ML23087A054
| ML23087A054 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 02/15/2023 |
| From: | Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NRC-2265 ANP-10353P, Rev 0 | |
| Download: ML23087A054 (1) | |
Text
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
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 2
3 DISCLAIMER 4
5 6
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSIONS 7
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON REACTOR SAFEGUARDS 8
9 10 The contents of this transcript of the 11 proceeding of the United States Nuclear Regulatory 12 Commission Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, 13 as reported herein, is a record of the discussions 14 recorded at the meeting.
15 16 This transcript has not been reviewed, 17 corrected, and edited, and it may contain 18 inaccuracies.
19 20 21 22 23
1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 2
+ + + + +
3 ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON REACTOR SAFEGUARDS 4
(ACRS) 5
+ + + + +
6 SUBCOMMITTEE ON THERMAL HYDRAULICS 7
+ + + + +
8 OPEN SESSION 9
+ + + + +
10 WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 15, 2023 12
+ + + + +
13 The Subcommittee met via Teleconference, 14 at 8:30 a.m. EST, Jose March-Leuba, Chair, presiding.
15 16 COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
17 JOSE MARCH-LEUBA, Chair 18 RONALD G. BALLINGER, Member 19 VICKI M. BIER, Member 20 CHARLES H. BROWN, JR., Member 21 VESNA B. DIMITRIJEVIC, Member 22 WALTER L. KIRCHNER, Member 23 GREGORY H. HALNON, Member 24 DAVID A. PETTI, Member 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
2 JOY L. REMPE, Member 1
MATTHEW W. SUNSERI, Member 2
3 4
ACRS CONSULTANT:
5 STEPHEN SCHULTZ 6
7 DESIGNATED FEDERAL OFFICIAL:
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 C-O-N-T-E-N-T-S 1
2 PAGE 3
Opening Remarks and Objectives 4
By Dr. J. March-Leuba........
4 5
NRC Opening Remarks 6
By Joe Donoghue...........
5 7
Presentation on ANP-10353 8
By Michelle Guzzardo 7
9 Presentation on ANP-10353 10 By Brandon Wise........... 16 11 Public Comments 12 Public
............... 28 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
4 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 1
8:30 a.m.
2 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Good morning, this 3
meeting will now come to order. This is a meeting of 4
the Accident Analysis Thermal Hydraulics Subcommittee.
5 I am Jose March-Leuba, the SC chairman. In addition 6
to in person attendance at NRC headquarters, the 7
meeting is broadcast via MS Teams. Members in 8
attendance are Ron Ballinger, Vicki Bier, Vesna 9
Dimitrijevic, Greg Halnon, Walter Kirchner, David 10 Petti, Joy Rempe, and Matthew Sunseri. Our consultant 11 Steve Schultz is also present.
12 Today we are reviewing topical report ANP-13 10353P Revision 0 by Framatome entitled increased 14 enrichment for PWRs. Portions of our meeting will be 15 closed to the public to protect Framatome proprietary 16 information. We have not received requests to provide 17 comments, but we have an opportunity for public 18 comments before the beginning of the closed section of 19 the meeting.
20 The ACRS was established by a statute, and 21 is covered by the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 22 FACA. As such, the committee only speaks to its 23 published letter reports. The rules for participation 24 in all ACRS meetings were announced in the federal 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
5 register on June 13th, 2019. The ACRS section of the 1
U.S. NRC public website provides our charter, bylaws, 2
agendas, letter reports, and full transcripts for the 3
open portions of all full, and subcommittee meetings, 4
including the slides presented there.
5 The designated federal official today is 6
Christopher Brown. A transcript of the meeting is 7
being kept, therefore speak into the microphones 8
clearly, and state your name for the benefit of the 9
court reporter. If you're in the conference room with 10 multiple people on the line, please remember to 11 identify yourself regularly for the accuracy of the 12 transcript.
13 Please keep all your electronics, and the 14 microphone on mute when not in use. Let me remind the 15 members that for this particular topical report, the 16 actual enrichment value being requested by Framatome 17 is proprietary, so please refer to it in your 18 questions as greater than five percent, or better yet, 19 as X percent in the open portion of the meeting.
