ML20215N588
| ML20215N588 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 11/04/1986 |
| From: | Chilk S NRC OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY (SECY) |
| To: | Garde B GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT |
| References | |
| FOIA-86-80, FOIA-86-82, FOIA-86-A-179, FOIA-86-A-180 NUDOCS 8611070037 | |
| Download: ML20215N588 (1) | |
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UNITED STATES fI NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION o
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November 4, 1986 CFFICE OF THE SECRETARY Ms. Billie Pirner Garde Citizens Clinic Director Government Accountability Project Midwest Office 3424 Marcos Lane IN RESPONSE REFER Appleton, Wisconsin 54911 TO 86-A-179(86-80)86-A-180(86-82)
Dear Ms. Garde:
This letter responds to your September 17, 1986 appeal of a partial denial.of documents in the Nuclear. Regulatory Commission's August 26, 1986 response to F01A-86-80.
In response to your appeal, the agency re-reviewed the portion of the document withheld. Based upon that review, the agency is releasing the portion of the document withheld.
The agency submitted the withheld material to Congress as an attachment to a one page letter to Congressman Morris K. Udall. You may obtain a copy of both the letter to Congressman Udall and the attached (withheld) material at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) located at 1717 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.,-20555 by asking for the document under accession number 8603030407.
This letter represents final agency action on your August 26, 1986 F0IA appeal.
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amuel J. Chilk Secretary of the Comission cc: Carol Ann Reed, F0IA 8611070037 861104 PDR FOIA GARDE 86-A-179 PDR
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UNITED STATES i
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20085 February 7, 1986 MEMORANDUM FOR: Chairman Palladino FROM:
Victor Stello, Jr.
Acting Executive Director for Operations
SUBJECT:
REPORT - STATUS OF COMMISSION READINESS TO PROCESS AN HTGR CONSTRUCTION PERMIT APPLICATION The report was requested in House Report 99-93, Part I of H.R.1711.
Attached is a brief report which sumarizes the status of the Comission's readiness to process an HTGR Construction Permit Application.
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l ictor Stello,
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Acting Executive Director for Operations
Enclosure:
As stated cc: Comissioner Roberts Comissioner Asselstine Comissioner Bernthal Comissioner Zech SECY OGC OPE Distribution ED0 R/F 3
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STATUS OF COMIS$10N READINESS TO PROCESS AN HTGR CONSTRUCTION PERMIT APPLICATION 1
i December 1985 1
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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PAGE I.
Introduction and Sumary 1
II.
Background.
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i a) HTGR Regulatory History 1
b) Activities of Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
.1 c) Fort St. Vrain Experience 2
i' d) Foreign Reactor Experience 3
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III.
Current Activities 3
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a) Policy Statement on Advanced Reactors 4
b) Interactions Between NRC and DOE 4
c) NRR Assistance and Staffing 5
d) RES Activities 5
e) Interactions with ACR$
5 IV.
Conclusion 6
Y.
References 7
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I.
INTRODUCTION AND
SUMMARY
Thisreportisinresponsetoarequestby(theHouseofRepresentatives.
Comittee on Interior and Insular Affairs Comittee Report to accompany H.R. 1711. Hay 14. 1985). to summarize the Comission's readiness to process an HTGR Construction Permit application. In this report we examine current activities and related background for HTSR licensing and conclude that the Comission will be ready to process in a timely manner a Construction Permit a p11 cation based on the U.S.' Department of Energy's (D0E) pro,1ected submitta of a Preliminary Standard Safety Analysis Report (PS$AR) in 1989.
This readiness is contingent on the satisfactory completion of the preapoli-cation activities described in D0E's " Licensing Plan for the Standard HTGR" (Reference 1), resources for advanced reactor work as currently allocated i
for FY 86 NRR staffing and technical assistance, and on the availability of adequate NRC resources for FY 87 and beyond.
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!!. BACKGROUND a)
HTGR Regulatory History 4
The regulatory staff and the ACRS have a long history of HTGR review and licensing activity beginning in the early 1960's with the 40 Mwe Peach Bottom I reactor. The Peach Bottom I reactor was the first HTGR in the U.S. and operated successfully from 1967 to 1974. when it was shut down for economic reasons. Following the Peach Bottom experience, the principal events and experiences were the licensing and continuing supervision of the Fort St. Vrain reactor, the Construction Permit reviews of the Sumit and Fulton power plants in the mid 1970's followed by the partial review of the standard plant HTGR (the 1160 Hwe, GAS $AR design) in the later 1970's. Also in the mid 1970's the regulatory staff completed a review of a conceptual design'of a gas cooled fast breeder reactor which did not use HTGR fuel but was of interest to HTGR technology because of component development issues and the use of natural circulation for emergency core cooling.
b)
Activities of Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research 4
NRC's Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) began ' contributing to NRC's cumulative HTGR experience in 1974 with the initiation of research on graphites, fuels, high temperature metals, thermal and fluid-mechanical design, containment design, fission product release and transport, safety instrumentation, seismic and structural design, and safety analyses, including accident code development and validation.
