ML19071A285
| ML19071A285 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 03/14/2019 |
| From: | William Reckley NRC/NRO/DSRA/ARPB |
| To: | John Segala NRC/NRO/DSRA/ARPB |
| Reckley W, NRO/DSRA/ARPB, 415-7490 | |
| References | |
| Download: ML19071A285 (10) | |
Text
March 14, 2019 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 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 FEBRUARY 7, 2019, PUBLIC MEETING TO DISCUSS REGULATORY IMPROVEMENTS FOR ADVANCED REACTORS On February 7, 2019, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) held a Category 2 public meeting with stakeholders, including the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), to discuss ongoing initiatives within the industry and NRC related to the development and licensing of non-light water reactors (non-LWRs) (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML19023A538). The majority of the meeting was focused on discussions of civil/structural issues, including the possible use of seismic isolators as part of the design and licensing of advanced reactors. 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. ML19045A620.
NRC staff from the Office of New Reactors (NRO) provided a presentation on NRC activities related to improving the efficiency of environmental reviews for future nuclear power plants.
Future discussions will include the staffs plans to prepare interim staff guidance to address advanced reactor designs and industry suggestions to explore additional improvements, such as preparing generic environmental impact statements.
Mr. Jason Redd of Southern Company introduced the focus area of the meeting, which was civil/structural issues and related regulatory interfaces for the advanced reactor community.
Mr. Redd identified a number of items and included an ask of either the NRC or industry to ensure the interactions would maintain a positive momentum following the meeting. The items, asks, and planned activities are summarized below:
CONTACT:
William Reckley, NRO/DSRA 301-415-7490
J. Segala 2
Table 1: Follow-up Activities From February 7, 2019 Stakeholder Meeting Civil/Structural Item Ask Activities Going Forward General Technical and regulatory issues related to the civil/structural design features for advanced reactors requires coordination between the NRC, industry, standards development organizations (SDOs), and individual developers. NRC and industry should have points of contact and overall plans or roadmaps to help ensure activities are being coordinated.
The February 7th stakeholder meeting provided a starting point and future stakeholder meetings can be used to help coordination - but it is more likely that meetings dedicated to civil/structural issues will be needed. For NRC, the coordination will remain within the advanced reactor program with an assigned project manager (to be named in the near future) to organize participation from appropriate technical staff in various offices. A mapping of issues to points of contacts within industry organizations and SDOs will be developed.
Licensing Modernization NRC continue towards approval and issuance of DG-1353 to address determination of licensing basis events, safety classification, and defense in depth Staff continues efforts to issue draft DG-1353 for public comment and prepare a related Commission paper to affirm approach and resolve policy issues. Updates to be provided via NRC web page and future meetings. The staff will work to coordinate NRC and industry activities related to technology-inclusive, risk-informed, and performance-based guidance for seismic safety with other advanced reactor guidance.
Design Details in Licensing Documents NRC clarify the level of detail expected in applications and ensure mutual understanding of terms such as typical and representative Staff plans to interface with advanced reactor community to develop and/or endorse guidance addressing level of detail in applications. This activity expected to begin in mid-2019 and result in a follow-on regulatory guide to DG-1353. Updates to be provided via NRC web page and future meetings.
Changes During Construction NRC establish predictable change processes to align requirements for prior approval of changes with the potential impact on public health and safety Staff interacting with licensees with plants under construction and plans to address issue within planned Part 50/52 rulemaking. Item also likely to be addressed within development of a technology-inclusive framework as required by the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act.
Updates to be provided via NRC web page and future meetings.
NRC Staff Training on Novel Features and Innovative Approaches Industry work with NRC staff to ensure opportunities for training, exposure, and experience with proposed novel features and innovative features.
Staff agreeable to identifying specific training needs and opportunities through interactions with labs; universities; societies and trade organizations; and specific developers, licensees, or applicants.
J. Segala 3
Seismic Isolation Near-term engagements on development of seismic isolation analysis methodology and acceptance criteria Staff to make NUREG/CR reports available to public (see later in this summary), continue engagements through SDOs (ASCE for example), and work with DOE and the external advanced reactor community on endorsement/preparation of guidance (regulatory guide for example) to support possible use of seismic isolators.
Modular Construction and Factory Fabrication NRC policy re-affirmation on level of detail necessary to make finding of reasonable assurance of adequate protection; agreement on role of tolerances and treatment in licensing documents, and lessons learned from SERs involving modular construction Staff plans to continue ongoing discussions with LWRs and interface with advanced reactor community to develop and/or endorse guidance addressing level of detail in applications.
This activity expected to begin in mid-2019 and result in a follow-on regulatory guide to DG-1353. Updates to be provided via NRC web page and future meetings.
Concrete and Steel (high temperatures)
What are NRC staffs current and planned activities in the area of concrete and structural steel exposed to high-temperature environments Staff has sponsored some research in the area of environmental (temperature, irradiation) effects on concrete and steel.
Importance for specific technologies or designs would determine needed justificationsand possibly additional research and developmenton the part of industry, DOE, or others.
Concrete Reinforcement with Headed Reinforcement What are NRC plans for endorsement of ACI 318-11, Section 12.6 Staff continues participation in SDOs and will consider addressing within existing regulatory guidance framework for concrete structures if requested to endorse.
Steel Plate and Concrete Composite (SC)
Construction What are NRC plans for endorsement of AISC N690-18 Staff plans to complete its ongoing review of the N690 standard and proceed to the drafting of a regulatory guide (DG-1304) with the staff position on N690-18.
