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Transcript of the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards - Accident Analysis Thermal Hydraulics - Framatome Topical Report: ANP-10353, Increased Enrichment for PWRs Subcommittee Meeting, February 15, 2023, Pages 1-58 (Open)
ML23087A054
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NRC-2265 ANP-10353P, Rev 0
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Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Title:

Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards Thermal Hydraulics Subcommittee Open Session Docket Number: (n/a)

Location: teleconference Date: Wednesday, February 15, 2023 Work Order No.: NRC-2265 Pages 1-28 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.

Court Reporters and Transcribers 1716 14th Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20009 (202) 234-4433

1 1

2 3

4 DISCLAIMER 5

6 7 UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSIONS 8 ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON REACTOR SAFEGUARDS 9

10 11 The contents of this transcript of the 12 proceeding of the United States Nuclear Regulatory 13 Commission Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, 14 as reported herein, is a record of the discussions 15 recorded at the meeting.

16 17 This transcript has not been reviewed, 18 corrected, and edited, and it may contain 19 inaccuracies.

20 21 22 23 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com

1 1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3 + + + + +

4 ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON REACTOR SAFEGUARDS 5 (ACRS) 6 + + + + +

7 SUBCOMMITTEE ON THERMAL HYDRAULICS 8 + + + + +

9 OPEN SESSION 10 + + + + +

11 WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 15, 2023 13 + + + + +

14 The Subcommittee met via Teleconference, 15 at 8:30 a.m. EST, Jose March-Leuba, Chair, presiding.

16 17 COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

18 JOSE MARCH-LEUBA, Chair 19 RONALD G. BALLINGER, Member 20 VICKI M. BIER, Member 21 CHARLES H. BROWN, JR., Member 22 VESNA B. DIMITRIJEVIC, Member 23 WALTER L. KIRCHNER, Member 24 GREGORY H. HALNON, Member 25 DAVID A. PETTI, Member NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

2 1 JOY L. REMPE, Member 2 MATTHEW W. SUNSERI, Member 3

4 5 ACRS CONSULTANT:

6 STEPHEN SCHULTZ 7

8 DESIGNATED FEDERAL OFFICIAL:

9 CHRISTOPHER BROWN 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

3 1 C-O-N-T-E-N-T-S 2

3 PAGE 4 Opening Remarks and Objectives 5 By Dr. J. March-Leuba . . . . . . . . 4 6 NRC Opening Remarks 7 By Joe Donoghue . . . . . . . . . . . 5 8 Presentation on ANP-10353 9 By Michelle Guzzardo . . . . . . . . 7 10 Presentation on ANP-10353 11 By Brandon Wise . . . . . . . . . . . 16 12 Public Comments 13 Public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

4 1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2 8:30 a.m.

3 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Good morning, this 4 meeting will now come to order. This is a meeting of 5 the Accident Analysis Thermal Hydraulics Subcommittee.

6 I am Jose March-Leuba, the SC chairman. In addition 7 to in person attendance at NRC headquarters, the 8 meeting is broadcast via MS Teams. Members in 9 attendance are Ron Ballinger, Vicki Bier, Vesna 10 Dimitrijevic, Greg Halnon, Walter Kirchner, David 11 Petti, Joy Rempe, and Matthew Sunseri. Our consultant 12 Steve Schultz is also present.

13 Today we are reviewing topical report ANP-14 10353P Revision 0 by Framatome entitled increased 15 enrichment for PWRs. Portions of our meeting will be 16 closed to the public to protect Framatome proprietary 17 information. We have not received requests to provide 18 comments, but we have an opportunity for public 19 comments before the beginning of the closed section of 20 the meeting.

21 The ACRS was established by a statute, and 22 is covered by the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 23 FACA. As such, the committee only speaks to its 24 published letter reports. The rules for participation 25 in all ACRS meetings were announced in the federal NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

5 1 register on June 13th, 2019. The ACRS section of the 2 U.S. NRC public website provides our charter, bylaws, 3 agendas, letter reports, and full transcripts for the 4 open portions of all full, and subcommittee meetings, 5 including the slides presented there.

6 The designated federal official today is 7 Christopher Brown. A transcript of the meeting is 8 being kept, therefore speak into the microphones 9 clearly, and state your name for the benefit of the 10 court reporter. If you're in the conference room with 11 multiple people on the line, please remember to 12 identify yourself regularly for the accuracy of the 13 transcript.

14 Please keep all your electronics, and the 15 microphone on mute when not in use. Let me remind the 16 members that for this particular topical report, the 17 actual enrichment value being requested by Framatome 18 is proprietary, so please refer to it in your 19 questions as greater than five percent, or better yet, 20 as X percent in the open portion of the meeting.

21 At this point I would like to ask Joe 22 Donoghue from NRC staff if he is present, to present 23 his opening remarks. He is.