20 At this point I would like to ask Joe 21 Donoghue from NRC staff if he is present, to present 22 his opening remarks. He is.
23 MR. DONOGHUE: Yes, I am, good morning 24 Chairman. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to say 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
6 a few words. I'm Joe Donoghue, I'm the director of 1
the division of safety systems in NRR, and I wanted to 2
just highlight the topical report that you're going to 3
hear about today is the first of a kind for us, 4
because as you said, it's addressing increased 5
enrichment above 5 percent U-235.
6 It's applicable only to current burn up 7
limits that the staff has approved in other topical 8
reports, and we expect that there's going to be future 9
reviews, future submittals to address higher burn up 10 in the future, that then could make this useful for 11 those kinds of fuel designs. Framatome, in our view, 12 did a really good job. A high quality topical report 13 was submitted.
14 They responded to RAIs in a timely manner, 15 and this supported us completing our safety evaluation 16 in two years, pretty much as planned. You're going to 17 hear the other approved topicals that this touches 18 upon when our staff presents to you, and the safety 19 evaluation includes a limited condition that has been 20 agreed upon, and is in the safety evaluation agreed 21 upon with the applicant.
22 So, with that, thank you for your 23 attention today. I know my staff is prepared to give 24 you a great presentation, and answer your questions, 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
7 thank you.
1 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Thanks Joe. And I 2
concur with you, the evaluation of this is a very 3
important topical report, and we look forward to 4
looking at all the information you have presented. At 5
this point I will ask Gayle Elliot from Framatome to 6
make some introductory remarks, and introduce her 7
team. Gayle? I know you're there, because I saw you 8
before.
9 MS. ELLIOTT: Yes. Good morning everyone, 10 I'd like to welcome everyone, first of all, to our 11 discussion on Framatome's health report for increased 12 enrichment for PWRs. Thank you for meeting with us 13 today. I'd like to specifically thank the NRC 14 reviewers of this topical report for reviewing the 15 topical report in a timely, and efficient manner while 16 also being transparent to the public.
17 Mr. Wise, and his colleagues reviewed this 18 topical report, and right around a year time frame, 19 and for a first of a kind topical report, to be able 20 to do that, we greatly appreciate it. Framatome is 21 trying to bring innovation to the industry, and when 22 topical reports get held up in a review, certainly 23 that does not help us to do that.
24 So, thank you Mr.
- Wise, and your 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
8 colleagues for performing this review in a timely, and 1
efficient manner. So, thank you, for my opening 2
remarks that's it.
3 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Thanks a lot. I want 4
to present for the record, our Member Brown has joined 5
us, so we have a full house, all members are present.
6 So, let's go ahead, and start with the Framatome open 7
presentation we'll just hear in open session. Who is 8
going to put the slides up, Gayle are you?
9 MS. ELLIOTT: I can do that, yes. Just 10 one moment while we get those up.
11 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: So, Gayle, then you 12 can introduce your team when you finish that.
13 MS. ELLIOTT: All right.
14 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: You can maximize, go 15 into presentation mode, we can see that.
16 MS. ELLIOTT: Yes, one moment. My 17 apologies, my computer is just a little slow this 18 morning.
19 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Yeah, we need to be 20 managing the time, because in the closed session we 21 have a lot of things, it's been very thorough.
22 MS. ELLIOTT: Understand, understand.
23 Well, it may be better if you guys run the slide show 24 on your computer, because --
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9 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: It's okay, we can 1
start, we can see it. We can start with your 2
presentation, and you can continue playing with it.
3 It's a very short presentation.
4 MS. ELLIOTT: Yes, okay. So, we are going 5
to be talking about ANP-10353P Rev 0 today, this is on 6
increased enrichment for PWRs, and I'd like to thank 7
also Morris Byram for actually managing this topical 8
report through the NRC review. So, our agenda today 9
for the open session, I'll be talking about the key 10 milestones for this topical report from prior to, and 11 after the review -- submittal of this topical report.
12 I also want to show you a list of the 13 entire code package, and how they work together. So, 14 we will talk a little bit about the advanced codes, 15 and methods topical reports. We'll talk a little bit 16 about the approval request, and the applicable fuel 17 designs that this topical report will be used for.