Following the GASSAR review. RES became the NRC lead office for i
advanced HTGRs and also investigated certain technical issues in
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support of Fort St. Vrain operations.
In 1981 RES developed a long i
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.2-i range plan for HTGR safety research based upon the refer'ence 2240 Nt large plant design which emphasized the development of licensing review Dases. With the recent switch of emphasis by DOE from the large plant design to the small modular design RES is suspending its activities in the HTGR area until such time as the research needs for the new modular HTGR design are identified as part of the current interaction between NRC's Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation and DOE (seeSectionIII). Much of the completed research work, together with selected infomation from other domestic and foreign sources.
is currently beinq documented in the fom of an HTGR Safety Handbook.
This Handbook wil' serve as a central repository for data and other infomation pertaining to HTGR licensing and is being organized in a format to facilitate rapid familiarization of new icensing personnel with the essential features and safety parameters of HTGRs.
RES will reinstitute research, subject to availability of funds.
when as part of the current interaction between NRC's Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) and DOE (see Section III) the
-design information is sufficiently detemined to identify further 1
regulatory research needs.
c)
Fort St. Vrain Experience Experiences with Fort St. Vrain have greatly benefited HTGR licensing readiness. A wealth of significant technical, safety and licensing i
information has been developed and well documented. Generally favorable performance information has been developed for the fuel.
the prestressed concrete reactor vessel, most instrumentation and control systems, the steam generators and the fuel handling systems.
i Resolutions and pending resolutions of performance and licensing concerns over the years have led to important infomation concerning flow induced vibrations of the fuel elements, improved understanding of corrosion and thermal stress potentials of structural graphites.
improvements in accident analysis and computer modeling, and better definition of inservice inspection requirements for HTGRs.
A second and equally important benefit to licensing readiness has been the resulting acquisition of practical knowledge of HTGRs by the regulatory staff members and basic data and techniques by NRC i
contractors who have participated in Fort St. Vrain activities over the years. While the staff members have had many duties other than i
Fort St. Vrain, they represent a reservoir of knowledge and experience, much of which could be made available for the licensing of HTGRs should this activity intensi The contractors represent an additional reservoir of expertise availa le in the event of need for Fort St.
Vrain and for the current and anticipated HTGR licensing activities.
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d)
Foreign Reactor Experience Britain, Japan and Semany have strong backgrounds in gas reactor design, operation and safety analysis which have influenced, supported, and confimed domestic HTGR designs and research activities. This-foreign information has generally been available under umbrella agreements and through the HTGR technical comunity. Of greatest interest is information from West Germany which is in the process of starting up a 300 Mwe pebble bed type HTGR and is currently designing a 500 Mwe follow-on plant for future comercialization.
The NRC has been and will continue to use available applicable infomation from the foreign HTGR programs in our review of the U.S. HTGR design.
III. CURRENT ACTIVITIES Currently, the Comission is embarking on a two year effort to review the conceptual design of an advanced HTGR being developed under D0E sponsorsi.ip. DOE's plans and request for review were sent to the Comission in April 1985 (Reference 1) and concurred in by the Comission in July 1985 (Reference 2). The plan proposed by DDE calls for an NRC review over the next two years of an HTGR conceptual design, followed by an application for a standard plant review in 1989. Much of our current activity is in preparation for the conceptual design review. This review will concentrate in FY 86 on the identification and resolution of ma.ior safety issues and proceed in FY 87 into a review of a Preliminary Safety Infomation Document (PSID) on the conceptual design. As a result of i
this review the NRC staff will write a safety evaluation report on the l
conceptual HTGR design and issue a letter regarding the licensability of the design. These are scheduled to be issued in late FY 87. It is anticipated that as a result of this review further specific research needs will be identified.- Research work to resolve these new specific issues should then be initiated on a time frame consistent with the
.. review of the actual application currently scheduled for submission in I
1989. The technical review done by the staff on the conceptual HTGR design will also lay the groundwork and fem the basis for our review, if and when an actual app"ication is received. The staff review over the next two years will also identify any additional areas where NRC should put resources to be ready for an actual application.
Our present activities are being conducted primarily by the Safety Program-Evaluation Branch (SPEB) in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation and have been guided by the issuance, on March 28,1985, of a draft Commission policy statement on the regulation of advanced reactors (Reference 3). The SPE8 with support from RES as appropriate has been meeting frequently with DOE and its contractors, occasionally with the ACRS, l
and has aided the Comission on the development of advanced reactor policy.