24 MR. DONOGHUE: Yes, I am, good morning 25 Chairman. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to say NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

6 1 a few words. I'm Joe Donoghue, I'm the director of 2 the division of safety systems in NRR, and I wanted to 3 just highlight the topical report that you're going to 4 hear about today is the first of a kind for us, 5 because as you said, it's addressing increased 6 enrichment above 5 percent U-235.

7 It's applicable only to current burn up 8 limits that the staff has approved in other topical 9 reports, and we expect that there's going to be future 10 reviews, future submittals to address higher burn up 11 in the future, that then could make this useful for 12 those kinds of fuel designs. Framatome, in our view, 13 did a really good job. A high quality topical report 14 was submitted.

15 They responded to RAIs in a timely manner, 16 and this supported us completing our safety evaluation 17 in two years, pretty much as planned. You're going to 18 hear the other approved topicals that this touches 19 upon when our staff presents to you, and the safety 20 evaluation includes a limited condition that has been 21 agreed upon, and is in the safety evaluation agreed 22 upon with the applicant.

23 So, with that, thank you for your 24 attention today. I know my staff is prepared to give 25 you a great presentation, and answer your questions, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

7 1 thank you.

2 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Thanks Joe. And I 3 concur with you, the evaluation of this is a very 4 important topical report, and we look forward to 5 looking at all the information you have presented. At 6 this point I will ask Gayle Elliot from Framatome to 7 make some introductory remarks, and introduce her 8 team. Gayle? I know you're there, because I saw you 9 before.

10 MS. ELLIOTT: Yes. Good morning everyone, 11 I'd like to welcome everyone, first of all, to our 12 discussion on Framatome's health report for increased 13 enrichment for PWRs. Thank you for meeting with us 14 today. I'd like to specifically thank the NRC 15 reviewers of this topical report for reviewing the 16 topical report in a timely, and efficient manner while 17 also being transparent to the public.

18 Mr. Wise, and his colleagues reviewed this 19 topical report, and right around a year time frame, 20 and for a first of a kind topical report, to be able 21 to do that, we greatly appreciate it. Framatome is 22 trying to bring innovation to the industry, and when 23 topical reports get held up in a review, certainly 24 that does not help us to do that.

25 So, thank you Mr. Wise, and your NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

8 1 colleagues for performing this review in a timely, and 2 efficient manner. So, thank you, for my opening 3 remarks that's it.

4 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Thanks a lot. I want 5 to present for the record, our Member Brown has joined 6 us, so we have a full house, all members are present.

7 So, let's go ahead, and start with the Framatome open 8 presentation we'll just hear in open session. Who is 9 going to put the slides up, Gayle are you?

10 MS. ELLIOTT: I can do that, yes. Just 11 one moment while we get those up.

12 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: So, Gayle, then you 13 can introduce your team when you finish that.

14 MS. ELLIOTT: All right.

15 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: You can maximize, go 16 into presentation mode, we can see that.

17 MS. ELLIOTT: Yes, one moment. My 18 apologies, my computer is just a little slow this 19 morning.

20 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Yeah, we need to be 21 managing the time, because in the closed session we 22 have a lot of things, it's been very thorough.

23 MS. ELLIOTT: Understand, understand.

24 Well, it may be better if you guys run the slide show 25 on your computer, because --

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9 1 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: It's okay, we can 2 start, we can see it. We can start with your 3 presentation, and you can continue playing with it.

4 It's a very short presentation.

5 MS. ELLIOTT: Yes, okay. So, we are going 6 to be talking about ANP-10353P Rev 0 today, this is on 7 increased enrichment for PWRs, and I'd like to thank 8 also Morris Byram for actually managing this topical 9 report through the NRC review. So, our agenda today 10 for the open session, I'll be talking about the key 11 milestones for this topical report from prior to, and 12 after the review -- submittal of this topical report.

13 I also want to show you a list of the 14 entire code package, and how they work together. So, 15 we will talk a little bit about the advanced codes, 16 and methods topical reports. We'll talk a little bit 17 about the approval request, and the applicable fuel 18 designs that this topical report will be used for.

19 And also we'll just do a quick, brief outline of the 20 topical report.

21 And my colleague, Michelle Guzzardo is 22 going to be spending more time on that later in the 23 closed session. So, for the key milestones for this, 24 and again, it went very well. The review, the time 25 line of this, it was just a very smooth running NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

10 1 topical report review. So, the key milestones, we did 2 have a pre-submittal meeting in April of 2020, and we 3 submitted the topical report for review in January of 4 2021.

5 It was accepted review a couple months 6 later, March of 2021, very quick. We did have an 7 audit for understanding in September of that same year 8 that went very well. RAIs were received in September 9 also, after that audit of understanding. But one of 10 the things we'd like to mention is we definitely 11 appreciate the audits, because we get a feel for what 12 type of RAIs to be expected, and we can actually talk 13 a little bit more about those in the audit as well.