18 And also we'll just do a quick, brief outline of the 19 topical report.
20 And my colleague, Michelle Guzzardo is 21 going to be spending more time on that later in the 22 closed session. So, for the key milestones for this, 23 and again, it went very well. The review, the time 24 line of this, it was just a very smooth running 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
10 topical report review. So, the key milestones, we did 1
have a pre-submittal meeting in April of 2020, and we 2
submitted the topical report for review in January of 3
2021.
4 It was accepted review a couple months 5
later, March of 2021, very quick. We did have an 6
audit for understanding in September of that same year 7
that went very well. RAIs were received in September 8
also, after that audit of understanding. But one of 9
the things we'd like to mention is we definitely 10 appreciate the audits, because we get a feel for what 11 type of RAIs to be expected, and we can actually talk 12 a little bit more about those in the audit as well.
13 We submitted our responses in January of 14 2022, and another audit on the rated parameters in 15 August of 2022, and we received our draft SC in 16 December of last year. So, this is the code package 17 overview. And the reason we wanted to show this, is 18 because we wanted to show you, first of all, each one 19 of these topical reports, and these are only the major 20 methodologies, but these are talked about in the 21 topical report that we just received the draft SC on.
22 And I want to show you a little bit of how 23 those work together. So, if you take a look at the 24 slides, you'll see those topical reports that are in 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
11 green are our new topical reports, they're our newer 1
ones. The blue are some of the older topical reports 2
we have. So, as you can see, we have addressed LOCAs, 3
and neutronics, and non-LOCA fuel performance in this 4
topical report.
5 You'll see here, you see where the arrows 6
are going, you'll see how one methodology feeds into 7
the other methodologies, and so that'll help you to 8
understand everything that we're doing here. You'll 9
see under LOCA, GALILEO in LOCA is in green, that is 10 actually one of our topical reports that were used in 11 unison with their older realistic logic speculative 12 small break LOCA topical reports.
13 So, if you see the arrows, ARCADIA feeds 14 into the LOCA, and the non-LOCA methodologies, as well 15 as the fuel performance methodology. Likewise, the 16 fuel performance for topical reports also feed back 17 into ARCADIA, so you can see that basically by the 18 arrows, and where they're going there. As you can 19 see, all of these are approved, except for ARITA, 20 that's why that one is in yellow.
21 And so, hopefully we'll get that one soon, 22 but very important that that is a part of this topical 23 report as well, and Row Bow does feed into that, the 24 one LOCA methodology. Framatome is requesting 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
12 approval for enrichment above five weight percent U-1 235. The fuel designs that this topical report will 2
support are the GAIA 17 by 17, and the HTP fuel design 3
for 14 by 14, 15 by 15, and 16 by 16 bundles.
4 The topical report outline that you'll 5
hear more about today from my colleague is basically 6
we talk about neutronics, and the ARCADIA methodology, 7
specifically the critical experiment comparisons.
8 Chromia doped, chromia coating cladding uncertainty 9
analysis, and we'll talk about thermal hydraulics, the 10 CHF correlation, COBRA-FLX, and fuel rod bow.
11 The topical report outline will also talk 12 about mechanical aspects. Materials, fuel rods, 13 thermal, mechanical, fuel design, external loads, 14 statistical hold down, cladding collapse, and fuel rod 15 bow. We'll also talk about non-LOCA, specifically 16 ARITA, and AREA, and also talk about LOCAs, small 17 break, realistic large break, and the LOCA criteria.
18 And then we'll also be spending some time talking 19 about decay heat.
20 Okay, thank you, that ends my general 21 session for this topic.
22 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Let me ask you on the 23 open session, one generic question about ARITA.
24 Typically we always used approved versions of 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
13 methodology, and I think the staff is going to talk 1
about that. From your point of view, why are we using 2
a non-approved methodology, ARITA, for this particular 3
case?
4 MS. ELLIOTT: Well, it was our expectation 5
that ARITA would have been approved by now, so --
6 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: So, you basically 7
handle the limitation condition that ARITA must be 8
approved?
9 MS. ELLIOTT: It's my opinion that ARITA 10 will not actually have to be published, as long as we 11 have a draft safety evaluation for that, we should be 12 able to reference that as well.
