Nuclear Procurement Issues Corporation

What it is

NUPIC's own home page describes the program's purpose: "With a proven process for evaluating suppliers to high standards of quality, NUPIC is the NRC Licensee's preferred and cost-effective method of maintaining their Approved Suppliers List." That sentence is NUPIC's own, not the regulator's.

What a joint audit does and does not mean is stated by NUPIC itself, in Document No. 6: "Please note that a NUPIC Joint Audit does not constitute nor imply any industry-wide endorsement, certification, approval or disapproval of a supplier's Quality Assurance Program and its results shall not be used in any supplier advertising material."

The trigger is a count of customers, not an application: "If you, as a supplier, have as few as 5 customers who are NRC Licensees or international nuclear plant operators, you are eligible for a NUPIC Audit." "Sponsorship by 5 NUPIC Members automatically enrolls suppliers into the NUPIC standard 33-month audit schedule."

NUPIC's own material describes two evaluation types: the audit, which it says is run against the criteria of 10 CFR 50 Appendix B, and the Commercial Grade Survey, which looks instead at the critical characteristics of the components a supplier manufactures. Most on-site work runs about five days, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday to Friday.

Results are shared inside the membership and nowhere else: "NUPIC members have access to all audit data, including the audit report, audit checklist and all identified findings/observations and follow-up documentation." "An exception exists in the case of nuclear fuel audits wherein only utilities using the applicable fuel supplier have access to the audit report and associated data."

No collective approval follows from an audit. "Each member evaluates the results of the audit to determine appropriate action in accordance with their own Quality Assurance Program." "Performance of a NUPIC Joint Audit does not preclude a member from performing their own audit if deemed necessary." The Electric Power Research Institute and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission are given access to individual audits on an as-needed basis, if the lead utility and the auditee agree.

The regulator describes its own part in this on its website: "The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) periodically accompanies a NUPIC team to observe selected audits and ensure that the audit process remains an acceptable alternative to the NRC's vendor inspection/audit program." The regulatory texts referenced from that page were not opened for this record, so nothing further is stated here about them.

Audit reports are confidential to the membership. What NUPIC does publish on its documentation page are its audit, survey and calibration checklists and the annual schedules — the 2026 NUPIC Audit Schedule and the 2026 NUPIC Survey Schedule (both listed as PDFs; not opened for this record).

Who owns it

"NUPIC was formed in 1989 as a result of the merger between the utility members of the Coordinating Agency for Supplier Evaluation (CASE) Nuclear Section and the Nuclear Supplier Quality Assurance Committee (NSQAC). The membership represents all of the operating nuclear power plants in the United States and several non-US nuclear utilities."

Membership is defined narrowly: "To be a member of NUPIC, you must be an NRC Licensee or International Nuclear Plant Operator." A supplier taking part is not a member but a vendor.

"The NUPIC Organization will strive to improve the supplier assurance processes through cooperative efforts while minimizing utility O & M costs and improving plant performance."

No statement of NUPIC's legal form was found on the owner's pages opened for this record (3 September 2026).

Who assesses it

"Audits are performed by joint utility audit teams typically comprised of four team members, one of which is a technical specialist. These audits are conducted and documented in accordance with the Quality Assurance Program of the utility that provides the audit team leader and other standardized guidance."

The auditors are therefore staff of the member utilities, not an outside audit firm, and the lead utility owns the resulting report.

The same document states that audits use an approved standardized checklist and a performance-based methodology consistent with EPRI NP 6630, Guidelines for Performance-Based Supplier Audits.

The two NUPIC evaluation types

• NUPIC Audit
• Commercial Grade Survey

Validity

NUPIC's FAQ sets the cycle: "Most vendors are audited on the 33 month cycle. Fuels suppliers are audited at 36 months."