14 We submitted our responses in January of 15 2022, and another audit on the rated parameters in 16 August of 2022, and we received our draft SC in 17 December of last year. So, this is the code package 18 overview. And the reason we wanted to show this, is 19 because we wanted to show you, first of all, each one 20 of these topical reports, and these are only the major 21 methodologies, but these are talked about in the 22 topical report that we just received the draft SC on.

23 And I want to show you a little bit of how 24 those work together. So, if you take a look at the 25 slides, you'll see those topical reports that are in NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

11 1 green are our new topical reports, they're our newer 2 ones. The blue are some of the older topical reports 3 we have. So, as you can see, we have addressed LOCAs, 4 and neutronics, and non-LOCA fuel performance in this 5 topical report.

6 You'll see here, you see where the arrows 7 are going, you'll see how one methodology feeds into 8 the other methodologies, and so that'll help you to 9 understand everything that we're doing here. You'll 10 see under LOCA, GALILEO in LOCA is in green, that is 11 actually one of our topical reports that were used in 12 unison with their older realistic logic speculative 13 small break LOCA topical reports.

14 So, if you see the arrows, ARCADIA feeds 15 into the LOCA, and the non-LOCA methodologies, as well 16 as the fuel performance methodology. Likewise, the 17 fuel performance for topical reports also feed back 18 into ARCADIA, so you can see that basically by the 19 arrows, and where they're going there. As you can 20 see, all of these are approved, except for ARITA, 21 that's why that one is in yellow.

22 And so, hopefully we'll get that one soon, 23 but very important that that is a part of this topical 24 report as well, and Row Bow does feed into that, the 25 one LOCA methodology. Framatome is requesting NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

12 1 approval for enrichment above five weight percent U-2 235. The fuel designs that this topical report will 3 support are the GAIA 17 by 17, and the HTP fuel design 4 for 14 by 14, 15 by 15, and 16 by 16 bundles.

5 The topical report outline that you'll 6 hear more about today from my colleague is basically 7 we talk about neutronics, and the ARCADIA methodology, 8 specifically the critical experiment comparisons.

9 Chromia doped, chromia coating cladding uncertainty 10 analysis, and we'll talk about thermal hydraulics, the 11 CHF correlation, COBRA-FLX, and fuel rod bow.

12 The topical report outline will also talk 13 about mechanical aspects. Materials, fuel rods, 14 thermal, mechanical, fuel design, external loads, 15 statistical hold down, cladding collapse, and fuel rod 16 bow. We'll also talk about non-LOCA, specifically 17 ARITA, and AREA, and also talk about LOCAs, small 18 break, realistic large break, and the LOCA criteria.

19 And then we'll also be spending some time talking 20 about decay heat.

21 Okay, thank you, that ends my general 22 session for this topic.

23 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Let me ask you on the 24 open session, one generic question about ARITA.

25 Typically we always used approved versions of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

13 1 methodology, and I think the staff is going to talk 2 about that. From your point of view, why are we using 3 a non-approved methodology, ARITA, for this particular 4 case?

5 MS. ELLIOTT: Well, it was our expectation 6 that ARITA would have been approved by now, so --

7 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: So, you basically 8 handle the limitation condition that ARITA must be 9 approved?

10 MS. ELLIOTT: It's my opinion that ARITA 11 will not actually have to be published, as long as we 12 have a draft safety evaluation for that, we should be 13 able to reference that as well.

14 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Well, it would be --

15 once you have a draft to see, it will be issued. If 16 you have a draft SC that has not been issued, it would 17 be very questionable to use it, because there was a 18 problem with it.

19 MS. ELLIOTT: Well, the NRC's own internal 20 processes basically state that draft SCs can be 21 referenced in licensing applications. Certainly it's 22 not the most -- it's not what we would like to do.

23 But again, we were expecting to have ARITA approved by 24 now. We should have a draft SC, Joe, you can correct 25 me if I'm wrong, by the end of March. And so we would NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

14 1 certainly --

2 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Okay, you see this is 3 a problem of timing, instead of substance?

4 MS. ELLIOTT: Absolutely, absolutely.

5 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Okay, thank you. I 6 will drill the staff on that too, they're ready for 7 it. So, staff, if you can stop sharing your screen, 8 the staff can share theirs.

9 MEMBER BIER: One follow-up question Jose.

10 This is Vicki Bier, are there other approved codes 11 that could have been used that you think would have 12 supported the same results, or are there unique 13 features in ARITA that are really necessary for your 14 analysis?

15 MS. ELLIOTT: Well, I'll speak to that, 16 and ask my colleagues to jump in as well, but again, 17 a number of years ago we committed to the NRC, that we 18 were going to come to the NRC with updated codes, 19 because as you know, some of our codes are on the 20 older version, and we had committed to come to the NRC 21 with newer codes, and more innovative codes. And so, 22 that's what ARITA was doing.

23 And we want to use that route, instead of 24 some of our older codes. So, again, this is a timing 25 issue, and that preference certainly is to use the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

15 1 ARITA, rather than relying on some of our older 2 version codes.