13 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Well, it would be --
14 once you have a draft to see, it will be issued. If 15 you have a draft SC that has not been issued, it would 16 be very questionable to use it, because there was a 17 problem with it.
18 MS. ELLIOTT: Well, the NRC's own internal 19 processes basically state that draft SCs can be 20 referenced in licensing applications. Certainly it's 21 not the most -- it's not what we would like to do.
22 But again, we were expecting to have ARITA approved by 23 now. We should have a draft SC, Joe, you can correct 24 me if I'm wrong, by the end of March. And so we would 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
14 certainly --
1 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Okay, you see this is 2
a problem of timing, instead of substance?
3 MS. ELLIOTT: Absolutely, absolutely.
4 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Okay, thank you. I 5
will drill the staff on that too, they're ready for 6
it. So, staff, if you can stop sharing your screen, 7
the staff can share theirs.
8 MEMBER BIER: One follow-up question Jose.
9 This is Vicki Bier, are there other approved codes 10 that could have been used that you think would have 11 supported the same results, or are there unique 12 features in ARITA that are really necessary for your 13 analysis?
14 MS. ELLIOTT: Well, I'll speak to that, 15 and ask my colleagues to jump in as well, but again, 16 a number of years ago we committed to the NRC, that we 17 were going to come to the NRC with updated codes, 18 because as you know, some of our codes are on the 19 older version, and we had committed to come to the NRC 20 with newer codes, and more innovative codes. And so, 21 that's what ARITA was doing.
22 And we want to use that route, instead of 23 some of our older codes. So, again, this is a timing 24 issue, and that preference certainly is to use the 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
15 ARITA, rather than relying on some of our older 1
version codes.
2 MEMBER BIER: Thank you.
3 DR. SCHULTZ: Gayle, this is Steve 4
Schultz. It seems as if the limitations, and 5
conditions is associated with ARITA, and that also 6
seemed to be a timing issue. That is to say, I would 7
expect that Framatome would have liked that -- the 8
issues of uncertainty associated with ARITA would have 9
been addressed as part of this approval. Is that 10 correct? I want to understand from Framatome's point 11 of view, where that limitations, and conditions 12 stands.
13 MS. ELLIOTT: Are you talking about all 14 limitation conditions, or specific to ARITA? I can 15 tell you this, again, ARITA has been under review for 16 over four and a half years. So, as you can imagine, 17 this is one that we were expecting to have already 18 been reviewed, and approved by the NRC, and so this 19 wouldn't have been an issue. Again, it's a timing 20 issue. I'm not sure I answered your question though.
21 DR. SCHULTZ: Well, you're expecting 22 though, that the SER is going to be issued with 23 limitations, and conditions one, that you'll address 24 the uncertainty issues later with the staff, is that 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
16 correct?
1 MS. ELLIOTT: I would imagine that was a 2
correct statement, yes.
3 DR. SCHULTZ: Okay, thank you.
4 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA:
While we have 5
Framatome on the line, it's not a problem in my mind, 6
because we're not expecting to put a reload of greater 7
than five percent next month, this is all in the 8
future. By the time this topical report is 9
implemented, we will have plenty of time to have our 10 eye on the books. So, I don't see a problem, as I 11 said, it's timing, not substance.
12 Anymore questions members? So, then let's 13 move to the staff. And you need to -- good. The 14 microphones are very oriented in the field of -- oh 15 you're going to talk, so we're perfect. Introduce 16 yourself.
17 MR. WISE: I am Brandon Wise, with the 18 NRC's Nuclear Methods -- is this better? I am Brandon 19 Wise with the NRC's Nuclear Methods and Fuel Analysis 20 Branch, and I'll be presenting the safety evaluation 21 for Framatome topical report ANP-10353P increased 22 enrichment for pressurized water reactors, next slide 23 please.
24 We'll begin with some background including 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
17 the current topical report, the concurrent topical 1
report reviews, and the codes used, and how they 2
relate to this increased enrichment topical report.
