ML18010A447
| ML18010A447 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 01/11/2018 |
| From: | William Reckley NRC/NRO/DSRA/ARPB |
| To: | John Segala NRC/NRO/DSRA/ARPB |
| Reckley W, NRO/DSRA/ARPB, 301-415-7490 | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML17354B227 | List: |
| References | |
| Download: ML18010A447 (7) | |
Text
January 11, 2018 MEMORANDUM TO:
John P. Segala, Chief Advanced Reactor and Policy Branch Division of Safety Systems, Risk Assessment and Advanced Reactors Office of New Reactors FROM:
William D. Reckley, Senior Project Manager /RA/
Advanced Reactor and Policy Branch Division of Safety Systems, Risk Assessment and Advanced Reactors Office of New Reactors
SUBJECT:
SUMMARY
OF DECEMBER 14, 2017, PUBLIC MEETING TO DISCUSS REGULATORY IMPROVEMENTS FOR ADVANCED REACTORS On December 14, 2017, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) held a Category 2 public meeting with stakeholders, Department of Energy (DOE), national laboratories, and Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), to discuss ongoing initiatives within the industry and NRC related to the development and licensing of non-light water reactors (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System [ADAMS] Accession No. ML17334A251). Enclosure 1 contains a list of meeting attendees and participants who joined via webinar. The slides and meeting handouts are available in ADAMS Accession No. ML17354B219.
Mr. Ed Wallace and Dr. Karl Fleming, of the Licensing Modernization Project (LMP), provided a summary of the LMP white paper Risk-Informed and Performance-Based Evaluation of Defense-in-Depth Adequacy (ADAMS Accession No. ML17354B174). The LMP paper derives from and maintains much of the structure and logic from similar efforts under the Next Generation Nuclear Plant Project. The structure includes basic definitions for plant capability defense in depth, programmatic defense in depth, and risk-informed evaluation of defense in depth. The white paper also aligns the LMP process with established international standards by defining five layers for defining and assessing the adequacy of plant design and programs in terms of providing an appropriate degree of defense in depth. The defense-in-depth white paper builds on previous LMP white papers on event selection, probabilistic risk assessment, and safety classification of equipment. The staff plans to provide comments and questions to the LMP on the defense-in-depth white paper by mid-January 2018 to support further discussion at future periodic stakeholder meetings and the development of a consolidated guidance document for use by reactor developers in designing and licensing non-light water reactors (non-LWRs).
CONTACT:
William D. Reckley, NRO/DSRA 301-415-7490
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Mr. Mike Tschiltz, representing NEI, discussed the white paper related to fuel suppy for advanced reactors, with an emphasis on the expected use of higher assay low enriched uranium (ADAMS Accession No. ML17341A604). This topic was discussed in more detail at the meeting on November 2, 2017. The staff has added the major issues from NEIs fuel cycle white paper to the non-LWR policy table (ADAMS Accession No. ML18010A484). The rulemakings related to material control and accounting and enhanced security for special nuclear material will be addressed in upcoming NRC public meetings. NRC staff will participate in the collaborative efforts with DOE on topics such as criticality benchmark data and transportation packages and will, when appropriate, hold public meetings on these topics.
Mr. Peter Hastings, representing NEI, led a brief discussion on efforts to develop guidance for reactor developers preparing a regulatory engagement plans. This topic was discussed at the public meeting on November 2, 2017, and a draft outline for the industry guidance doucment was provided as an enclosure to the meeting summary (ADAMS Accession No. ML17319A210).
The staff expects to provide additional comments on the guidance document to support future discussions and NEIs issuance of the document.
The staff summarized a draft white paper on functional containment performance criteria (ADAMS Accession No. ML17334A155). The white paper was prepared to solicit feedback from stakeholders and support the staffs efforts to prepare a Commission paper in early 2018. The white paper describes a proposed methodology for defining performance criteria on the basis of the role of structures, systems, and components in retaining fission products during events within the categories defined by the LMP white papers. The white paper also discusses possible functions for physical buildings or enclosures other than radionuclide retention, such as protection against external events or supporting heat removal systems. The staffs discussion of next steps included upcoming meetings with the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards and the likely need to interact with stakeholders prior to the next periodic meeting that is scheduled for February 1, 2018. A revision to the staffs white paper has been made available (ADAMS Accession No. ML18010A516) to support the February meeting and other potential interactions. Stakeholders are encouraged to provide feedback on the revised paper by contacting Bill Reckley by phone at (301) 415-7490 or email at william.reckley@nrc.gov.
The afternoon session began with discussions of the continuing work on and possible NRC endorsement of Division 5, High Temperature Reactors, of Section III, Rules for Construction of Nuclear Facility Components, of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. Presentations were provided by the staff, DOEs Office of Nuclear Energy (William Corwin) and ASME (Sam Sham) describing the current status of the Code and ongoing activities to support high-temperature reactors (see slides in ADAMS Accession No. ML17354B219). The non-LWR developers and other stakeholders, participating in the meeting, recommended that the staff begin the endorsement process for the 2017 Edition of Section III, Division 5. The staff has requested formal input from the non-LWR technology working groups and ASME. The staff expects to start planning this activity in FY 2018 following receipt of the ASME request for endorsement.