3 MEMBER BIER: Thank you.

4 DR. SCHULTZ: Gayle, this is Steve 5 Schultz. It seems as if the limitations, and 6 conditions is associated with ARITA, and that also 7 seemed to be a timing issue. That is to say, I would 8 expect that Framatome would have liked that -- the 9 issues of uncertainty associated with ARITA would have 10 been addressed as part of this approval. Is that 11 correct? I want to understand from Framatome's point 12 of view, where that limitations, and conditions 13 stands.

14 MS. ELLIOTT: Are you talking about all 15 limitation conditions, or specific to ARITA? I can 16 tell you this, again, ARITA has been under review for 17 over four and a half years. So, as you can imagine, 18 this is one that we were expecting to have already 19 been reviewed, and approved by the NRC, and so this 20 wouldn't have been an issue. Again, it's a timing 21 issue. I'm not sure I answered your question though.

22 DR. SCHULTZ: Well, you're expecting 23 though, that the SER is going to be issued with 24 limitations, and conditions one, that you'll address 25 the uncertainty issues later with the staff, is that NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

16 1 correct?

2 MS. ELLIOTT: I would imagine that was a 3 correct statement, yes.

4 DR. SCHULTZ: Okay, thank you.

5 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: While we have 6 Framatome on the line, it's not a problem in my mind, 7 because we're not expecting to put a reload of greater 8 than five percent next month, this is all in the 9 future. By the time this topical report is 10 implemented, we will have plenty of time to have our 11 eye on the books. So, I don't see a problem, as I 12 said, it's timing, not substance.

13 Anymore questions members? So, then let's 14 move to the staff. And you need to -- good. The 15 microphones are very oriented in the field of -- oh 16 you're going to talk, so we're perfect. Introduce 17 yourself.

18 MR. WISE: I am Brandon Wise, with the 19 NRC's Nuclear Methods -- is this better? I am Brandon 20 Wise with the NRC's Nuclear Methods and Fuel Analysis 21 Branch, and I'll be presenting the safety evaluation 22 for Framatome topical report ANP-10353P increased 23 enrichment for pressurized water reactors, next slide 24 please.

25 We'll begin with some background including NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

17 1 the current topical report, the concurrent topical 2 report reviews, and the codes used, and how they 3 relate to this increased enrichment topical report.

4 I'll discuss some applicable regulations, and 5 guidance, and move into the technical topics, which 6 include neutronics, thermal hydraulics, mechanical, 7 non-LOCA, LOCA, and decay heat, and then conclude with 8 limitations, and conditions in the conclusion.

9 Next slide please. For some background, 10 related increased enrichment industry is pursuing 11 higher burn up, and increased fuel enrichment for 12 cycle optimization, and more economic core designs, 13 and Framatome specifically is seeking to expand the 14 range of applicability of their advanced codes, and 15 methods. This topical report is applicable to current 16 burn up limits. Next slide please.

17 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Let me ask you there, 18 on that last bullet, it's applicable to current burn 19 up limits because we're in the process of reviewing 20 increased burn up limits. It's not because we have 21 seen any problem.

22 MR. WISE: Well, Framatome hasn't 23 presented any data that suggests that it would be 24 applicable to higher burn ups, they sort of cut the 25 limit at current limit.

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18 1 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: There's a difference 2 between knowing that it's a problem, and not knowing 3 that it's okay. We're in the not knowing that it's 4 okay.

5 MR. WISE: Right. There were two 6 concurrent topical report reviews, the first of which 7 being M5, which was related to -- I'll discuss that 8 more in the mechanical section, but it was determined 9 that there's no significant effect of increased 10 enrichment on the review for the M5 topical report.

11 The specific conclusions related to that will be 12 discussed later.

13 As for the ARITA topical report, we did 14 identify some issues with the uncertainty treatment of 15 various parameters that could be affected by increased 16 enrichment, and that was resolved using a limitation, 17 and condition. Next slide please. There were several 18 codes referenced in the increased enrichment topical 19 report. There was ARCADIA for neutronics, which 20 includes APOLLO2-A, ARTEMIS, and COBRA-FLX.

21 COBRA-FLX is for thermal hydraulics, 22 there's the GALILEO code, ARITA, which is still under 23 review, which includes ARTEMIS, GALILEO, and ESPIRIT-24 5. There's the SCALE code, which is used for decay 25 heat analysis, which includes the TRITON and ORIGEN NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

19 1 modules. There's AREA for rod ejection accidents, and 2 ORFEO-GAIA, and ORFEO-NMGRID for critical heat flux 3 calculations.

4 Next slide please. Can you go back one 5 slide? I want to mention that this topical report 6 serves as a supplement -- as a sort of supplement to 7 these, the Framatome approved codes, and methods, and 8 doesn't fundamentally change the functionality of 9 these codes greater than five percent, or less than 10 five percent. So, for current applications of these 11 codes, there is no change expected.

