ML19343D240
| ML19343D240 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 01/26/1981 |
| From: | Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards |
| To: | Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards |
| References | |
| ACRS-1813, NUDOCS 8105040030 | |
| Download: ML19343D240 (7) | |
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MINUTES OF THE
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NRC SAFETY RESEARCH PROGRAM f/Sk $l JANUARY 7, 1981 t
WASHINGTON, D.C.
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The ACRS Subcommittee on NRC Safety Research Program held a meeting on January 7, 1981, at 1717 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.
Mr. Sam Duraiswamy was the Desig-nated Federal Employee for the meeting. A list of documents submitted to the Subcommittee is included in Attachment A.
ATTENDEES:
C. P. Siess (Subcommittee Chairman), D. Okrent, M. Plesset, ACRS:
C. Mark, S. Lawroski, D. W. Moeller (pm), P. G. Shewnon (pm).
Principal NRC Speakers:
R. Minogue, S. B3ssett, F. Arsenault, L. Shao, R. Bernero, D. McPherson, H. Sullivan, C. Kelber.
INTR 000CTCR[STATEMENTBYTHESUBCOMMITTEECHAIRMAN Dr. Siess, the Subcommittee Chairman, convened the meeting at 8:30 a.m. and indicated that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the Draft ACRS Report to Congress on NRC's FY 1982 Safety Research Program and Budget.
He pointed out that the entire meeting will be closed to the public since it will involve discussion of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) mark on NRC Safety Re-search Program budget for FY 1982.
PRESENTATION BY THE OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REGULATORY RESEARCH (RES) 0F TH MR. R. MINOGUE l
Mr. Minogue, Director of the RES, reviewed briefly the OMS mark on NRC's FY 1982 l
Safety Research Program budget, indicating that the Commission request to OMB for lf.
NRC's FY 1982 Safety Research Program support budget included $227.2 million.
However, the OMB reduced that budgr: to $213.2 million. The $14 million reduction l l by OMB is distributed in the following. areas:
LOCA and Transiennt Research (PBF Tests)
$2 million l
v LOFT
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Plant Operational Safety
$4 million
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I NRC Safety Research Program January 7,1981 Mr. Minogue pointed out that there is no constraint to distribute the cut made by the OMB among various Subelements of the same Decision Unit. However, the NRC does not have the flexibility to distribute the money among various Decision Units.
Dr. Siess corrented that he believes the NRC should have flexibility to redistri-
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bute the money among various Decision Units.
With regard to the FY 1983 research effort, Mr. Minogue said that the FY 1983 estimate provides for a centinuation of the redirection of research priorities and emphasis reflected in FY 1982 request.
In FY 1983, large integrated system tests will be curtailed further and increased research efforts related to Plant Operational Safety, Severe Accident Research, Systems and Reliability Analysis and Waste Manhgement will be continued (Attachnent B). Additional effort and priority will be given to component qualification testing under severe accident conditions, field testing of nondestructive examination techniques, understand-ing of complex plant system transient behavior, and fission product transport and release experiments needed for realistic analysis of severe accident sequences.
The NRC will also continue efforts to improve criteria for improved plant instru-mentation, control room design and display systems for commercial development.
Regarding the LOFT program, Mr. Minogue said that the Commission will be reviewing the recommendations of the LOFT Special Review Group in February 1981 and will decide on the LOFT program direction beyond FY 1982.
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Mr. Minogue mentioned Public Law 96-567 entitled " Nuclear Safety Resarch Development and Demonstration Act of 1980" which assigns responsibility to 00E to establish a research, development and demonstration program for developing improvements in the generic safety of' nuclear power plants during the next 5 He indicated that the contents of this Law are not factored into' the years.
NRC budget process.
DISCUSSION OF THE DRAFT ACRS REPORT TO CONGRESS Dr. Siess stated that the Subcommittee should review for the adequacy of the f
recommendations listed in the Draft ACRS Report to Congress on NRC's FY 1982 January 7,1931 w
NRC Safety Researen Program Safety Research Program and Budget. He suggested also that the ACRS comments on RES response to ACRS reconmendations listed in NUREG-0699 (ACRS Report to the Commission, cated July 1980) can be included in the ACRS Report to Congress, 1
if necessary.
The Subcommittee discussed the adequacy of the approach suggested in the " General Recommendation" Section (prepared by Dr. Okrent) that was based on the assumption that it is unlikely that an NRC safety research budget significantly larger than It discussed that recommended by the President will be approved by the Congress.
also the high priority areas of research identified in that section and the appro-priateness of the recommendation that increased funding for the programs in the high priorit./ areas be obtained by making large reductions in the programs asso-ciated with LOCA, and fuel behavior and by making moderate reductions in most other Decision Units.
Some of the comments and suggestions provided by the Subcommittee members to obtain 6
increased funding support for the high priority areas of research identified in the General Recommendation Section are as follows:
Dr. Plesset commented that additional funding for high priority areas can be obtained by redirection of certain program funds. He pointed out that if the ACRS suggests a budget reduction in a specific program area, it should make sure that the amount cut in that program is redirected to other high priority programs.
Dr. Lawroski suggested that a moderate reduction (about $1 or $2 million) can be made in the High Level Waste Management program because he believes that even with such reduction, this program will provide timely infomation for use in the NRC's decision-making activities in this area.
Dr. Okrent commented that the funding level for the Power Burst Facility (PBF) test program can be reduced because he is not convinced that some of the tests planned in PBF will provide meaningful results.