The staff provided background information on a possible issue related to current NRC guidance on siting of nuclear power reactors in relation to population centers and population densities. A draft white paper on this topic was released prior to the meeting to support the discussion (ADAMS Accession No. ML17333B158). Regulatory requirements on siting and defining exclusion areas and low population zones are based on potential offsite radiation doses from reactor accidents. Light-water small modular reactors (SMRs) and non-LWR technologies could result in lesser potential offsite releases and therefore reduced limitations related to siting in
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populated areas. NRC policy includes locating reactors away from densely populated centers and existing guidance includes considering population densities to distances out to 20 miles from a power reactor facility. Mr. Randy Belles, of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL),
provided insights from evaluations using an ORNL siting tool based on geographical information systems and spatial modeling techniques. The tool supports considering factors such as populations, proximity to transmission lines, and availability of cooling water. The presentation provided an example of potential SMRs replacing fossil power stations near a city and how different population density criteria resulted in inclusion or exclusion of various sites. This topic will be discussed in upcoming meetings of the NEI Advanced Reactor Working Group and, when appropriate, future NRC public stakeholder meetings.
The meeting ended with a discussion of other topics and future meetings. Dr. Andrew Sowder, of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), provided an update on limited scope topical report on manufacturing TRISO [tristructural-isotropic] fuel particles expected to be submitted in late 2018. Preliminary agenda topics for the February 1, 2018 stakeholder meeting include:
Licensing Modernization Project White Papers Functional containment performance criteria Regulatory Engagement Plans TBD - Fuel Cycle (Nuclear Infrastructure Council)
TBD - Technology Working Group Updates - Regulatory Issues TBD - NEI Advanced Reactor Working Group - Regulatory Issues
Enclosures:
- 1. List of attendees
ML18010A447 NRO-002 OFFICE NRO/DSRA/ARPB:PM NAME WReckley DATE 01/ 11 /2018 Attendance List - Attended at least part of meeting in person Name Organization Brian Smith NRC/NMSS Charles Teal NRC/NMSS Bernie White NRC/NMSS Arlon Costa NRC/NRO Jan Mazza NRC/NRO Matthew Mitchell NRC/NRO John Monninger NRC/NRO Bill Reckley NRC/NRO Jeff Schmidt NRC/NRO John Segala NRC/NRO George Tartal NRC/NRO Lucieann Vechioli NRC/NRO Joe Williams NRC/NRO Andrew Yeshnik NRC/NRO Joe Rivers NRC/NSIR Todd Smith NRC/NSIR Maxine Segarnick NRC/OGC Matthew Gordon NRC/RES Amy Hull NRC/RES Raj Iyengar NRC/RES Shah Malik NRC/RES Ruth Reyes NRC/RES Rebecca Onuschak DOE-NE Craig Welling DOE-NE Farshid Shahrokhi Areva Andrew Sowder EPRI Peter Hastings hastings group Mark Holbrook INL Ed Wallace LMP Karl Fleming LMP Amir Afzali LMP - Southern Co.
2 Ryan Lighty Morgan Lewis Kati Austgen NEI Everett Redmond NEI Mike Tschiltz NEI Caroline Cochran Oklo Philip Gibbs ORNL Jason Redd Southern Company Peter Gaillard TerraPower Andries Haasbroek X-energy Prasad Kadambi Hiroki Watanabe Attendance List - Webinar Attendees Name Organization Uriel Bachrach Westinghouse Randy Belles ORNL Jana Bergman Curtiss-Wright John Bolin General Atomics Scott Bussey NRC Trevor Cook DOE-NE William Corwin DOE-NE Timothy Crook Transatomic r George Flanagan ORNL Matthew Gordon NRC David Grabaskas ANL Kathy Halvey Gibson NRC Jerald Head GE-H David Holcomb ORNL Alex Huning X-energy Raj Iyengar NRC Diane Jackson NRC Nicole LaHaye PNNL Chris Lui NRC Edwin Lyman UCS
3 Imtiaz Madni NRC Gary Mays ORNL Olivia Mikula NRC Wayne Moe INL Chantal Morin CNSC Carol Moyer NRC Ronald Omberg PNNL Thomas Pedersen Copenhagen Atomics Mike Poore ORNL Alex Popova Oklo Jeff Powers ORNL Christopher Regan NRC Pranab Samanta BNL Sam Sham ANL Timothy Smith GSI Dan Stout TVA Aslak Stubsgard Copenhagen Atomics Kenneth Thomas NRC Tammy Way IRDP Staci Wheeler ARTC David Wootan PNNL