12 Next slide please. Some applicable 13 regulations, and guidance, the two most significant 14 regulations are 10 CFR 50.486 for ECCS acceptance 15 criteria, and 10 CFR 50.68, which contains a limit on 16 the maximum fuel enrichment. Also GDC10. As far as 17 guidance, in the SRP there's fuel system design, 18 nuclear design, thermal hydraulic design, review of 19 transient, and accident analysis methods.

20 These SRP sections contain additional 21 guidance, and regulations related to the increased 22 enrichment topical report. I haven't listed them 23 here. Additionally, this last bullet point is neither 24 regulation, nor guidance, but is an Oak Ridge report 25 related to the trends seen in increased burn up -- or NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

20 1 some enrichment, and higher burn up for PWR fuel.

2 The staff used this to better understand 3 what to expect out of increased enrichment fuel, and 4 I'll get into more detail about how the staff used 5 that in the closed session. Starting with the first 6 technical topic, neutronics, Framatome provided multi 7 assembly problems which were referred to as color sets 8 of cathected powers for multi assembly problems with 9 varied enrichments, gadolinia loadings, and burn ups.

10 What is seen is that there's no 11 significant change in uncertainty at increased fuel 12 enrichments. This demonstrates that Framatome 13 maintains acceptable predictive capability at 14 enrichments greater than five percent. The staff 15 reviewed the color set data, and found the increased 16 enrichment color set results to be basically 17 indistinguishable from those in previous submittals, 18 which contain the more enriched color set results.

19 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: In this area I don't 20 see the word criticality in this slide, do you want to 21 address it?

22 MR. WISE: I omitted that for the open 23 session, there's more detail in the closed session.

24 But we see very similar results here, that there's 25 similar predictive capability.

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21 1 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: The prediction of K 2 effective, which is criticality, is not affected 3 significantly?

4 MR. WISE: Correct.

5 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Thank you.

6 MR. WISE: Next slide please. For thermal 7 hydraulics Framatome uses COBRA-FLX, which predicts 8 departure from nuclear boiling using pressure flow 9 quality, and heat flux, all of which are independent 10 of uranium enrichment. The NRC determined that CHF 11 Correlations, which are independent of enrichment may 12 be applicable at increased enrichments.

13 Therefore, NRC staff determined that 14 COBRA-FLX maintains acceptable predictive capability 15 at increased fuel enrichments. Next slide please. In 16 the mechanical section, component material performance 17 is mostly independent of enrichment, and tends to be 18 affected more by spools of burn up. Framatome methods 19 that are independent of enrichment provide data 20 demonstrating acceptability in the range of extended 21 enrichment.

22 Or they're limited by fast fluence, and 23 what the staff has determined that the end of life 24 fast fluence for fuel of higher enrichments is lower 25 than the end of life fast fluence with lower NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

22 1 enrichments, and I'll get into more detail as to the 2 exact physics of why that is later. Therefore, the 3 staff determined that methodologies related to 4 component material performance maintain acceptable 5 predictive capability at increased fuel enrichments.

6 Next slide please. For the non-LOCA 7 evaluation, Framatome determined that ARITA, and AREA 8 have been demonstrated to have acceptable predictive 9 capability at increased fuel enrichments. However, 10 the NRC staff determined that the uncertainty 11 treatment of various parameters in the ARITA 12 methodology were not adequately discussed in this 13 increased enrichment topical report.

14 And we wanted to see additional 15 justification as to the applicability of those 16 uncertainty treatments, especially as ARITA is a yet 17 unapproved topical report.

18 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: And here -- no, go 19 ahead.

20 DR. SCHULTZ: Brandon, was there an RAI 21 issued to Framatome related to this, or was it just 22 determined that we'll handle it later?

23 MR. WISE: There was not an RAI, we had an 24 audit in August of 2022 to discuss this matter, and it 25 was determined that a limitation, and condition was NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

23 1 the approach that Framatome wanted to take.

2 DR. SCHULTZ: Okay, so that came from 3 Framatome, and would be addressed later?

4 MR. WISE: Yes.

5 DR. SCHULTZ: Thank you.

6 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: And procedurally, you 7 expect this to be addressed only once for the first 8 application, not for every single application, even 9 though the limitation, and condition would apply to 10 every application?

11 MR. WISE: It's sort of up to Framatome, 12 these are generic parameters. So, it could be 13 addressed in a plant specific application, a 14 supplement is really open ended as to how Framatome 15 wants to address this.

16 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Up to them, okay, 17 thank you.

18 MR. WISE: I'll stress that these, the 19 uncertainty treatment of these parameters are all 20 generic in nature. There's already a limitation, and 21 condition in -- there will be plant specific, and 22 parameters will be addressed on a plant specific 23 basis.

24 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Yeah, I presume the 25 lawyers would prefer that you make one specific NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

24 1 limitation, and condition, then later you release, 2 instead of saying we approve this SER, but it's 3 incomplete.

