attending the 

conference. There will be a lot of exciting 

things to participate in, learn and enjoy. If you 

attend in person, you can take a walk down 

memory lane with all the NIRMA memorabilia 

that has been collected from long time 

members and will be on display. 

Two of the Keynote Speakers are showcased in this 

addition of Inside NIRMA. Check them out here. I think 

you will be quite pleased with what they will bring to our 

conference. 

Do you have a vendor(s) that you do business with 

that could benefit from participating in the NIRMA 

conference and that other members of NIRMA could 

benefit. Please share the NIRMA conference 

information with your vendors and ask them if they are 

interested in being a part of the conference. 

We will again be promoting the “BRING-a- 

BUDDY” campaign in 2021. When you register 

yourself and a “buddy” (a new attendee) to come to the 

2021 NIRMA conference, your names will be placed in 

a special drawing. Prizes are always fun! The new 

attendee can be anyone from your organization (i.e., IT, 

Kathi Cole, CRM 

M&MBU Director 

your boss, procedure writers, auditors, 

engineers, etc.). 

Remember to register by July 1st 

and receive the Early Bird Discount. 

NIRMA is offering a group discount when 

you register for the Conference early. 

Purchase three (3) registrations from the same 

company, and all subsequent registrations are 

$625. These subsequent employees need not 

be part of the Records Management organization. They 

can be employees from any of the organizations within 

the same company. 

Also, because this year is the 45 th Anniversary of 

NIRMA, we are offering you a free NIRMA 45 th 

Anniversary shirt with your Early Bird registration. 

Membership & Marketing Business Unit is looking for 

members to help come up with new ideas to bring new 

members to NIRMA, as well as new ideas of how to 

share expertise with the membership. M&MBU meets 

the first Wednesday every month for one hour at 1:00 

PM ET, 12:00 PM CT, 11:00 AM MT, and 10:00 AM 

PT. Please join us. We are a fun group to work with. 

For additional information or questions on anything 

mentioned above, please contact nirma@nirma.org. 

Continued from page 17. 

What did you find most 

rewarding about your 

membership? 

The Education opportunities and 

mentoring, both receiving and 

giving, lead to lifelong friendships. 

In what ways were you able to 

help (mentor) other members? 

I think with my personal goal of 

approachability, I was available to 

the membership at all times; I always 

tried to make everyone feel welcome. 

I constantly talked with all first-time 

attendees and I made sure that if 

anyone had questions or concerns 

they would feel comfortable talking 

to me. 

What would you tell others 

looking to get involved in 

NIRMA or NIRMA leadership 

roles? 

Take the leap, the water is fine. It 

is a great opportunity to increase 

your skills in the field of IM. Yet, 

don’t overlook the soft skills of 

leadership. What NIRMA can 

provide is there for the taking, but 

you have to reach for it. 

Why is it important for you to stay 

involved? 

I am looking forward to returning 

for NIRMA’s 45 th Anniversary. You 

may retire, but once NIRMA gets in 

your bloodstream, it is there forever. 

Thank you to all of the past, current, 

and future leaders of NIRMA – you 

make the Association what it is today 

and what it will be tomorrow! 


NIRMA’s 45 th Anniversary Conference 

Will Be Truly Spectacular! 

The Conference will be held at the beautiful JW Marriott Las Vegas 

Resort and Spa, 221 N. Rampart Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 

The NIRMA Board is hard at work to make this conference one of our 

best ever! In addition to our tradition of engaging speakers and 

enlightening presentations, we will also be commemorating NIRMA’s 

45 th Anniversary with a Celebration Night Extravaganza including 

dinner, music, and all-around fun! In addition, there will be lots to see 

and remember in our Memorabilia Room, highlighting NIRMA’s rich 

history! 

 

 

 

Learn the latest from 

the experts in current 

trends. 

Be inspired by the 

message of industry 

leaders. 

Retool & re-energize 

your passion to make 

a difference. 