3 I'll discuss some applicable regulations, and 4
guidance, and move into the technical topics, which 5
include neutronics, thermal hydraulics, mechanical, 6
non-LOCA, LOCA, and decay heat, and then conclude with 7
limitations, and conditions in the conclusion.
8 Next slide please. For some background, 9
related increased enrichment industry is pursuing 10 higher burn up, and increased fuel enrichment for 11 cycle optimization, and more economic core designs, 12 and Framatome specifically is seeking to expand the 13 range of applicability of their advanced codes, and 14 methods. This topical report is applicable to current 15 burn up limits. Next slide please.
16 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Let me ask you there, 17 on that last bullet, it's applicable to current burn 18 up limits because we're in the process of reviewing 19 increased burn up limits. It's not because we have 20 seen any problem.
21 MR.
WISE:
- Well, Framatome hasn't 22 presented any data that suggests that it would be 23 applicable to higher burn ups, they sort of cut the 24 limit at current limit.
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18 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: There's a difference 1
between knowing that it's a problem, and not knowing 2
that it's okay. We're in the not knowing that it's 3
okay.
4 MR. WISE: Right. There were two 5
concurrent topical report reviews, the first of which 6
being M5, which was related to -- I'll discuss that 7
more in the mechanical section, but it was determined 8
that there's no significant effect of increased 9
enrichment on the review for the M5 topical report.
10 The specific conclusions related to that will be 11 discussed later.
12 As for the ARITA topical report, we did 13 identify some issues with the uncertainty treatment of 14 various parameters that could be affected by increased 15 enrichment, and that was resolved using a limitation, 16 and condition. Next slide please. There were several 17 codes referenced in the increased enrichment topical 18 report. There was ARCADIA for neutronics, which 19 includes APOLLO2-A, ARTEMIS, and COBRA-FLX.
20 COBRA-FLX is for thermal hydraulics, 21 there's the GALILEO code, ARITA, which is still under 22 review, which includes ARTEMIS, GALILEO, and ESPIRIT-23
- 5. There's the SCALE code, which is used for decay 24 heat analysis, which includes the TRITON and ORIGEN 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
19 modules. There's AREA for rod ejection accidents, and 1
ORFEO-GAIA, and ORFEO-NMGRID for critical heat flux 2
calculations.
3 Next slide please. Can you go back one 4
slide? I want to mention that this topical report 5
serves as a supplement -- as a sort of supplement to 6
these, the Framatome approved codes, and methods, and 7
doesn't fundamentally change the functionality of 8
these codes greater than five percent, or less than 9
five percent. So, for current applications of these 10 codes, there is no change expected.
11 Next slide please. Some applicable 12 regulations, and guidance, the two most significant 13 regulations are 10 CFR 50.486 for ECCS acceptance 14 criteria, and 10 CFR 50.68, which contains a limit on 15 the maximum fuel enrichment. Also GDC10. As far as 16 guidance, in the SRP there's fuel system design, 17 nuclear design, thermal hydraulic design, review of 18 transient, and accident analysis methods.
19 These SRP sections contain additional 20 guidance, and regulations related to the increased 21 enrichment topical report. I haven't listed them 22 here. Additionally, this last bullet point is neither 23 regulation, nor guidance, but is an Oak Ridge report 24 related to the trends seen in increased burn up -- or 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
20 some enrichment, and higher burn up for PWR fuel.
1 The staff used this to better understand 2
what to expect out of increased enrichment fuel, and 3
I'll get into more detail about how the staff used 4
that in the closed session. Starting with the first 5
technical topic, neutronics, Framatome provided multi 6
assembly problems which were referred to as color sets 7
of cathected powers for multi assembly problems with 8
varied enrichments, gadolinia loadings, and burn ups.
9 What is seen is that there's no 10 significant change in uncertainty at increased fuel 11 enrichments. This demonstrates that Framatome 12 maintains acceptable predictive capability at 13 enrichments greater than five percent. The staff 14 reviewed the color set data, and found the increased 15 enrichment color set results to be basically 16 indistinguishable from those in previous submittals, 17 which contain the more enriched color set results.
18 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: In this area I don't 19 see the word criticality in this slide, do you want to 20 address it?