4 MR. WISE: Yeah.

5 MEMBER REMPE: Jose, could Brandon restate 6 what his last -- the end of his sentence cut off 7 remotely, and I couldn't quite hear what he said.

8 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Can you repeat what 9 you said?

10 MR. WISE: Yes, so the limitation, and 11 condition one addresses generic parameters only.

12 Plant specific parameters would be addressed on a 13 plant specific basis, and that's consistent with the 14 ARITA topical report.

15 MEMBER REMPE: Okay, thank you.

16 MR. WISE: Next slide please. As for the 17 LOCA evaluation, Framatome identified no new phenomena 18 associated with increased enrichment, and the codes, 19 and inputs used in the LOCA analysis have been 20 demonstrated to be acceptable at increased 21 enrichments. The NRC determined that the 10 CFR 50.46 22 ECCS acceptance criteria, and the codes used in LOCA 23 analysis maintain -- let me restate that.

24 The 50.46 ECCS acceptance criteria remain 25 applicable at higher enrichments, and the codes, and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

25 1 methods that Framatome uses in their LOCA analysis 2 maintain acceptable predictive capability at increased 3 fuel enrichments. Therefore, the NRC staff determined 4 that Framatome's LOCA methodologies are acceptable at 5 increased fuel enrichments.

6 Next slide please. For decay heat, 7 current decay heat models, and standards remain 8 acceptable for Framatome methods, and increased 9 enrichments, that was Framatome's evaluation. The NRC 10 looked at the specific phenomena associated with 11 increased enrichment on decay heat, and found that 12 Framatome's methodologies accurately modeled those 13 phenomena.

14 Specifically that the decay heat at 15 initial shut down times is slightly higher, and levels 16 off after some period of time, and then for much later 17 periods of time it is a bit lower. Therefore, those 18 Framatome methodologies accurately predict the 19 phenomena, and decay heat, they maintain acceptable 20 predictive capability at increased fuel enrichments.

21 DR. SCHULTZ: And Brandon, maybe you'll 22 catch it in the next slide, but all of this is 23 presuming that we're staying within the current burn 24 up limitations associated with the fuel?

25 MR. WISE: That's correct, yes.

NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

26 1 DR. SCHULTZ: Thank you.

2 MR. WISE: There are much different decay 3 heat trends associated with increased burn up.

4 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Yeah, that's a good 5 question, because you're in the process of reviewing 6 increased burn up for some vendors, and definitely 7 we'll do it for Framatome. So, remember to consider 8 decay heat during that review.

9 MR. WISE: Yes, it is expected that -- I 10 mean I've been combining increased enrichment, and 11 increased burn up, that the combined effect is what we 12 considered.

13 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: It's easily overlooked 14 when you're doing increased burn up, you're thinking 15 about mechanical, and fuel fragmentation, you don't 16 think about decay heat.

17 MR. WISE: Yes, there is a graph that will 18 show the decay heat trends at increased burn up in the 19 closed session. For the limitation, and condition 20 I'll read it off. The uncertainty treatment burn up 21 parameters that may be affected by increased 22 enrichment in ANP-10339P, that is ARITA, have not been 23 approved for use at fuel enrichments greater than five 24 weight percent uranium-235.

25 If you implement ARITA with increased fuel NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

27 1 enrichment, the parameters listed below must have the 2 applicability of their uncertainty treatment further 3 justified for use at fuel enrichments greater than 4 five weight percent U-235. I did not include that 5 list of parameters in this open session, because it is 6 proprietary, so we'll discuss that in the closed 7 session.

8 But this is the justification for proving 9 this topical report, and moving forward with this 10 topical report without first having approved ARITA.

11 Next slide please. The second limitation, and 12 condition, ANP-10353P is applicable only to the 13 following PWR fuel assembly designs, GAIA 17 by 17, 14 HTP 15 by 15 designs for Westinghouse plants, and HTP 15 14 by 14, and HTP 16 by 16 for Combustion Engineering 16 plants.

17 ANP-10353P may be used with other fuel 18 assembly designs with sufficient technical 19 justification, and the applicability of ANP-10353P to 20 the assembly design. These are the same assembly 21 designs that Framatome requested in their topical 22 report, so it was no more restricted than their 23 topical report was submitted. Next slide please.

24 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: It's actually, the 25 last sentence is good, it provides a path to license NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

28 1 the 18 by 18 if necessary.

2 MR. WISE: In conclusion, the NRC staff 3 determined that Framatome codes, and methods are 4 acceptable for evaluating fuel with increased 5 enrichment, because they maintain acceptable 6 predictive capability in the range of increased 7 enrichment, with the exception of course, for the 8 limitation, and condition associated with ARITA. That 9 will conclude my presentation.

10 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Any questions from 11 members on the MS Teams line? I see no questions from 12 the room. And I don't remember if I put it on the 13 record that Member Brown joined us, he did. At this 14 point I'm going to open the line for any members of 15 the public that want to make a comment. Remember, 16 it's just comments to place on the record. So, if so, 17 unmute yourself, and place the comment.