The JW Marriott Resort and Spa is a luxury getaway, 

providing spacious rooms and suites, premium amenities 

and superb customer service. Visit JW Marriott here.

Even As Support for Carbon-Free Energy Grows, Some 

Reactors Still Face Shutdown, New Study Warns 

Among climate advocates, 

energy experts and now the Biden 

administration, there is a growing 

consensus that the nuclear energy is 

critical to address the challenges of 

climate change. 

Earlier this month, President 

Biden released his American Jobs 

Plan, an infrastructure investment 

package that includes a major focus 

on addressing climate change. A key 

provision of this plan is a clean 

energy standard that relies on the 

nation’s largest source of carbon free 

energy, nuclear power, to help 

decarbonize electricity by 2035. 

But at the moment when climate 

change is recognized as an urgent 

problem and nuclear is viewed as an 

important part of the solution, a new 

study shows that we also face the 

prospect of well-running nuclear 

plants shutting down, right when 

they’re needed the most. 

The report, from Potomac 

Economics, assesses the economic 

realities facing nuclear plant owners 

today in PJM, the largest electricity 

market in the U.S. serving 65 million 

customers in 13 states across 

portions of the Mid-Atlantic and 

Great Lakes regions, as well as 

Washington, D.C. PJM is home to 

31 of the nation’s 94 nuclear plants, 

including many that are currently or 

have been financially threatened. 

Potomac Economics has a unique 

standing to help understand 

electricity market forces, serving as 

the independent market monitor 

(IMM) for four other U.S. electricity 

markets, a role that requires deep 

knowledge of the economic 

incentives facing companies in these 

markets. Their analysis concludes 

that most of the nuclear plants in 

PJM will not produce enough 

revenue to remain economically 

viable in the coming years. This 

finding is consistent with numerous 

other analyses and nuclear operators 

who have been warning that flaws in 

the wholesale markets are driving 

always-on, carbon-free nuclear 

plants to close prematurely. 

Often, there are two key aspects 

of nuclear economic analyses that 

get overlooked. First, critics of 

policies to support nuclear power 

often do not account for the 

financial costs and risks associated 

with operating large plants that 

owners must bear. These costs, as 

well as their ability to be avoided 

through a shutdown, are often 

neglected by critics when assessing 

the financial outlook for the plants. 

It seems clear to me, however, that 

they are well-accepted 

considerations in any boardroom or 

stock analyst report. Often, shutting 

a plant down will be more 

economically appealing because all 

future costs and risks will be avoided 

and any remaining post-shutdown 

costs will be covered through a trust 

fund the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission requires all nuclear 

owners to establish. 

Second, critics often utilize 

unrealistic or optimistic revenue 

forecasts. However, the Potomac 

Economics report sets the record 

straight by basing their analysis on 

realistic market-based prices. By 

utilizing true avoidable costs and a 

reasonable revenue estimate, the 

report demonstrates that nuclear 

plants are not viable. 

Through Potomac Economics’ 

analysis, it’s clear that the economic 

hurdles facing nuclear plants in PJM 

are significant. Energy policies can 

be enacted to overcome these 

hurdles, but reforms to federal and 

state policies are needed quickly. 

Over the past decade, state 

policymakers and energy customers 

have very clearly demanded more 

carbon-free electricity. 

In that time, 10 states in the PJM 

region and the District of Columbia 

have instituted policies like 

renewable portfolio standards or 

zero-emissions credits to cut 

emissions. Customers in these states 

represent over 90 percent of the 

electric demand served by PJM. 

Article reprinted with permission 

of NEI. Read full article here. 


Here’s 3 Ways to Make Promises From the 

Climate Summit Come True 

President Biden met with 40 

world leaders last week and 

promised to get the United States 

back on the climate control track. 

He and the other leaders pledged to 

shift to clean energy and 

dramatically reduce emissions—with 

the U.S. promising a 50 to 52 

percent reduction below 2005 levels 

by 2030. Expectations and 

aspirations are high. 

