ML19149A505

May 22 2019 NRC-NuScale Public Meeting Summary_Reduced Staffing Plan Validation Activities

ML19149A505
Person / Time
Site:	NuScale
Issue date:	07/22/2019
From:	Prosanta Chowdhury NRC/NRO/DLSE/LB1
To:	Samson Lee NRC/NRO/DLSE/LB1
Chowdhury P, 415-1647
Shared Package
ML19190A105	List: ML19149A505
References
Download: ML19149A505 (7)

Text

July 22, 2019 MEMORANDUM TO: Samuel S. Lee, Chief Licensing Branch 1 Division of Licensing, Siting and Environmental Analysis Office of New Reactors FROM: Prosanta Chowdhury, Project Manager /RA/

Licensing Branch 1 Division of Licensing, Siting and Environmental Analysis Office of New Reactors

SUMMARY

OF THE MAY 22, 2019, U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION CATEGORY 1 PUBLIC TELECONFERENCE WITH NUSCALE POWER, LLC, REGARDING NUSCALE REDUCED CONTROL ROOM STAFFING PLAN VALIDATION ACTIVITIES On May 22, 2019, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff held a Category 1 teleconference public meeting with NuScale Power, LLC (NuScale) for NuScale to discuss their reduced control room staffing plan validation activities. The meeting was held at NuScales request. One member of the public attended this meeting.

The public meeting notice can be found in Agencywide Documents Access and Management System under Accession No. ML19142A075. This meeting notice was also posted on the NRC public Web site.

CONTACT: Prosanta Chowdhury, NRO/DLSE 301-415-1647

S. Lee 2 Enclosed is the Meeting Agenda (Enclosure 1), List of Attendees (Enclosure 2), and Meeting Summary (Enclosure 3). A proprietary version of the meeting summary (ADAMS Accession No. ML19190A103) was communicated to NuScale under separate cover.

Docket No.52-048

Enclosures:

As stated cc w/encl.: DC NuScale Power, LLC Listserv

Package: ML19190A105 Memo: ML19149A505 NRO-002 OFFICE NRO/DLSE/LB1: PM NRO/DLSE/LB3: LA NRR/DIRS/IRAB: BC NRO/DLSE/LB1: PM (acting)

NAME PChowdhury* SGreen* AAgrawal* PChowdhury DATE 5/30/2019 5/31/2019 6/04/2019 7/22/2019 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION CATEGORY 1 PUBLIC TELECONFERENCE WITH NUSCALE POWER, LLC, REGARDING NUSCALE REDUCED CONTROL ROOM STAFFING PLAN VALIDATION ACTIVITIES MEETING AGENDA Time Topic 1:00 p.m. - 1:05 p.m. Introduction 1:05 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. Discussion by NuScale on their reduced control room staffing plan validation activities 2:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. Public Comments 2:30 p.m. Adjourn Meeting Enclosure 1

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION CATEGORY 1 PUBLIC TELECONFERENCE WITH NUSCALE POWER, LLC, REGARDING NUSCALE REDUCED CONTROL ROOM STAFFING PLAN VALIDATION ACTIVITIES LIST OF ATTENDEES Name Organization Brian Green U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

Ami Agrawal NRC Maurin Scheetz NRC Prosanta Chowdhury NRC Samuel Lee NRC David Desaulniers NRC Lauren Nist NRC Nadja Joergensen NuScale Power, LLC (NuScale)

Doug Bowman NuScale Tim Tovar NuScale Mark Chitty NuScale Mike Melton NuScale Mervin Lewis Public Enclosure 2

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION CATEGORY 1 PUBLIC TELECONFERENCE WITH NUSCALE POWER, LLC, REGARDING NUSCALE REDUCED CONTROL ROOM STAFFING PLAN VALIDATION ACTIVITIES

SUMMARY

On May 22, 2019, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff held a Category 1 teleconference public meeting with NuScale Power, LLC, (NuScale) for NuScale to discuss their reduced control room staffing plan validation activities. The meeting was scheduled at NuScales request. Attendees for this meeting are listed in Enclosure 2. One member of the public joined this meeting.

The purpose of the meeting was for NuScale to inform the NRC staff of what NuScale was doing with the ongoing reduced control room staffing plan validation activities and to answer any questions the NRC staff may have. Specifically, NuScale sought to inform the NRC staff of their testing with 3-person crews to gather the technical data to support a minimum licensed operator staffing of three crew members. The purpose also included for NuScale to clearly communicate that they have only committed to collecting the data at this time; they have no immediate plans regarding use or application of the data once it is obtained. NuScale emphasized that their reduced control room staffing plan validation activities will not jeopardize their Design Certification Application (DCA) approval timeline. NuScale does not plan on submitting information involving reduced control room staffing plan validation activities on the docket at this time.

NuScale stated the following:

• Between June and September of 2018, NuScale completed Integrated System Validation (ISV) testing with three 5-person crews, which was initially planned with 6-member crews.

• The NRC staff audited NuScales staffing plan validation testing in March and August of 2016, and ISV testing in June-July and August of 2018.

• NuScale is in the process of running simulator tests with a 3-person crew (2 reactor operators, 1 shift supervisor), for the [ ] they considered their most challenging, and is collecting data using independent observers. Early results suggest the crews are performing very well during the highly challenging scenarios, meeting all acceptance criteria with plenty of margin.

• NuScale has not determined what they will do with the collected data nor the timing of any action they might take.

• The reduced staffing level specifically refers to the minimum number of operators and senior operators that would be required by the Technical Specifications (TSs). More operators than that required by TSs may be in the control room, as needed, to accomplish plant activities. Licensees should be able to have the flexibility to use reduced staffing in circumstances that would not compromise safety. Relevant technical specifications may change to specify reduced minimum staffing requirements.

Enclosure 3

• NuScale did these tests based on interest from prospective buyers.

• NuScale did the tests at this time to utilize the trained operators currently in hand.

• Data collection at this time will facilitate future decisions. The scenario runs were video-taped and recorded in accordance with applicable test plans. This is the same process the NRC staff has observed in the previous audits.

The NRC staff commented that it would be an open question as to the sufficiency of using only [

] for testing operations with 3-member crews demonstrating the acceptability of the reduced staffing, since staffing plan validation and ISV was run with 5-member crews and more scenarios. In addition, the staff stated that the DCA review is in Phase 4, which requires completion of the Advanced Safety Evaluation Report with no Open Items, and introduction of a new proposed reduced staffing level at this phase will impact the current review schedule.

Further dialog may be necessary to understand the full scope of this effort. The NRC staff confirmed that they were not endorsing the suitability or adequacy of NuScales testing activities related to reduced staffing which NuScale described for the first time at this meeting. The staff made no commitments as a result of these discussions and had no action following this meeting.

The only member of the public attending this meeting questioned whether NuScales reduced staffing test scenarios were realistic, particularly, with hanging maintenance tags. The NRC staff responded that they would use NRC regulations and guidance to review any information NuScale might submit on the docket related to reduced control room staffing.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:40 p.m. eastern daylight time.

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