18 We hear no comments, this will conclude 19 the open session of the meeting, and we are going to 20 transfer to the closed one. So, the transcript is 21 off, we are in recess.

22 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter went 23 off the record at 9:01 a.m.)

24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com

ANP-10353P, Revision 0 Increased Enrichment for PWRs Morris Byram ACRS Subcommittee February 15, 2023 ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 1

Agenda Key Milestones Advanced Codes and Methods Topical Reports Approval Request and Applicable Fuel Designs Topical Report Outline ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 2

Key Milestones Pre-submittal meeting: April 2020 Submitted ANP-10353 for review: January 2021 Accepted for review: March 2021 Audit for Understanding: September 2021 RAIs received: September 2021 Submitted RAI Responses: January 2022 Audit, ARITA Parameters: August 2022 Draft SE: December 2022 ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 3

Framatome PWR Codes and Methods Overview Only major methodology connections shown ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 4

Approval Request Increased enrichment above 5 wt% U-235 Supported Fuel Designs GAIA 17x17 HTP 15x15 HTP 14x14 HTP 16x16 ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 5

Topical Report Outline Neutronics (ARCADIA)

  • Critical Experiment Comparisons
  • Chromia Doped / Chromium-Coated Cladding
  • Uncertainty Analysis Thermal Hydraulics
  • CHF Correlation
  • COBRA-FLX
  • Fuel Rod Bow ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 6

Topical Report Outline Mechanical

  • Materials
  • Fuel Rod Thermal-Mechanical
  • Fuel Design
  • External Loads
  • Statistical Hold Down
  • Cladding Collapse
  • Fuel Rod Bow ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 7

Topical Report Outline Non-LOCA

  • ARITA
  • RLBLOCA
  • LOCA Criteria Decay Heat ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 8

Acronyms AREA - ARCADIA Rod Ejection Accident LOCA - Loss of Coolant Accident ARITA - ARTEMIS/RELAP Integrated Transient NRC - U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Analysis PWR - Pressurized Water Reactor CE - Combustion Engineering RLBLOCA - Realistic Large Break Loss of CHF - Critical Heat Flux Coolant Accident CROV - Framatomes Creep Ovalization Analysis Code SB - Small Break EM - Evaluation Model SBLOCA - Small Break Loss of Coolant Accident FPC - Fuel Performance Code LBLOCA - Large Break Loss of Coolant Accident W - Westinghouse LB - Large Break ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 9

DOE Acknowledgment and Disclaimer Acknowledgment: This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy under Award Number DE-NE0008818.

Disclaimer: This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.

ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 10

Any reproduction, alteration, transmission to any third party or publication in whole or in part of this document and/or its content is prohibited unless Framatome has provided its prior and written consent.

This document and any information it contains shall not be used for any other purpose than the one for which they were provided. Legal action may be taken against any infringer and/or any person breaching the aforementioned obligations ARCADIA, AREA, ARITA, COPERNIC, GAIA, GALILEO, M5Framatome, PROtect, and S-RELAP5 are trademarks or registered trademarks of Framatome or its affiliates, in the USA or other countries.

ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 11

ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 12 NRC Safety Evaluation of Topical Report ANP-10353 Increased Enrichment for PWRs Open Session Brandon Wise Nuclear Methods and Fuel Analysis Branch (NRR/DSS/SFNB)

ACRS Subcommittee Meeting February 15, 2023

Presentation Outline

  • Background

- Concurrent TR Reviews

- Codes Used

  • Applicable Regulations and Guidance
  • Neutronics
  • Thermal Hydraulics
  • Mechanical
  • Non-LOCA
  • Decay Heat
  • Limitations and Conditions
  • Conclusion 2

Background

  • Industry pursuing higher burnup and fuel with increased enrichment for cycle optimization.
  • Framatome seeks to expand the range of applicability of enrichment for their codes and methods.
  • This TR is applicable for current burnup limits.

3

Concurrent TR Reviews

  • BAW-10227P, Revision 2, Evaluation of Advanced Cladding and Structural Material (M5) in PWR Reactor Fuel, December 2019.
  • ANP-10339P, Revision 0, ARITA - ARTEMIS/RELAP Integrated Transient Analysis Methodology, August 2018.

4

Codes Used

  • ARCADIA (APOLLO2-A, ARTEMIS, COBRA-FLX)

- Approved 2013, Supplement Approved 2018

  • GALILEO

- Approved 2020

  • ARITA (ARTEMIS, GALILEO, S-RELAP5)

- Under Review, See L&C 2

  • SCALE 6.2.3 (TRITON, ORIGEN)
  • AREA

- Approved 2017

  • ORFEO-GAIA / ORFEO-NMGRID

- Approved 2018 5

Applicable Regulations and Guidance

  • Chapter 4.2, Fuel System Design, of the Standard Review Plan (SRP)
  • Chapter 4.3, Nuclear Design, of the SRP
  • Chapter 4.4, Thermal and Hydraulic Design, of the SRP
  • Chapter 15.0.2, Review of Transient and Accident Analysis Methods, of the SRP
  • ORNL/TM-2020/1833, Isotopic and Fuel Lattice Parameter Trends in Extended Enrichment and Higher Burnup LWR Fuel, Vol I: PWR Fuel 6

Neutronics

- Provided colorsets of calculated pin powers for multi-assembly problems with varied enrichments, gadolinia loading, and burnups.

