ML23018A055
| ML23018A055 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 01/24/2023 |
| From: | NRC/OCM |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML22293A420 | List: |
| References | |
| M230124 | |
| Download: ML23018A055 (26) | |
Text
January 24, 2023 Overview of Accident Tolerant Fuel Activities
Speakers Andrea Kock (She/Her/Hers), Deputy Office Director for Engineering, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation: Strategic overview of the NRCs ATF activities Kevin Heller (He/Him/His), Nuclear Engineer, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation: Licensing, engagement, and collaboration efforts for ATF Damaris Marcano (She/Her/Hers), Chief, Containment, Thermal, Chemical and Fire Protection Branch, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards: Licensing and oversight of the enrichment, fabrication, transportation, and storage of ATF James Corson (He/Him/His), Senior Reactor Systems Engineer, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research:
Confirmatory analysis tools and international research collaboration activities Alice Chung (She/Her/Hers), Reactor Systems Engineer, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research:
Modernizing and enhancing staff expertise and tools 2
Andrea Kock, Deputy Office Director for Engineering, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Strategic overview of the NRCs ATF activities 3
Actively monitoring the ATF landscape 4
NEAR-TERM ATF TECHNOLOGIES LONGER-TERM ATF TECHNOLOGIES Coated Cladding Extruded Metallic Fuel Silicon Carbide Cladding High Density Pellets Doped Pellets
Significant progress in preparing for and reviewing ATF licensing actions 5
2 0 2 0
- Guidance on chromium-coated cladding
- Transportation package for coated cladding and doped pellets with increased enrichment (IE)
- Transportation package for FeCrAl lead test assemblies
- Amendment for transportation of irradiated ATF
- High Burn-up (HBU) Topical Report
- Research information letter on FFRD
- IE rulemaking plan
- ATF project plan version 1.2
- IE topical report
- Coated cladding topical report 2 0 2 2
- Industry licensing expectations letter
- Regulatory framework applicability assessment
- Topical report on doped pellets
- Three IE licensing actions for enrichment facilities and fuel fabricators
- NUREG on environmental evaluation
- RG 1.183 Rev. 1 on source terms
- ATF regulatory issues summary
- IE rulemaking regulatory basis 2 0 2 3
Applying risk insights in decision making 6
Ensuring appropriate expertise 7
Training Staffing Knowledge Management
Kevin Heller, Nuclear Engineer, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Licensing, engagement, and collaboration efforts for ATF 8
NRC is ready to license near-term ATF technologies
- Interim Staff Guidance
- Approved ATF-concept topical reports
- Multiple ATF topical reports under review
Improving regulatory efficiency, clarity, and certainty INCREASED ENRICHMENT RULEMAKING
- Evaluating changes to regulations to facilitate using
>5wt% U-235 fuels
- More efficient pathway with increased regulatory certainty and clarity
- Generic resolution that ensures safety
- Increases transparency and stakeholder interaction HIGHER BURNUP
- Regulations do not explicitly restrict burnup
- Increasing burnup requires greater consideration of fuel fragmentation, relocation, and dispersal
- Staff analyzing and addressing FFRD in enrichment rulemaking regulatory basis 10
Ensuring stakeholder confidence through increased Ensuring stakeholder confidence through increased engagement Extensively leveraging pre-application meetings to understand technologies to be reviewed Increasing opportunities for interaction with stakeholders Cultivating early industry engagement on anticipated submittals 11
Participation in ATF programs support continued readiness FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC
- Collaborative Research on Advanced Technology Fuels (CRAFT)
- Inter-agency communications BENEFITS
- Awareness of industry interests
- Latest projects and research strategies
- Update NRC codes and methods
- Continued state of readiness 12
Leveraging research for decision-making BENEFITS
- Advancement of our understanding of ATF technology and modeling capabilities 13 WORK PRODUCTS
- Letters and reports: Research Information Letter 2021-13, which discusses FFRD at higher burnup
Damaris Marcano, Chief, Containment, Thermal, Chemical and Fire Protection Branch, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards Licensing and oversight of the enrichment, fabrication, transportation, and storage of ATF 14
Effectively implementing strategies for continued readiness
- Regulatory framework
- Technical information
- Engagement 15
16 Progress in front-and back-end licensing and oversight ENRICHMENT UF6 TRANSPORTATION FUEL FABRICATION REACTOR FRESH FUEL TRANSPORTATION IRRADIATED FUEL TRANSPORTATION SPENT FUEL STORAGE 1
3 2
4 5
6 7
Proactively evaluating our readiness
- Continue to evaluate our regulatory readiness to identify and address regulatory and technical challenges
- Potential technical areas of focus related to the back end:
Code validation Short-and long-term data on in-reactor performance
- Continue to perform generic technical assessments and research 17
James Corson, Senior Reactor Systems Engineer, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research Confirmatory analysis tools and international research collaboration activities 18
Preparing confirmatory analysis tools to support ATF activities
- Licensing actions
- Regulatory Guidance
- Rulemaking
- Experimental data
- International collaborative activities 19
International research programs inform NRC regulatory efforts NEA JOINT PROGRAMS
- Studsvik Cladding Integrity Project (SCIP)
- QUENCH-ATF
- Second Framework for Irradiation Experiments (FIDES-II)
NEA WORKING GROUP ACTIVITIES
- Topical Opinion Paper on ATF (TOPATF)
- Report on the Safety Implications of Extended Enrichment 20
International programs provide data on fuel and cladding behavior during LOCAs SCIP QUENCH-ATF 21 LOCA test equipment, burst openings, and fuel fragments from SCIP tests QUENCH facility at KIT
International collaboration supports guidance updates, code development, and modeling FIDES-II INCLUDES THREE JOINT EXPERIMENTAL PROJECTS
- High-burnup Experiments in Reactivity-Initiated Accidents (HERA)
- Power to Melt and Maneuverability (P2M)
- In-pile Creep Studies of ATF Cladding (INCA) 22 Top Left: TREAT Reactor at INL (Copyright © INL). Bottom Left: LVR-15 Reactor / CVR (Czech Republic). Right: BR2 Reactor Diagram / SCK-CEN (Belgium)
Alice Chung, Reactor Systems Engineer, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research Modernizing and enhancing staff expertise and tools 23
Research Information Letters support regulatory decisions BY DEFINITION
- Summarize
- Synthesize
- Interpret IN PRACTICE
- Knowledge management
- Technical expertise
- Communication
- Engineering judgment
- Analysis 24
Fuel Performance Thermal Hydraulics Neutronics Severe Accidents and Source Term Using NRC codes to support ATF decision making 25
Dan Dorman, Executive Director for Operations Closing Remarks 26