Advanced Concrete Materials (including high strength and fiber reinforced concretes)
What are NRC plans for endorsement of developments in advanced concrete materials Staff continues participation in SDOs and will consider addressing within regulatory guidance framework for concrete structures if requested to endorse.
NRC staff members Jose Pires (RES) and Jimmy Xu (NRO) provided a summary of NRC activities related to seismic isolation, steel plate composite construction, and risk-informed performance-based approaches to seismic safety. The presentation mentioned several reports that the NRC staff expected to be published in the near future. The first report, NUREG/CR-7253, Technical Considerations for Seismic Isolation of Nuclear Facilities, was made available on the NRCs webpage following the meeting (ADAMS Accession No. ML19050A422). The other reports mentioned (NUREG/CR-7254 on Sliding Bearings and NUREG/CR-7255 on Elastomeric Bearings) are expected to be made available on the NRC website within several weeks of this meeting summary.
J. Segala 4
Mr. Marc Nichol of Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) provided a presentation on new plant cost reduction and regulatory interactions. Challenges to the development and licensing of advanced reactors include the probable use of advanced manufacturing techniques.
Coincidentally, there was an NRC public meeting on advanced manufacturing held on the morning of February 7, which is summarized in a memorandum dated February 13, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No. ML19038A468).
Dr. Chandu Bolisetti of Idaho National Laboratory described activities to support design optimization for safety and cost using MASTODON computer simulation tools for evaluating seismic risks.
Dr. A Whittaker of the University at Buffalo summarized cost breakdowns for new build nuclear plants, highlighting the high contributions related to civil/structural design and construction.
Dr. Whittaker provided background on the use of seismic isolation in nuclear designs and other applications as well as summarizing current activities related to American Society of Civil Engineers standards and design and analysis projects supported by advanced reactor developers, Electric Power Research Institute, and Department of Energy.
Marty Stutzke of the NRC staff supported a discussion on the possible development of generic seismic hazard curves to support the design process. The discussion of addressing external hazards (with focus on seismic hazard) during the design process was followed by a general discussion of civil/structural issues and insights from recent licensing and construction activities offered by Sujit Samaddar of the NRC staff.
The meeting ended with a discussion of other topics and future meetings. The date of the next meeting is scheduled for March 28, 2018. Agenda topics for the next meeting include NRC response to the Nuclear Energy Innovations and Modernization Act, the development of guidance of mechanistic source terms, and the possible revision of guidance related to population densities and the siting of nuclear power plants.
Enclosure:
- 1. List of attendees
ML19071A285 NRO-002 OFFICE NRO/DSRA NRO/DRSA NAME WReckley JSegala DATE 03/12/2019 03/14/2019
Attendance List - Attended at least part of meeting in person Name Organization Jim Hammelman NRC/NMSS Olivier Lareynie NRC/NMSS Manas Chakravorty NRC/NRO Amy Cubbage NRC/NRO Jack Cushiing NRC/NRO Michelle Hart NRC/NRO Ata Istar NRC/NRO Maryann Khan NRC/NRO Stu Magruder NRC/NRO John Monninger NRC/NRO Cliff Munson NRC/NRO Alissa Neuhausen NRC/NRO Donald Palmrose NRC/NRO Sunwoo Park NRC/NRO Pravin Patel NRC/NRO Hanh Phan NRC/NRO Bill Reckley NRC/NRO Robert Roche-Rivera NRC/NRO Sujit Samaddar NRC/NRO John Segala NRC/NRO Martin Stutzke NRC/NRO George Tartal NRC/NRO Vaughn Thomas NRC/NRO Boyce Travis NRC/NRO Jim Xu NRC/NRO Ismael Garcia NRC/NRR George Thomas NRC/NRR Brian Wittick NRC/NRR Michelle Sampsn NRC/NSIR Bill Orders NRC/OCMAC Jinsuo Nie NRC/RES Jose Pires NRC/RES Frederick Sock NRC/RES
2 Spencer Nelson Clearpath Nilesh Chokshi Consultant Prasad Kadambi Consultant Jana Bergman Curtiss-Wright Tom Miller DOE/NE Farshid Shahrokhi Framatome Alan Beard GE-H Chandu Bolisetti INL Darrell Gardner Kairos Stephen Burdick Morgan Lewis Kati Austgen NEI Marc Nichol NEI Bo Saulsbury PNNL Amir Afzali Southern Co Jason Redd Southern Co Andrew Whittaker University at Buffalo Jill Monahan Westinghouse
3 Attendance List - Webinar Attendees Name Organization George Abatt Becht Randy Belles ORNL David Blee USNIC John Brellenthin TVA Matthew Brenner Bechtel Tim Cahill Bechtel Kevin Casey TVA Michelle Catts GE-H Gordon Clefton INL William Corwin AdRxMatls Arlon Costa NRC/NRO Dayna Dority NRC/NRO Neil Haggerty EXCEL Michelle Hayes NRC/NRO William Horak BNL Alex Huning ORNL Bhagwat Jain NRC/NRO Tanya Kirby GE-H Juan Lopez NRC/NRR Sanj Malushte Bechtel Jan Mazza NRC/NRO William McGlinn ICF Nicholas McMurray NRC/NRO Brian Meadors GE-H Farhang Ostadan Bechtel Anil Patnaik Univ of Akron Alex Popova Oklo Pranab Samanta BNL Dogan Seber NRC/RES Sam Sham ANL Charles Sills Eurasiacenter Patrick Snouffer Bechtel Luben Todorovski GE-H
4 John Tomon NRC/RES Nanette Valliere NRC/OCMSB Andrew Zach US Senate