ML19204A094
| ML19204A094 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | NuScale |
| Issue date: | 08/05/2019 |
| From: | Frederick Brown Office of New Reactors |
| To: | Riccardella P Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards |
| Tabatabai O, 415 6616 | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19191A018 | List: |
| References | |
| OEDO-19-00326 | |
| Download: ML19204A094 (3) | |
Text
August 5, 2019 Dr. Peter Riccardella, Chairman Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001
SUBJECT:
CHAPTER 2, SITE CHARACTERISTICS AND SITE PARAMETERS, AND CHAPTER 17, QUALITY ASSURANCE AND RELIABILITY ASSURANCE, OF THE U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION STAFFS SAFETY EVALUATION REPORT WITH OPEN ITEMS RELATED TO THE CERTIFICATION OF THE NUSCALE POWER, LLC, SMALL MODULAR REACTOR
Dear Dr. Riccardella:
Thank you for your letter, dated June 27, 2019 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML19171A350), providing the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS or Committee) views on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staffs process for reviewing the NuScale Power, LLC (NuScale), Open Design Items, which are also called unverified design assumptions. I appreciate the time and effort the ACRS has devoted to this important subject, as reflected in meetings held with the ACRS Subcommittee for NuScale on December 18, 2018, the ACRS Full Committee on February 6, 2019, and a follow-up informational meeting with the NRC staff on June 6, 2019.
In your letter of June 27, 2019, the ACRS recommended the following:
[T]he staffs review process prior to design certification should identify those unverified design assumptions that are important to the reasonable assurance finding. This will help ensure that required closure prior to operability of the affected structure, system or component is identified and included as part of the design certification licensing basis. It is important that this process is not limited to items covered by the quality assurance program.
The Staff agrees with this conclusion and appreciates the opportunity to have explored the matter of Open Design Items more fully with the Committee. While performing a design certification review, including the NuScale review, the staff identifies the key input parameters and specified performance capabilities associated with the applicants demonstration of compliance with the applicable regulatory requirements. The key parameters and performance capabilities that the staff relied upon to make its findings must be appropriately captured or tracked within the final design certification document or supporting controlled
P. Riccardella 2
documents and calculations. This applies equally to those regulatory requirements that are subject to a quality assurance program and those that are not. With respect to the NuScale review, the staff is confident that the key parameters and performance capabilities to be relied upon in the staffs findings are either already captured in the current revision of the design control application or are being tracked using an appropriate regulatory mechanism.
Sincerely,
/RA/ (Kevin Coyne for)
Frederick D. Brown, Director Office of New Reactors Docket No.52-048 cc: Chairman Svinicki Commissioner Baran Commissioner Caputo Commissioner Wright SECY EDO
Pkg: ML19191A018 Ltr: ML19204A094
- via e-mail NRO-002 OFFICE NRO/DLSE/LB1
- PM QTE NRO/DLSE/LB1
- LA NRO/DCIP/QVI B: BC NRO/DLSE/LB1
- BC NAME OTabatabai JDougherty*
MMoore*
KKavanagh*
SLee (GCranston for)
DATE 07/24/2019 07/24/2019 07/24/2019 07/24/2019 07/24/2019 OFFICE NRO/DSRA: D NRR/DIRS: D NRO/DLSE: D OGC (NLO)
NRO: D NAME KCoyne*
CMiller RTaylor SVrahoretis*
FBrown (Kevin Coyne for)
DATE 07/24/2019 07/26/2019 07/31/2019 07/24/2019 08/05/2019