ML23083B365
| ML23083B365 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 03/30/2023 |
| From: | NRC/OCM |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML23067A027 | List: |
| References | |
| M230330 | |
| Download: ML23083B365 (10) | |
Text
Building Capabilities at Universities through University Nuclear Leadership Program (UNLP)
Mission-related Research and Development Grants Zahra Mohaghegh Associate Professor, Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering (NPRE)
Director, Socio-Technical Risk Analysis (SoTeRiA) Research Laboratory Grainger College of Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) zahra13@Illinois.edu M a r c h 3 0, 2 0 2 3
Impactful Research Attracts Purpose-Focused Talent
- UNLP supports cutting-edge university research which attracts and cultivates purpose-driven students who are needed to:
Ø address emergent safety concerns in existing plants;
Ø expedite the development and deployment of next generation reactors.
Fostering university-led nuclear innovation and investing in the future workforce help improve the efficiency of regulation while maintaining the successful safety record of the nuclear industry.
Why UNLP Grants Are Important G R A I N G E R E N G I N E E R I N G N U C L E A R, P L A S M A & R A D I O L O G I C A L E N G I N E E R I N G 2
A. What university practices could maximize UNLP impacts?
1.
Integrate regulatory methods & needs into educational programs.
2.
Establish strong connections between scientific research and regulatory challenges, leveraging scholarly objectivity.
3.
Create strategic research plans that have visionary goals.
B. What could NRC do to maximize UNLP impacts?
1.
Encourage university best practices (e.g., practices A.1. to A.3) through dissemination and grant review guidelines.
2.
Create an additional UNLP funding category to enable NRC-endorsed groundbreaking research initiatives & centers at universities to target high-risk/high-reward research.
How to Maximize UNLP Impacts G R A I N G E R E N G I N E E R I N G N U C L E A R, P L A S M A & R A D I O L O G I C A L E N G I N E E R I N G 3
Integrate Regulatory Methods and Needs into Educational Programs
- Illinois nuclear engineering Risk & Reliability track offers undergraduate-and graduate-level Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) courses with embedded information on regulatory methods and needs.
- This approach increases the chances that scholarly research can have a real-world impact in light of the regulatory landscape.
G R A I N G E R E N G I N E E R I N G N U C L E A R, P L A S M A & R A D I O L O G I C A L E N G I N E E R I N G A.1. What university practices could maximize UNLP impacts?
4
Supported or Acknowledged by:
U.S. Department of Energy U.S. National Science Foundation U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Japan Atomic Energy Agency Kajima Corporation (Japan)
G R A I N G E R E N G I N E E R I N G N U C L E A R, P L A S M A & R A D I O L O G I C A L E N G I N E E R I N G Connect Scientific Research to Regulatory Challenges, Leveraging Scholarly Objectivity 5
A.2. What university practices could maximize UNLP impacts?
G R A I N G E R E N G I N E E R I N G N U C L E A R, P L A S M A & R A D I O L O G I C A L E N G I N E E R I N G ARs:
Advanced Reactors IRP:
Integrated Research Program M&S:
Modeling and Simulation NEUP: Nuclear Energy University Program NPP: Nuclear Power Plant RIPB: Risk-informed Performance-based IAEA: International Atomic Energy Agency Create Strategic Research Plans Having Visionary Goals
ü Create strategic plans to develop complementary research topics and progressively advance toward visionary goals.
6 IAEA Project, 2018-2021
- M&S (physics + maintenance for piping reliability analysis)
NRC - UNLP Project, 2021-2024
- Validation & uncertainty analysis for M&S (physics + maintenance)
NRC - UNLP Project, 2022-2025
- M&S (digital twins, human-machine interface)
DOE - NEUP Project, 2021-2024
- M&S, Validation & uncertainty analysis (AI-based automation)
Pending Research Proposals:
A.3. What university practices could maximize UNLP impacts?
A. What university practices could maximize UNLP impacts?
1.
Integrate regulatory methods & needs into educational programs.
2.
Establish strong connections between scientific research and regulatory challenges, leveraging scholarly objectivity.
3.
Create strategic research plans that have visionary goals.
B. What could NRC do to maximize UNLP impacts?
1.
Encourage university best practices (e.g., practices A.1. to A.3) through dissemination and grant review guidelines.
2.
Create an additional UNLP funding category to enable NRC-endorsed groundbreaking research initiatives & centers at universities to target high-risk/high-reward research.
How to Maximize UNLP Impacts G R A I N G E R E N G I N E E R I N G N U C L E A R, P L A S M A & R A D I O L O G I C A L E N G I N E E R I N G 7
G R A I N G E R E N G I N E E R I N G N U C L E A R, P L A S M A & R A D I O L O G I C A L E N G I N E E R I N G NRC-endorsed Research Initiative for Technology-Inclusive Risk-Informed Performance-Based (RIPB) Analysis &
Regulation of Next-Generation Nuclear Power Plants Develop a transformational automated platform for a regulatory-accredited approach to enable expedited and cost-effective implementation of an RIPB regulatory framework.
Integrate RIPB analysis with modeling and simulation of underlying physics-human-organization phenomena, digital twins, AI/ML, and validation.
Expand next-generation workforce.
B.2. What could NRC do to maximize UNLP impacts?
Example of Groundbreaking Research Initiative 8
IAEA Project, 2018-2021
- M&S (physics + maintenance for piping reliability analysis)
NRC - UNLP Project, 2021-2024
- Validation & uncertainty analysis for M&S (physics + maintenance)
NRC - UNLP Project, 2022-2025
- M&S (digital twins, human-machine interface)
DOE - NEUP Project, 2021-2024
- M&S, Validation & uncertainty analysis (AI-based automation)
Pending Research Proposals:
AI/ML: Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning
Maximizing UNLP Impacts A. Examples of university best practices that can maximize UNLP impacts:
1.
Integrating regulatory methods & needs into educational programs.
2.
Establishing strong connection between scientific research and regulatory challenges, leveraging scholarly objectivity.
3.
Creating strategic research plans that have visionary goals.
B. NRC should encourage university best practices through dissemination and grant review guidelines.
C. NRC should create an additional UNLP funding category to enable NRC-endorsed groundbreaking research initiatives and centers at universities to target high-risk/high-reward research.
Takeaways on Value of UNLP & Maximizing Its Impacts G R A I N G E R E N G I N E E R I N G N U C L E A R, P L A S M A & R A D I O L O G I C A L E N G I N E E R I N G 9
The Value of UNLP UNLP provides the ideal opportunity for attracting and cultivating exceptional talent through impactful research that is focused on:
Creating science-based technical solutions to enhance the safety and operational flexibility of existing plants; Developing science-based methodologies for efficient and effective regulation of advanced reactors.