ML20206S672

Summary of ACRS Safety Research Program Subcommittee 980601 Meeting in Rockville,Md Re Discussion with NRC Concerning SECY-98-076, Core Research Capabilities

ML20206S672
Person / Time
Issue date:	07/08/1998
From:	Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards
To:	Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards
References
ACRS-3109, SECY-98-076-C, SECY-98-76-C, NUDOCS 9905210195
Download: ML20206S672 (7)

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T Date issued: 7/8/98 Robert Uhrig - 7/9/98 ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON REACTOR SAFEGUARDS SAFETY RESEARCH PROGRAM SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES JUNE 1,1998 ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND The Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) Subcommittee on Safety Research Program held a meeting on June 1,1998 in Room T-283,11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, with representatives of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)/ Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES). The purpose of this meeting was to discuss with the NRC staff SECY-98-076,' Core Research Capabilities." Dr. Medhat El-Zeftawy was the cognizant ACRS staff engineer for this meeting. The meeting was convened at 8:30 a.m. and adjourned j

at 12:16 p.m.

ATTENDEES l

ACRS R. Uhrig, Chairman.

D. Powers, Member M. Fontana, Member W. Shack, Member T. Kress, Member M. El-Zcftawy, Staff HRQ L. Donnelly, RES S. Bahadur, RES T. King, RES A. Burda, RES M. Federline, NMSS E. Hackett, RES J. Mitchell, EDO G. Pourchot, OlG D. Hom, OlG No written comments or requests for time to make oral statements were received from members of the public.

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-g[Q\\ Yi OPENING REMARKS BY THE SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIRMAN Dr. Robert Uhrig, Chairman of the Safety Research Program Subcommittee, convened the Ag' meeting at 8:30 a.m. and stated that the purpose of this meeting is to discuss with the NRC Q

staff / Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) the proposed core research capabilities.

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The Subcommittee will gather information, analyze relevant issues and facts, and formulate proposed positions and actions as appropriate for deliberations by the Full Committee.

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i NRC/RES STAFF PREWR%IlQH Mr. Lloyd Donnelly (RES)

Mr. Donnelly stated that on April 2,1997, the NRC staff issued SECY-97-075 to obtain the L

Commission's approval of a proposed methodology and criteria for evaluating the need for core research capabilities. On June 6,1997, a Staff Requirements Memorandum (SRM) was l

issued, in which the Commission approved the staff's proposal in SECY-97-075 and asked the staff to:

l Ensure that the areas of research identified for assessment include those areas that are essential for the support of current and foreseeable future regulatory activities.

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In addition to the inputs provided from other NRC user offices, also consider areas of research suggested by the industry.

Make it much more clear as to how the recommended resource levels for each core research area were determined when documenting the core capabilities assessments.

Analyze the core technical capabilities residing in NRR, AEOD, and NMSS, and incorporate the results into the overall scope of activities and integrate the results with the core research capabilities analysis.

Review the level of resources being applied to research activities that are in a " sunset" state, and Review the weighting of criteria for Support area 5 (addresses cooperative research),

j and Support area 6 (addresses responses to oversight groups).

I In SECY-98-076, the staff responded to the above Commission's requests. in addition, the staff discussed the " Expertise Driven" part of the RES core capability assessment. In SECY-l 97-075, the staff identified 39 areas of research where core capabilities might be needed.

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l-Plant transient analysis l

Code development, validation, and maintenance l

i Core transient analysis L,..

- Code development, validation, and maintenance Fuel design and behavior i

DigitalI&C systems performance j

Software and hardware reliability and qualification Human reliability

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Training, staffing,' and qualification Human-system interface and procedures

- Organizational performance Fire protection and safety Radiation damage / annealing

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NDE Procedures and techniques Fracture Mechanics j

Environmentally Assisted Cracking i

StructuralIntegrity Behavior of Structures and Components in Response to Seismic and Extemal Events Steam GeneratorIntegrity Mechanical Electrical ~

Piping Fuel-Coolant interactions Core Degradation a

Core Concrete Interaction and Debris Coolability Hydrogen Distribution and Combustion Lower Head Integrity I

Fission Product Chemistry, Release and Transport Code Development, Validation, and Maintenance Methods Development for Assessment Regulatory Analyses Guidance and Standards Development i

Decisionmaking under Uncertainty Radiation Dosimetry Radiation Effects (relationship between dose and risk)

Fuel Fabrication Radionuclide Transport and Behavior in the Environment

- Storage Decommissioning and Decontamination i

in SECY-98-076, the staff provided core capabilities evaluations for 29 areas of research. The

' original 39 areas of research were reduced to 27 as logical combinations were made during the assessment process (None of the original 39 areas was deleted). Two new areas were added

- Fire Protection, and Safety and Materials Criticality Safety. The 29 areas of research are:

Active Areas Thermal hydraulics-plant transient analysis Reactor Physics Thermal hydraulics code development, validation and maintenance Fuel behavior Digitall&C systems Organizational performance Fire protection and safety Radiation damage.