But promises won’t stop climate 

change. Cutting emissions will 

require action in the form of 

appropriate policy, research, 

investment and deployment. What, 

specifically, can we do? 

Here’s three ways we can meet 

the aggressive goals we’ve pledged 

ourselves to: 

1. Invest in Energy 

Innovation: Climate advocates, 

policymakers and leaders like 

Bill Gates agree that the only 

way we can eliminate carbon 

emissions is through innovation. 

Many of the technologies that 

will help us reach a carbon-free 

future are already being 

developed. There are major 

advances happening in advanced 

nuclear technology, for example. 

Last year, the U.S. Department 

of Energy announced nearly 

$3.9 billion in funding through 

the Advanced Reactor 

Demonstration Program for 

research and development to 

bring two pathbreaking 

advanced reactors into 

operation in five to seven years, 

and a pipeline of new projects 

after that. And the department 

has promised $1.4 billion 

towards a small modular reactor 

project planned in Idaho. 

Congress has paid for the 

beginnings of each of these 

programs. But the investment 

curve gets steeper in the next 

few years. We must continue to 

fund innovative advanced 

nuclear projects through private 

and public investment. The 

market is strong, with 40 

utilities, including the nation’s 

largest, already pledging to 

reduce emissions by about three 

quarters by 2050. But the 

innovation already underway 

will need a helping hand to 

bring the zero-carbon products 

to market—which will also 

include innovation in fuels, 

some of which may be provided 

by the government. 

2. Preserve All the Carbon-Free 

Electricity We Have: The 

nation’s largest source of clean 

energy is nuclear reactors that 

are already running, which have 

slowed the buildup of climatechanging 

gases in the 

atmosphere and can continue to 

do this vital work for decades to 

come. The Biden administration 

has acknowledged the role of 

our current reactors, listing 

existing nuclear as a resource for 

reaching their ambitious climate 

goals—and other policymakers 

like Sen. Joe Manchin (D- 

W.Va.) have applauded the 

administration’s leadership in 

this area. But because of flawed 

markets and changing economic 

conditions, nuclear plants need 

to be recognized in policy and 

compensated appropriately. 

States with aspirations to do 

their part for clean air and 

climate stability have systems in 

place, and some are developing 

or revising such policies. 

Connecticut, New York, New 

Jersey and Illinois are in this 

category and others may step 

forward. The White House has 

also proposed a national clean 

energy standard that would 

compensate nuclear plants for 

their carbon-free energy, as part 

of its major infrastructure 

package, the American Jobs 

Plan. The most effective path to 

a carbon-free future is to 

preserve and properly value 

America’s 94 nuclear plants. 

3. Recapture U.S. Leadership in the 

Global Nuclear 

Market: Stabilizing the climate 

will require global action. 



Stakeholder Coordination 

Essential for Nuclear to Innovate 

The nuclear power sector in 

North America and Europe is at a 

turning point. 

A whole generation of power 

plants – built in the sixties and early 

seventies and running on mostly 

analogue technology – are facing 

decommissioning or refurbishment 

while a new generation of state-ofthe-art 

alternatives are being tested 

today for deployment by the end of 

the decade. 

Recent studies have shown 

that refurbishing the industry’s old 

workhorse reactors, which have 

reliably pumped out power 24/7 at 

high capacity for decades, is the 

most cost-effective, dispatchable, 

low-carbon power producing 

technology on the market. The new 

generation offers an array of 

advanced features that promise 

increased safety and productivity. 

In both cases, scientists are 

using significantly different 

technology than was even imagined 

during the first wave of reactors 

which, before refurbishment, 

continue to operate today much as 

they did when they were built. 

“In some instances it was said 

that you could leave the sector in 

the 70s and 80s and come back 20 

years later and sit at your old desk 

and get back to work because the 

The control room at Pickering 

Nuclear Power Generating Station 

near Toronto, Canada. (Source: 

Reuters/Carlos Osario) 

technology at its heart had not 

moved on,” says Director for 

International Engagement, Security 

& Non-Proliferation at the UK 

National Nuclear Laboratory Rob 

Whittleston. 

