ML22091A007
| ML22091A007 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 03/31/2022 |
| From: | Doug Eskins NRC/RES/DE |
| To: | Raj Iyengar NRC/RES/DE |
| D. Eskins | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML22091A009 | List: |
| References | |
| Download: ML22091A007 (6) | |
Text
March 31, 2022 MEMORANDUM TO:
Raj Iyengar, Chief Reactor Engineering Branch Division of Engineering Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research FROM:
Doug Eskins, Reactor Engineer /RA/
Reactor Engineering Branch Division of Engineering Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
SUBJECT:
SUMMARY
OF THE OBSERVATION PUBLIC MEETING ON REGULATORY CONSIDERATIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR DIGITAL TWINS IN NUCLEAR REACTOR APPLICATIONS On March 1, 2022, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) held an observation public meeting with representatives from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E), and the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) to provide updates on NRCs future focused research project on the regulatory viability of digital twins and to discuss regulatory considerations and opportunities for digital twins in nuclear reactor applications. The research efforts of each organization relevant to digital twin technologies were discussed. The meeting was held via Teams due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
The meeting was opened by Stephanie Coffin, Deputy Director, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. Ms. Coffin provided background on the NRCs future focused research (FFR) program and an introduction to the NRC digital twin FFR project.
Dr. Doug Eskins, Reactor Engineer, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, provided an overview of the NRC digital twin project including a description of a digital twin system and its associated problem space, as well as project accomplishments, collaborations, future activities, and takeaways.
Dr. Jennifer Shafer, Program Director, ARPA-E, provided an overview of ARPA-E, their advanced nuclear energy portfolio, and their efforts to develop innovative digital technologies.
Dr. Shafer focused on the Modeling-Enhanced Innovations Trailblazing Nuclear Energy Reinvigoration (MEITNER) and Generating Electricity Managed by Intelligent Nuclear Assets (GEMINA) programs and talked explicitly about the GEMINA program, including GEMINA digital twin development efforts.
Dr. Hasan Charkas, Principal Technical Leader, EPRI, provided updates on EPRIs work to develop digital twin guidance for advanced reactors, use cases, and definitions, as well as creation of a digital twin for construction, their plans to start small and scale up, and the need for common frameworks and collaboration.
CONTACTS: Doug Eskins, RES/DE Jesse Carlson, RES/DE (423) 855-6540 (301) 415-3269 Doug.Eskins@nrc.gov Jesse.Carlson@nrc.gov Mr. Richard McGrath, Principal Technical Leader in Radiation Safety Group, EPRI, continued the EPRI presentation by discussing a specific digital twin use case for supporting radiation protection at nuclear powerplants by enabling a centralized 3D radiation monitoring and control center.
Mr. Ben Holtzman, Program Advisor, New Reactors & Advanced Technologies, NEI, provided an industry perspective on the applications of digital twin within the nuclear industry. His discussion distinguished among applications that would or would not require NRC engagement, the use of digital twin to reduce uncertainties, and the need to make a business case prior to digital twin adoption by industry.
At the end of the NEI presentation, Dr. Raj Iyengar, Branch Chief, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, moderated a discussion among the meeting participants. Many topics were discussed including approaches to implementing digital twins and the need for digital twin business cases, lessons learned, reductions in regulatory uncertainty, and the development of common frameworks, standards, and guidance. Some specific discussions are summarized below.
Jim Slider of NEI mentioned the need for collaborative efforts to develop key concepts and a common language and framework for digital twin as well as a plan for and future conversations about developing regulatory guidance. Dr. Iyengar and Dr. Eskins responded that the current future focused research phase of NRC research is limited to describing the nuclear digital twin problem space and identifying regulatory considerations. The next phase of digital twin research will involve interactions with NRC regulatory staff to discuss a strategy for regulatory readiness for applications of digital twins technologies.
Mr. Holtzman of NEI remarked that digital twins need to first be implemented on a small scale, especially within the existing fleet, to gain understanding of how digital twins can be used to make plants more efficient, more productive, and more economical. NEI and EPRI both pointed to the fact that a digital twin can be used within current regulations as a tool to gain insights and inform certain plant decisions in areas such as operations and maintenance.