More specific information related to these activities is discussed below:
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a)
Policy Statement on Advanced Reactors In response to ongoing DOE and industry advanced reactor programs j
(of which the HTGR is one element) the NRC developed and issued for public coment a proposed policy statement on the regulation of advanced reactors. This policy statement is intended to:
4 1.
describe those characteristics which are desired in advanced I
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encourage early interaction between the NRC staff and advanced reactor designers on regulatory requirements associated with these designs and 3.
allow for early identification and development of necessary research programs to provide technical bases for regulatory decisions, to assess feasibility of safety improvements and to --
ensure an adequate understanding of phenomena for which analytic i
methods are needed in regulatory activities.
4 The final version of the policy statement is expected to be issued in the near future. The provisions of this policy statement have been and will continue to guide our efforts in the advanced HTGR area.
I b)
Interactions Between NRC and 00E The overall schedule for the HTGR review and development as jointly i
planned with DOE is shown in Figure 1.
Recently DOE has selected a 350 Mwt modular design concept as the reference HTGR plant to be reviewed by NRC. Meetings and correspondence between NRC and 00E have been underway since mid 1984 and to date have dealt primarily with pro.iect planning, familiarization of the NRC staff with the HTGR concept under development and the identification of safety issues associated with this concept. Thenearterminteractions(FY1986)willconcentrate on the identification and resolution of major safety issues associated i
with the HTGR concept in preparation for an efficient, one year review of the PS10. In addition, a probabilistic risk assessment and technology development plans for the HTGR concept will be submitted by DOE for NRC review in September 1936. These reviews will result in the issuance of a safety evaluation report and a licensability statement on the HTGR concept in September 1987.
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c)
NRR Assistance and Staffing In order to assist NRR in the review of the conceptual design $PE8
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has initiated contracts with ORNL, BNL and MIT to help assess key safety concerns, develop and utilize analytical tools for independent calculations, and to aid in general its review of DOE submitted material.
An additional technical assistance contreet for broad technical support is being sought by competitive bids. Funds for technical assistance in the review of the HTGR conceptual design have been identified for the near tem activities (FY 86 and FY 87) as:
650 K - FY 86 550 K - FY 87 Funds to support activities beyond FY 87 will be dependent upon the results of our near tem activities and will be estimated as our work progresses. Assigned NRC staff will consist of a lead senior reactor, engineer from the SPE8 together with part time specialists in structural and seismic design, thermal and fluid mechanical design, containment, instrumentation, control and electrical systems, radioactive waste, auxiliary systems, probabilistic risk assessment, safeguards, security andemergencyplanning. NRR Staff will be assisted by cognizant RES personne as needed. Total NRR staff effort is estimated at a level of two professional staff years for both FY 86 and FY 87.
d)
RES Activities No funding is provided for NRC research on HTGR safety during FY 86 and FY 87.
As the 00E-Industry design studies evolve and applications and l
plant design information begin to be defined. RES will again institute plant specific regulatory research programs intended to furnish licensing and regulatory support to NRR on a schedule consistent with 00E and industry plans and availability of fur.ds.
i e)
Interactions with ACR$
1 The SPE8 together with DOE and its contractors met with the ACRS Subcomittee on Advanced Reactors on February 51985 and again on September 25 1985 at which time current and future activities were described, ddditional meetings with the ACR$ Subcomittee on various safety issues associated with the advanced HTGR are scheduled in 1986 and ACR$ involvement in the review of the PSID will also be requested.
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IV. CONCLU5!0N Based on the activities described herein and on the regulatory and research experience in HTGR licensing.and safety since the early 1960's we conclude that'the Comission can be ready to process in a timely mann,er a Construction Permit application based on 00E's pro.iected submittal of
.a Preliminary Standard Safety Analysis Report in 1989. This readiness is contingent on satisfactory completion of the preapp11 cation activities described in DOE's " Licensing Plan for the Standard HTGR." on resources as currently allocated for FY 86 NRR staffing and technical assistance, and on the availability of adequate NRC resources for FY 87 and beyond.
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REFERENCES s,
1.
Letter J. Vaughan 00F, to W. Dircks. NRC, dated April 26,1985, with enclosure." Licensing Plan for the Standard HTGR." HTGR-85-001 (draft),datedJanuary1985.
2.
Letter W. Dircks, NRC, to J. Vaughan, D0E, dated July 11, 1985.
3.
Proposed Policy for Regulation of Advanced Nuclear Power Plants, 50FR11882, dated March 26, 1985.
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