21 MR. WISE: I omitted that for the open 22 session, there's more detail in the closed session.
23 But we see very similar results here, that there's 24 similar predictive capability.
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21 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: The prediction of K 1
effective, which is criticality, is not affected 2
significantly?
3 MR. WISE: Correct.
4 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Thank you.
5 MR. WISE: Next slide please. For thermal 6
hydraulics Framatome uses COBRA-FLX, which predicts 7
departure from nuclear boiling using pressure flow 8
quality, and heat flux, all of which are independent 9
of uranium enrichment. The NRC determined that CHF 10 Correlations, which are independent of enrichment may 11 be applicable at increased enrichments.
12 Therefore, NRC staff determined that 13 COBRA-FLX maintains acceptable predictive capability 14 at increased fuel enrichments. Next slide please. In 15 the mechanical section, component material performance 16 is mostly independent of enrichment, and tends to be 17 affected more by spools of burn up. Framatome methods 18 that are independent of enrichment provide data 19 demonstrating acceptability in the range of extended 20 enrichment.
21 Or they're limited by fast fluence, and 22 what the staff has determined that the end of life 23 fast fluence for fuel of higher enrichments is lower 24 than the end of life fast fluence with lower 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
22 enrichments, and I'll get into more detail as to the 1
exact physics of why that is later. Therefore, the 2
staff determined that methodologies related to 3
component material performance maintain acceptable 4
predictive capability at increased fuel enrichments.
5 Next slide please. For the non-LOCA 6
evaluation, Framatome determined that ARITA, and AREA 7
have been demonstrated to have acceptable predictive 8
capability at increased fuel enrichments. However, 9
the NRC staff determined that the uncertainty 10 treatment of various parameters in the ARITA 11 methodology were not adequately discussed in this 12 increased enrichment topical report.
13 And we wanted to see additional 14 justification as to the applicability of those 15 uncertainty treatments, especially as ARITA is a yet 16 unapproved topical report.
17 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: And here -- no, go 18 ahead.
19 DR. SCHULTZ: Brandon, was there an RAI 20 issued to Framatome related to this, or was it just 21 determined that we'll handle it later?
22 MR. WISE: There was not an RAI, we had an 23 audit in August of 2022 to discuss this matter, and it 24 was determined that a limitation, and condition was 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
23 the approach that Framatome wanted to take.
1 DR. SCHULTZ: Okay, so that came from 2
Framatome, and would be addressed later?
3 MR. WISE: Yes.
4 DR. SCHULTZ: Thank you.
5 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: And procedurally, you 6
expect this to be addressed only once for the first 7
application, not for every single application, even 8
though the limitation, and condition would apply to 9
every application?
10 MR. WISE: It's sort of up to Framatome, 11 these are generic parameters. So, it could be 12 addressed in a plant specific application, a 13 supplement is really open ended as to how Framatome 14 wants to address this.
15 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Up to them, okay, 16 thank you.
17 MR. WISE: I'll stress that these, the 18 uncertainty treatment of these parameters are all 19 generic in nature. There's already a limitation, and 20 condition in -- there will be plant specific, and 21 parameters will be addressed on a plant specific 22 basis.
23 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Yeah, I presume the 24 lawyers would prefer that you make one specific 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
24 limitation, and condition, then later you release, 1
instead of saying we approve this SER, but it's 2
incomplete.
3 MR. WISE: Yeah.
4 MEMBER REMPE: Jose, could Brandon restate 5
what his last -- the end of his sentence cut off 6
remotely, and I couldn't quite hear what he said.
7 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Can you repeat what 8
you said?
9 MR. WISE: Yes, so the limitation, and 10 condition one addresses generic parameters only.
11 Plant specific parameters would be addressed on a 12 plant specific basis, and that's consistent with the 13 ARITA topical report.
14 MEMBER REMPE: Okay, thank you.
15 MR. WISE: Next slide please. As for the 16 LOCA evaluation, Framatome identified no new phenomena 17 associated with increased enrichment, and the codes, 18 and inputs used in the LOCA analysis have been 19 demonstrated to be acceptable at increased 20 enrichments. The NRC determined that the 10 CFR 50.46 21 ECCS acceptance criteria, and the codes used in LOCA 22 analysis maintain -- let me restate that.