Fracture mechanics Containment integrity and structural aging Steam generator tube integrity l

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Electrical -

Piping fracture Structural and civil engineering Lower head integrity PRA guidance development, risk analysis tools and decisionmaking under uncertainty Radiation dosimetry research Radiation e#ects research Radionuclide transport and decommissioning Sunset Areas Human performance 1NDE procedures and techniques Environmentally assisted cracking Fuel-coolant interactions and debris coolability

'e' Hydrogen distribution and combustion Fission product chemistry, releases and transport.

Severe accident code development PRA methods development for assessment Materials criticality safety Mechanical The sunset areas are areas for which the level of resources are driven by the need to maintain expertise, not the need to satisfy regulatory requirements. The sta# identified several areas of -

possible research were deemed to not need a core capability. These are material control and

. accounting, physical security, and environmental sciences (e.g., biology, ecology).

j The sta# believes that if the expertise driven level of resources is maintained in the above 29 areas, RES.will have access to a full range of research expertise that can help respond to any unanticipated technical issues that may arise. The sta# believes that there is an important nexus between the availability of expertise #acilities and the pursuit of meaningful research. if NRC and its contractors are not pursuing relatively stable programs involving challenging work, talented personnel are likely to leave, Another result is the loss of access to facilities and potential elimination of facilities due to lack of support.

The sta# used 14 criteria to assess core capabilities. These criteria are:

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. Provide the technical basis for agency decisions on regulatory or safety issues stemming from events and requests.

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1. Frequency of occurrence

2. Safety or regulatory significance of occurrence Provide the technical basis for agency decisions on regulatory or safety issues new or evolving technologies and research results.'

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3. Likelihood of change

. 4. Safety or regulatory significance of changes Develop, maintain, and apply analytic tools and databases.

5. Breadth and frequency of application

6. Degree ofimprovement necessary

7. Value to the regulatory process

8. Need to improve requirements or guidance

9. Need to support new NRC regulatory initiatives f

improve technical basis of regulation through involvement with domestic and foreign

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organizations.

10. NRC's commitment

11. Value of contribution to regulatory program

12. Leverage factor for NRC resources

. Respond to oversight groups l

13.' Likelihood of occurrence

14. Complexity and significance of subject matter There are Three major differences between SECY-98-076 and the previous SECY-97-075, as follows:

SECY-98-076 core capabilities assessments are expertise driven. RES recognized that resources to accomplish workload driven requirements are ultimately determined by the i

annual budget process. The staff does not believe that a separate workload based l

assessment, performed outside the budget process, would be meaningful.

SECY-97-075 states that " after the Commission gave its preliminary approval to the core research capabilities, reviews by intamal oversight groups and extemal stakeholders would closely follow". The staff believes that although these reviews will still be performed, RES plans to first complete three follow-on activities (intemal budget i

review for FY 2000, prioritization of remarch program components, and exploration of potential future research). Because these activities could result in changes to the RES core capabilities or the resource levels for core capabilities, the staff recommends that these activities be completed and core capabilities be updated as needed before any further core capabilities reviews by stakeholders are solicited.

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- SECY-97-075 stated that "intomational cooperative research efforts would be prioritized

'during the core capability assessments". RES now proposes to perform this

. prioritization as it prioritizes its activities during the development and review of the FY 2000 budget.

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• In SECY-98-076, the staff did not address core expertise in the disciplines required for research to support licensing of DOE's high level radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain.

Subcommittee Discussion and Follow-un Actions Some ACRS members expressed a desire for a better definition of core research capabilities.

j Considering budget constraints, concems were raised that the 29 areas of core e

capabilities are too many.

l The evaluation process described in SECY-98-076 for selecting core capabilities I

constitutes a body of work in progress.

1 Regulatory issues vital to NRC's ability to regulate should be the basis for identifying required core research capabilities. The process for selecting core research capabilities should include identification of activities essential to the NRC in carrying out its mission and select only associated capabilities that are unique in their application to nuclear j

technology.

l Outside expertise, including foreign sources, as a means of responding to budget pressures should be accepted where appropriate.

1 Better justification is needed to support the staff's conclusion as documented in SECY-98-076.

Although prioritization was not part of the Commission's request, some members believed that the evaluation process should provide a basis for discriminating among research areas within the core research capabilities.

Background material provided to the Subcommittee SECY-98-076," Core Research Capabilities" dated April 9,1998.

Presentation Slides and handouts provided durina the Subcommittee meetina l

The presentation slides and handouts used during the meeting are available in the ACRS Office files or as attachments to the meeting transcripts.

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4 NOTE:

Additional details of the meeting can be obtained from a transcript available in the NRC Public Document Room,2120 L Street, N.W.,

Washington, D.C. 20006, (202) 634-3274, or can be purchased from Ann Riley & Associates LTD.,1250 i Street, N.W., Suite 300, Washington, D.C. 20005, (202) 842-0034.

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