ML23258A197
| ML23258A197 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 09/27/2023 |
| From: | James Shea NRC/NRR/DNRL/NLIB |
| To: | Hayes M NRC/NRR/DNRL/NLIB |
| References | |
| Download: ML23258A197 (7) | |
Text
September 27, 2023 MEMORANDUM TO: Michelle W. Hayes, Chief Licensing and Regulatory Infrastructure Branch Division of New and Renewed Licenses Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation FROM: James J. Shea, Project Manager /RA/
Licensing and Regulatory Infrastructure Branch Division of New and Renewed Licenses Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
SUBJECT:
U.S. NUCLEAR REGUATORY COMMISSION
SUMMARY
OF PUBLIC MEETING REGARDING THE PREAPPLICATION ENGAGEMENT WITH THE JAPAN ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY ON THE FLOATING SEISMIC ISOLATION SYSTEM DESIGN CONCEPT FOR SMALL MODULAR REACTORS The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) held a partially closed observation public meeting on September 5, 2023, with the Japan Atomic Energy Agency and its corporate partners the IHI Corporation, and the JGC / Nuclear Energy (hereafter the Consortium),
regarding pre-application engagement kick-off concerning its Floating Seismic Isolation System (FSIS) concept for small modular reactors (SMRs). The JAEA Consortium provided an overview of its FSIS technology and the benefits of using this technology and concept paired with a SMR to provide seismic isolation reducing seismic accelerations in horizontal and vertical directions by an order of magnitude. In addition, the JAEA Consortium provided an overview of its draft regulatory engagement plan with the NRC potentially culminating in a Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 52, Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants, design certification application as soon as 2028.
The following topics were discussed during this meeting:
- Overview of the FSIS technology (Public Meeting).
- Overview of FSIS paired with a SMR concepts (Proprietary Closed Portion of Meeting).
- Summary of pre-application engagement plan with the NRC (Proprietary Closed Portion of Meeting).
CONTACT: James Shea, NRR/DNRL 301-415-1366
M. Hayes 2 The NRC issued the public / closed meeting notice on August 21, 2023, and posted it on the NRC public website (ML23233A141). Prior to the meeting, the NRC staff posted the publicly available presentation slides for the meeting (ML23240A061).
Enclosed are the meeting agenda (Enclosure 1), list of attendees of the meeting (Enclosure 2),
and the meeting summary (Enclosure 3).
Enclosures:
- 1. Meeting Agenda
- 2. List of Attendees
- 3. Meeting Summary
ML23258A185 Pkg: ML23258A185 Memo: ML23258A185 Slides: ML23240A061 *via email NRR-106 OFFICE NRR/DNRL/NLIB: PM NRR/DNRL/NLIB: LA NRR/DNRL/NLIB: BC NAME JShea* SGreen* MHayes DATE 09/12/2023 09/15/2023 09/27/2023 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
SUMMARY
OF THE SEPTEMBER 5, 2023, OBSERVATION PUBLIC / CLOSED MEETING REGARDING PREAPPLICATION ENGAGEMENT WITH THE JAPAN ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY ON THE FLOATING SEISMIC ISOLATION SYSTEM DESIGN CONCEPT FOR SMALL MODULAR REACTORS Meeting Agenda Time Topic Speaker 09:00 am - 10:30 am [Open Meeting] NRC /JAEA Overview of Floating Seismic Isolation System (FSIS) for Small Modular Reactors 10:30 am - 11:30 am [CLOSED MEETING] JAEA FSIS Technology and Quality Assurance 11:30 am - 1:00 pm Break ALL 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm [CONTINUE CLOSED MEETING] JAEA FSIS Technology Details 3:00 pm Adjourn ALL Enclosure 1
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
SUMMARY
OF THE SEPTEMBER 5, 2023, OBSERVATION PUBLIC / CLOSED MEETING REGARDING PREAPPLICATION ENGAGEMENT WITH THE JAPAN ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY ON THE FLOATING SEISMIC ISOLATION SYSTEM DESIGN CONCEPT FOR SMALL MODULAR REACTORS List of Attendees Name Organization Name Organization Jim Shea NRC Xing L. Yan JAEA India Banks NRC Toru Nakatsuka JAEA Washington DC Office Ata Istar NRC Michael Scott Advisor to JAEA Mike Lee NRC Yasatomi Morimoto JGC Corporation Brian Smith NRC Satoru Kai IHI Corporation Michelle Hayes NRC Yuki Sato JGC Corporation Barbra Hayes NRC Akihito Otani IHI Corporation Jordan Glisan NRC Tomohiko Yamamoto JAEA Laurel Bauer NRC Greg Galletti NRC Jana Bergman Curtiss Wright Rosalynn Wang NRC Mike Dudeck X-Energy Weijun Wang NRC Mike Melton X-Energy Billy Gleaves NRC Dogan Seber External Greg Galletti NRC Jinsuo Nie NRC Zuhan Xi NRC Hosung Ahn NRC Nebiyu Tiruneh NRC Andrew Prinaris NRC Raj Iyengar NRC Kerri Kavanagh NRC Jose Pires NRC Deanna Zhang NRC Shao Lai NRC Michele Sampson NRC Victor Martins NRC Enclosure 2
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
SUMMARY
OF THE SEPTEMBER 5, 2023, OBSERVATION PUBLIC / CLOSED MEETING REGARDING PREAPPLICATION ENGAGEMENT WITH THE JAPAN ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY ON THE FLOATING SEISMIC ISOLATION DESIGN SYSTEM CONCEPT FOR SMALL MODULAR REACTORS Meeting Summary The NRC staff was informed by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), with its corporate partners the IHI Corporation, and the JGC / Nuclear Energy (hereafter the Consortium), of its interest in pre-application engagement with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on its Floating Seismic Isolation System (FSIS) design concept for small modular reactors (SMRs) at the beginning of this year. The JAEA Consortium subsequently requested a project / docket number in a letter dated June 30, 2023 (Agencywide Documents Access Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML23194A042), in anticipation of a possible Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 52, Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants, design certification (DC) license application using a paired SMR design with its FSIS concept as soon as 2028.