23 The 50.46 ECCS acceptance criteria remain 24 applicable at higher enrichments, and the codes, and 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
25 methods that Framatome uses in their LOCA analysis 1
maintain acceptable predictive capability at increased 2
fuel enrichments. Therefore, the NRC staff determined 3
that Framatome's LOCA methodologies are acceptable at 4
increased fuel enrichments.
5 Next slide please. For decay heat, 6
current decay heat models, and standards remain 7
acceptable for Framatome methods, and increased 8
enrichments, that was Framatome's evaluation. The NRC 9
looked at the specific phenomena associated with 10 increased enrichment on decay heat, and found that 11 Framatome's methodologies accurately modeled those 12 phenomena.
13 Specifically that the decay heat at 14 initial shut down times is slightly higher, and levels 15 off after some period of time, and then for much later 16 periods of time it is a bit lower. Therefore, those 17 Framatome methodologies accurately predict the 18 phenomena, and decay heat, they maintain acceptable 19 predictive capability at increased fuel enrichments.
20 DR. SCHULTZ: And Brandon, maybe you'll 21 catch it in the next slide, but all of this is 22 presuming that we're staying within the current burn 23 up limitations associated with the fuel?
24 MR. WISE: That's correct, yes.
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
26 DR. SCHULTZ: Thank you.
1 MR. WISE: There are much different decay 2
heat trends associated with increased burn up.
3 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Yeah, that's a good 4
question, because you're in the process of reviewing 5
increased burn up for some vendors, and definitely 6
we'll do it for Framatome. So, remember to consider 7
decay heat during that review.
8 MR. WISE: Yes, it is expected that -- I 9
mean I've been combining increased enrichment, and 10 increased burn up, that the combined effect is what we 11 considered.
12 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: It's easily overlooked 13 when you're doing increased burn up, you're thinking 14 about mechanical, and fuel fragmentation, you don't 15 think about decay heat.
16 MR. WISE: Yes, there is a graph that will 17 show the decay heat trends at increased burn up in the 18 closed session. For the limitation, and condition 19 I'll read it off. The uncertainty treatment burn up 20 parameters that may be affected by increased 21 enrichment in ANP-10339P, that is ARITA, have not been 22 approved for use at fuel enrichments greater than five 23 weight percent uranium-235.
24 If you implement ARITA with increased fuel 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
27 enrichment, the parameters listed below must have the 1
applicability of their uncertainty treatment further 2
justified for use at fuel enrichments greater than 3
five weight percent U-235. I did not include that 4
list of parameters in this open session, because it is 5
proprietary, so we'll discuss that in the closed 6
session.
7 But this is the justification for proving 8
this topical report, and moving forward with this 9
topical report without first having approved ARITA.
10 Next slide please. The second limitation, and 11 condition, ANP-10353P is applicable only to the 12 following PWR fuel assembly designs, GAIA 17 by 17, 13 HTP 15 by 15 designs for Westinghouse plants, and HTP 14 14 by 14, and HTP 16 by 16 for Combustion Engineering 15 plants.
16 ANP-10353P may be used with other fuel 17 assembly designs with sufficient technical 18 justification, and the applicability of ANP-10353P to 19 the assembly design. These are the same assembly 20 designs that Framatome requested in their topical 21 report, so it was no more restricted than their 22 topical report was submitted. Next slide please.
23 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: It's actually, the 24 last sentence is good, it provides a path to license 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
28 the 18 by 18 if necessary.
1 MR. WISE: In conclusion, the NRC staff 2
determined that Framatome codes, and methods are 3
acceptable for evaluating fuel with increased 4
enrichment, because they maintain acceptable 5
predictive capability in the range of increased 6
enrichment, with the exception of course, for the 7
limitation, and condition associated with ARITA. That 8
will conclude my presentation.
9 CHAIR MARCH-LEUBA: Any questions from 10 members on the MS Teams line? I see no questions from 11 the room. And I don't remember if I put it on the 12 record that Member Brown joined us, he did. At this 13 point I'm going to open the line for any members of 14 the public that want to make a comment. Remember, 15 it's just comments to place on the record. So, if so, 16 unmute yourself, and place the comment.