This, in fact, has been the 

strength of the technology. Nuclear 

power has been a disruptive 

technology in its own right ever 

since its introduction, Whittleston 

says, comparable only to 

hydroelectric systems in generating 

huge amounts of carbon-free 

energy. 

However, the generation 

landscape today is changing and 

nuclear must change with it. 


Here’s 3 Ways to Make 

Promises From the Climate 

Summit Come True, 

Continued 

Outside the industrialized 

world, demand for electricity is 

galloping ahead and is mostly 

met with new plants burning 

coal. As in the United States, 

nuclear will be an essential 

component of a zero-carbon 

electric system worldwide, and 

more than 30 countries are 

working to develop nuclear 

energy programs. The potential 

market is more than $8 

trillion between now and 

2050.Current reactor 

technology and the advanced 

and small reactors in 

development all have a role to 

play. And returning the United 

States to a leading export role 

will create jobs here, cement 

commercial relationships with 

developing countries for 

decades to come, and boost 

global health and prosperity, in 

addition to solving the climate 

problem. 

Ambitious goals are an 

important first step and provide 

important signals about the effort 

needed to reduce emissions. But 

real progress on climate change 

will require action, investment and 

policy, and nuclear energy will be 

key to making any climate solution 

work. 

Article reprinted with permission 

of NEI. Read full article here. 


Stakeholder Coordination Essential for Nuclear to 

Innovate, Continued 

“The issue now is that in order 

to play its role in a different looking 

energy mix, it has an opportunity to 

change its game. That is why the 

industry is working hard to ensure 

nuclear is cost competitive and 

more flexible,” he says. 

"Advanced nuclear 

technologies, such as small and 

advanced modular reactors, as well 

as hydrogen production in nuclear, 

are all examples of where disruptive 

tech is being considered and 

deployed to meet the world's future 

energy needs, and to power net zero 

here in the UK." 

High stakes 

Introducing different 

technology and systems – whether 

for new machines or to refurbish 

the old – is deeply challenging for a 

heavily regulated industry that 

cannot afford the slightest mistake 

for both safety and financial 

reasons. 

Part of the problem of bringing 

new technology to the nuclear 

industry is that each stakeholder has 

a different view on what that 

means. 

From the utilities, innovation 

must mean improved safety and 

lower cost while the regulator 

considers new technology as 

something that must be categorized 

and quantified before it’s given the 

green light amid concerns 

surrounding the risks of changing a 

legacy safety system. 

Investors, meanwhile, want it as 

fast as possible and cheap. 

“For innovation to be 

successful, we must find a way to 

bring together all stakeholders early 

on in the innovation process; the 

end user, the regulator, laboratories, 

governments, all brought together 

early on in terms of understanding 

how a particular technology might 

be able to be used within the 

nuclear sector and to really 

understand the barriers and 

challenges to take that 

forward," Chief Science and 

Technology Officer at the UKNNL 

Fiona Rayment said during an 

OECD NEA webinar on disruptive 

technologies. 

The series of webinars, 'From 

NI2050 to Disruptive Technologies 

for Nuclear Safety Applications', 

aimed to explore the use of new 

technologies in nuclear applications 

and the specific challenges that they 

pose for all the stakeholders. 

The NEA Nuclear Innovation 

2050 (NI2050) initiative was started 

in 2015 and is a push to bring 

together the disparate elements of 

the nuclear industry from all over 

the world to examine how, 

collectively, it could develop and 

deploy new and innovative 

technologies. 

By Paul Day 

(Source: OECD NEA; “From NI2050 to Disruptive Technologies for Nuclear Safety 

Applications”) 

Article reprinted with permission of 

Reuters Events Nuclear. 

Read full article here. 


Register Today for the 

45th Annual NIRMA Conference 

August 9-11, 2021 

Held at the 

JW Marriott Resort & Spa 

Click here to register.

Inside NIRMA Summer 2021

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?