As part of the pre-application activities on the FSIS concept, the NRC staff expects to receive a number of selected Topical Reports (TRs) on key licensing issues beginning next year (2024),
that would provide for the NRC staff and the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards review of specific new or novel design attributes and or methods that will be submitted as part of a future license application. Before issuing a DC, the NRC staff will review an applicants final design to determine whether all the Commissions safety requirements have been met.
During the public portion of the meeting, the staff described the JAEA Consortium engagement with the staff to date and the staff noted that this pre-application effort on the JAEA Consortium FSIS is not specifically affiliated with the current 2017 Memorandum of Cooperation between the NRC and JAEA in the field of nuclear safety research with the NRC office of Research.
Following introductions of the JAEA Consortium present for the meeting, the JAEA Consortium provided its technology overview as well as its planned pre-application regulatory engagement with the NRC on the FSIS for SMRs.
The presentation stated the FSIS technology includes these features:
- a platform structure consisting of air cavities and orifices paired with an SMR plant that floats in a water pool providing seismic isolation
- ability to reduce the paired SMR seismic accelerations in the horizontal and the vertical directions by about an order of magnitude
- adjustable performance by reconfiguring the FSIS cavities and orifices
- sufficient safety margin for a seismic event that is beyond the design-basis (BDBE)
- enhanced design standardization for a SMR and allow siting flexibility in areas of relatively high seismicity The FSIS paired SMR design concept as described by the JAEA Consortium would withstand the terrestrial ground accelerations associated with high seismic risk zones that may not be suitable for conventional nuclear plant construction. The public presentation included details on Enclosure 3
the estimated physical response of the paired FSIS / SMR system to seismic loading scenarios.
Those small-scale test modeling scenarios were based on analytical studies that included input motion from the great east-Japan earthquake. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami resulted in the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power station accident on March 11, 2011.
In connection with its proof-of-concept, the JAEA Consortium intends to construct a large-scaled version of the paired FSIS / SMR system and then perform a series of tests of this configuration on the worlds largest shaking table operated by the Japan National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience at Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. The planned instrumented three-dimensional large-scale tests are intended to confirm and validate the earlier analytical 1/200 small-scale model analyses of the FSIS capabilities using different damping configurations and utilizing a combination of FSIS air cavities and orifice modeling.
If its engineering assumptions are confirmed, the JAEA Consortium would engage the NRC staff in pre-application activities that would culminate in either a DC application paired with a yet determined SMR or as part of an NRC Standard Design Approval process (SDA). The SDA is an NRC staff nuclear plant design approval, issued under 10 CFR Part 52, subpart E. The approval may be for either the final design for the entire reactor facility or the final design of major portions thereof.
The JAEA Consortium provided a pre-application engagement proposed timeline that would start with a submittal of its proprietary regulatory engagement plan (REP) in early 2024 followed up by potential TRs on specific key licensing issues. The public portion of the meeting concluded with no public questions for the staff.
The closed portion of the meeting included discussions of the JAEA Consortium quality assurance program (QA) highlights and more in-depth discussions of the proposed FSIS design and the draft REP. The staff provided feedback to the JAEA Consortium as to specific QA requirements that should be addressed for its FSIS, including the testing process and procedures that would provide adequate confidence in the results as well as certain technical considerations specifically related to NRC NUREG-0800, Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants: LWR Edition:, specifically regarding (SRP) Chapter 3, Design of Structures, Components, Equipment, and Systems, Sections 3.7 related to seismic matters and Sections 3.8 related to structures and containment that the JAEA Consortium should address in any future pre-application TR as well as a future license application or SDA. Staff pointed to the Atlantic Nuclear Power Station project that was planned to be located off the coast of New Jersey an earlier floating nuclear reactor that is analogous to the paired FSIS / SMR concept. Offshore Power Systems was granted an NRC manufacturing license ML-1, in 1982 (ADAMS Accession No. ML20070J219) to build up to eight nuclear power reactors. The Consortium expressed a desire to take advantage of that earlier licensing experience to the extent practicable for the purposes of its project.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:00 pm.
2