17 We hear no comments, this will conclude 18 the open session of the meeting, and we are going to 19 transfer to the closed one. So, the transcript is 20 off, we are in recess.
21 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter went 22 off the record at 9:01 a.m.)
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
1 ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 Morris Byram ACRS Subcommittee February 15, 2023 ANP-10353P, Revision 0 Increased Enrichment for PWRs
2 ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 Key Milestones Advanced Codes and Methods Topical Reports Approval Request and Applicable Fuel Designs Topical Report Outline Agenda
3 ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 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 Key Milestones
4 ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 Only major methodology connections shown Framatome PWR Codes and Methods Overview
5 ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 GAIA 17x17 HTP 15x15 HTP 14x14 HTP 16x16 Approval Request Increased enrichment above 5 wt% U-235 Supported Fuel Designs
6 ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 Neutronics (ARCADIA)
- Critical Experiment Comparisons
- Chromia Doped / Chromium-Coated Cladding
- Uncertainty Analysis Thermal Hydraulics
- CHF Correlation
- COBRA-FLX
- Fuel Rod Bow Topical Report Outline
7 ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 Mechanical
- Materials
- Fuel Rod Thermal-Mechanical
- Fuel Design
- External Loads
- Statistical Hold Down
- Cladding Collapse
- Fuel Rod Bow Topical Report Outline
8 ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 Non-LOCA
- ARITA
- AREA LOCA
- RLBLOCA
- LOCA Criteria Decay Heat Topical Report Outline
9 ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 AREA - ARCADIA Rod Ejection Accident ARITA - ARTEMIS/RELAP Integrated Transient Analysis CE - Combustion Engineering CHF - Critical Heat Flux CROV - Framatomes Creep Ovalization Analysis Code EM - Evaluation Model FPC - Fuel Performance Code LBLOCA - Large Break Loss of Coolant Accident LB - Large Break Acronyms LOCA - Loss of Coolant Accident NRC - U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission PWR - Pressurized Water Reactor RLBLOCA - Realistic Large Break Loss of Coolant Accident SB - Small Break SBLOCA - Small Break Loss of Coolant Accident W - Westinghouse
10 ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 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.
DOE Acknowledgment and Disclaimer
11 ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023 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.
12 ANP-10353P, Revision 0, Increased Enrichment for PWRs - ACRS Subcommittee - February 15, 2023
NRC Safety Evaluation of Topical Report ANP-10353 Increased Enrichment for PWRs Brandon Wise Nuclear Methods and Fuel Analysis Branch (NRR/DSS/SFNB)
ACRS Subcommittee Meeting February 15, 2023 Open Session
Presentation Outline
Background
- Concurrent TR Reviews
- Codes Used Applicable Regulations and Guidance Neutronics Thermal Hydraulics Mechanical Non-LOCA 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 10 CFR 50.46, Acceptance Criteria for Emergency Core Cooling Systems (ECCS) for Light-Water Nuclear Power Reactors 10 CFR 50.68, Criticality Accident Requirements 10 CFR Part 50 Appendix A, General Design Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants, General Design Criterion (GDC) 10, Reactor Design 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
- Framatome Evaluation
- 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
- Framatome Evaluation
- 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
- Framatome Evaluation
- 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
- Framatome Evaluation
- 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
- Framatome Evaluation
- 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
- Framatome Evaluation
- 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 AREA - ARCADIA Rod Ejection Accident ARITA - ARTEMIS/RELAP Integrated Transient Analysis CFR - Code of Federal Regulations CHF - Critical Heat Flux C-M - Calculated - Measured DNB - Departure from Nucleate Boiling ECCS - Emergency Core Cooling System EM - Evaluation Model FFRD - Fuel Fragmentation Relocation and Dispersal GDC - General Design Criterion HTP - High Thermal Performance 16 LOCA - Loss of Coolant Accident LWR - Light Water Reactor MSLB - Main Steam Line Break ORNL - Oak Ridge National Lab PWR - Pressurized Water Reactor RLBLOCA - Realistic Large Break Loss of Coolant Accident SBLOCA - Small Break Loss of Coolant Accident SRP - Standard Review Plan T-H - Thermal-Hydraulics TR - Topical Report