Based on the information given by the NRC Staff that only two tests can be run in the LOFT facility with the $44 million funding level I
NP.C Safety Researen Program January 7,1981 included in the FY 1982 President's Budget for this program, the Sub-committee felt that it is not cost effective to carry out the LOFT test program. The Subcommittee decided to recommend to the ACRS tha!. the LOFT test program be terminated at the end of FY 1981 and the facility be put in a stand-by status during FY 1982 and the funds that will be available by terminating this program be redirected to other high priority research programs. The Subcommittee decided also to suggest in the ACRS Report that if the Congress believes there ought to be certain tests run in the LOFT f acility, additional funding be appropriated spec'fically to carry out such tests.
When asked by the Subcommitte about an estimate of the expense for decommissioning and dismartling the LOFT f acility, the NRC Staff stated that.it will cost about
$40 million. This $40 million would also include the expense for completion of a'
'ses of the test results. They pointed out that, in accordance with the mensrandum of understanding between NRC and DOE, NRC has to pay for the deconrnis-sioning of the LOFT facility.
During the discussion of Chapter 1 (LOCA and Transient Research), Dr. Okrent commented that the NRC Staff's research effort in understanding the thermal-hydraulic phenomena of a
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ider LOCA and transient conditions is inadequate.
The expenditure for res n a BWR it much less than for a PWR. He believes that more money and thinking should be given to research programs to better understand the thermal-hydraulic pheomena of BWRs under LOCA and transient conditions.
The NRC Staff agreed with Dr. Okrent's comment, indicating that they also believe that more money should be spent on BWR programs.
l Dr. Okrent suggested also that a research program to look at the fisues associated with water hammer be included under the LOCA and Transient research.
Dr. Plesset asked, if the the NRC Staff has to choose between TLTA and Semiscale MOD-5 in terms of their contribution to public safety, which one would they choose?
The NRC Staff responded that they would choose Semiscale M00-5.
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NRC Safety D.esearch Program 5-January 7,1981 Dr. Plesset suggested that the NRC Staff try to use the TLTA f acility in Japan, because he believes that it is a better facility and will provide better results.
During the discussion of the Advanced Reactor portion of Chapter 4 (Severe Accident Phenomena and Mitigation Research), the Subcommittee asked about the bases for the $8 million request made by the Commission to OMB.
Dr. Kelber stated that the $8 million request is based on the assumption that the NRC Staff will not be involved in any licensing activities in the Advanced Reactor area in the next few years.
However, if the NRC Staff has to take any licensing actions in this area in the near future, more funding (2 or 3 times the requested $8 million) will be required.
Dr. Siess ask'ed about the status of the HTGR program in FY 1982. Dr. Kelber responded that he does not see a continued need for a HTGR program in the absence of a national program in this area with firm objectives and mile-stones probably involving a significant element of international cooperation.
After discussion of certain other chapters, Dr. Siess stated the following:
1.
The decisions made by the Subcommittee will be recommended to the full Committee for concurrence.
2.
The responsible chapter authors try to incorporate the changes approved by the Subcommittee prior to the January 8-10, 1981
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full Committee meeting.
3.
Based on the approach and the high priority items identified in the General Recommendations Ssction of the ACRS Report, the' ACRS should try to develop the proposed ACRS budget for inclusion in the ACRS Report.
Dr. Siess adjourned the meeting at 5:15 p.m.
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i APPENDIX A LIST OF DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED TO THE SUBCOMMITTEE 7.
Nuclear Safety Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1980, 2.
Justification of NRC for restoring the OMB reductions - Letter to Mr. McIntyre, OMB from Mr. Ahearne, NRC, dated Decenber 10, 1980.
FY 1982 Congressional Budget Narrative (Green Book), dated December 31, 3.
1980.
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FY 1983 SUPHARY NARRATIVE - RES The FY 1983 estimate provides for a continuation of the redirection of research priorities and emphasis reflected in the FY 1982 request.
In FY 1983, large integrated system tests will be further curtailed and increased research efforts will be continued related to plant operational safety, severe accident research, systems and reliability analysis and 4
waste management.
The Comission will be reviewing the recomendations of the LOFT special review group in February 1981 and will decide on the LOFT program direction beyond FY 1982 at that time. The FY 1983 estimate for LO R is based on a program plan which assumes completion of experiments in the LOFT facility related to specific licensing concerns in FY 1983 with final post test analysis and decomissioning activities planned for FY 1984.
The planned phasedown of the LOCA and transient research program will continue in FY 1983 reflected by reduced integral system tests in the Semiscale and similar large-scale experimental facilities, and a shift of emphasis from large system code development to application of codes for better understanding of the progression and consequence of accidents in both reactor and containment systems. Small scale experiments to study particular phenomena of interest in understanding specific component behavior and tests of fuel behavior under accident conditions will continue as part of this program in FY 1983.
The increased emphasis in plant operational safety research and work in severe accident phenomena and mitigation reflected in the FY 1982 request will be continued in FY 1983. Additional effort and priority in FY 1983 will be given to component qualification testing under severe accident conditions, field testing of nondestructive examination techniques, understanding of complex plant system transient behavior, and fission product transport and release experiments needed for realistic analysis of severe accident sequences. The'NC will also continue efforts to improve human-machine interfaces and plant diagnostic capability by providing criteria for improved plant instrumentation, control room design and display systems for comercial development.
Research in Systems and Reliability Analysis in FY 1983 will continue to apply increased emphasis to application of probabiliste risk assessment techniques in the nuclear regulatory process, system reliability analysis and evaluation of improved decay heat removal and containment systems.
Our waste management research in FY 1983 reflects additional experimental studies recuired to.hk;- independent criteria for site characterization (as a part of the site selection and appreval process. Other major research efforts in siting and environmental effects, safeguards and fuel cycle safety f
will continue in FY 1983 to provide the required technical basis for NRC l
regulatory decisionmaking.
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