Dr. Hasan of EPRI remarked that the end user, utilities, may find a digital twin useful in construction to provide oversight and coordination between end users and technology providers.
He also remarked that a centralized framework or guidance on a framework would be helpful for coordinating all parties involved in construction, and both NEI and the NRC need to work toward such a framework.
After discussion between the NRC staff and the meeting participants, the NRC staff provided the public an opportunity to provide comments or ask questions.
Dr. Iyengar thanked the participants and closed the meeting.
The list of attendees is provided in the Appendix. All presentations and other information related to this public meeting (e.g., meeting notice and agenda) are available on the NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), Accessions ML22060A001 and ML22054A288, respectively.
APPENDIX Attendees at March 1, 2022 Observation Public Meeting on Regulatory Considerations and Opportunities for Digital Twins in Nuclear Reactor Applications Name Affiliation Aamir Alex Brazalovich X-energy Alexander Pingel Westinghouse Harry Andreades Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
Gregory Banyay Westinghouse Jana Bergman Ram Bhuma GE Digital Brad Crotts Orano Edward Bradley International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Rob Burg Engineering Planning and Management, Inc.
Jesse Carlson U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
Gene Carpenter U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
Chad Nachiketh Chandran NRC Hasan Charkas Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
Clevin Canales X-energy Stephanie Coffin NRC Edward Coulter Eric Mollen Neal R. Gross & Co Christopher Courtenay Duke Energy Curtis Smith Idaho National Laboratory (INL)
Dan Beattie Dassault Systems Mishca de Costa Ontario Power Generation (OPG)
Edwin Lyman Union of Concerned Scientists Doug Eskins NRC Nathan Faith Constellation Nuclear Leo Fifield Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
Eric Focht NRC Daniel Foster-Roman OPG Frederic Grant Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. (SGH)
Raymond Furstenau NRC Ramon Gascot Lozada NRC Han Bao INL Roy Hardin NRC Michelle Hayes NRC Matthew Hiser NRC Benjamin Holtzman Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI)
Alex Huning Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
Ian Davis X-energy Ian McGaw Gafcon, Inc.
Ian Stevenson Dassault Systems Ingrid Nordby X-energy Raj Iyengar NRC Prashant Jain ORNL Jean LeClair Laurentis Energy Partners John Merickel INL Jonathan Kyle Ansys Robert Krsek NRC Kurt Harris Flibe Energy Lance Larsen Information Systems Laboratories (ISL)
Daniel Lau Ming Li NRC Linyu Lin INL Yong Chang Liu Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission Louise Lund NRC Matthew Mann GE Power Portfolio Mariana Tim Marshall NRC Matt Hertel X-energy John McKirgan NRC Michelle Quirk Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
Miguel Sanchez Perea Spanish Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear Frank Mischler Hitachi America, Ltd.
Misra Parames OPG James Moon, Jr Brian Mori OPG Michael Muhlheim ORNL Daniel Mussatti NRC Curt Nehrkorn DOE ARPA-E Daniel Nichols DOE Pat Everett Oklo Stephen Philpott NRC Mihaela Quirk DOE David Rahn NRC Pradeep Ramuhalli ORNL Riccardo Cappa SGH Richard McGrath EPRI Serita Sanders NRC Satyan Bhongale X-energy Whitney Schiefner OPG Jenifer Shafer DOE Neil Sheehan NRC James Slider NEI Sofia Guerra Adelard Stephen Wood Stephen Vaughn X-energy Steven Pope ISL Todd Anselmi INL Robert Tregoning NRC Ian Tseng NRC Christopher Ulmer NRC Vaibhav Yadav INL Isabella Van Rooyen INL Tristan Villareal NRC Shakur Walker NRC Jennifer Wong OPG Xu Wu North Carolina State University Jack Zhao NRC Xingang Zhao ORNL
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ML22091A009; Memo ML22091A007 OFFICE OCHCO/ADHRTD
/RTTB NAME DEskins DATE Apr 1, 2022