- No significant change in uncertainty at increased fuel enrichments

  • NRC Evaluation

- Reviewed the provided colorset data and found the increased enrichment colorset results to be basically indistinguishable from lower enriched colorset results.

  • Conclusion

- The NRC staff determined that ARCADIA maintains acceptable predictive capability at increased fuel enrichments.

7

Thermal Hydraulics

- COBRA-FLX predicts DNB using pressure, flow, quality, and heat flux. All of which are independent of U-235 enrichment.

  • NRC Evaluation

- CHF correlations that are independent of enrichment are acceptable for use at increased enrichments.

  • Conclusion

- The NRC staff determined that COBRA-FLX maintains acceptable predictive capability at increased fuel enrichments.

8

Mechanical

- Component and material performance is mostly independent of enrichment and tends to be affected more by fluence and burnup.

  • NRC Evaluation

- Framatome methods that are independent of enrichment, provide data demonstrating acceptability in the range of extended enrichment, or are limited by fast fluence remain applicable at increased enrichments.

  • Conclusion

- The NRC staff determined that methodologies related to component and material performance maintain acceptable predictive capability at increased fuel enrichments.

9

Non-LOCA

- The codes and inputs to ARITA and AREA have been demonstrated to be acceptable at increased enrichments and their use in the ARITA and AREA methodologies are unchanged.

  • NRC Evaluation

- The uncertainty treatment of some parameters that may be affected by increased enrichment were not adequately addressed in the ARITA methodology.

  • Conclusion

- L&C 1 requires Framatome to provide additional justification to apply increased enrichment to ANP-10339P. The NRC staff determined that AREA maintains acceptable predictive capability at increased fuel enrichments.

10

LOCA

- No new phenomena associated with increased enrichment were identified. The codes and inputs used in LOCA analyses have been demonstrated to be acceptable at increased enrichments.

  • NRC Evaluation

- An increase enrichment doesnt challenge the 10 CFR 50.46 ECCS acceptance criteria and the codes used in LOCA analyses maintain acceptable predictive capability at increased fuel enrichments.

  • Conclusion

- The NRC staff determined that Framatomes LOCA methodologies are acceptable for use at increased enrichments.

11

Decay Heat

- Current decay heat models and standards remain applicable for Framatome methods at increased enrichments.

  • NRC Evaluation

- Studies show that decay heat at increased enrichments tends to be very similar or slightly lower than decay heat at lower enrichments except for the initial decay heat.

  • Conclusion

- Current decay heat models, as used by Framatome methods, maintain acceptable predictive capability at increased fuel enrichments.

12

Limitation and Condition 1 The uncertainty treatment of parameters that may be affected by increased enrichment in ANP-10339P have not been approved for use at fuel enrichments greater than 5 wt% U-235.

To implement ANP-10339P with increased enrichment, the parameters listed below must have the applicability of their uncertainty treatment further justified for use at fuel enrichments greater than 5 wt% U-235.

13

Limitation and Condition 2 ANP-10353P is applicable only to the following PWR fuel assembly designs: GAIA 17x17 and HTP 15x15 designs for Westinghouse plants, and HTP 14x14 and HTP 16x16 designs for Combustion Engineering plants. ANP-10353P may be used with other fuel assembly designs with sufficient technical justification for the applicability of ANP-10353P to the assembly design.

14

Conclusion The NRC staff determined that Framatome codes and methods are acceptable for evaluating fuel with increased enrichment because they maintain acceptable predictive capability in the range of increased enrichment.

15

Acronyms AOO - Anticipated Operational Occurrence LOCA - Loss of Coolant Accident AREA - ARCADIA Rod Ejection Accident LWR - Light Water Reactor ARITA - ARTEMIS/RELAP Integrated Transient Analysis MSLB - Main Steam Line Break CFR - Code of Federal Regulations ORNL - Oak Ridge National Lab CHF - Critical Heat Flux PWR - Pressurized Water Reactor C-M - Calculated - Measured RLBLOCA - Realistic Large Break Loss of Coolant Accident DNB - Departure from Nucleate Boiling SBLOCA - Small Break Loss of Coolant Accident ECCS - Emergency Core Cooling System SRP - Standard Review Plan EM - Evaluation Model T-H - Thermal-Hydraulics FFRD - Fuel Fragmentation Relocation and Dispersal TR - Topical Report GDC - General Design Criterion HTP - High Thermal Performance 16

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