ML25098A233
| ML25098A233 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 04/03/2025 |
| From: | Gheen A Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Michael Wentzel Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| References | |
| Download: ML25098A233 (7) | |
Text
April 03, 2025 MEMORANDUM TO:
Michael Wentzel, Chief Advanced Reactor Policy Branch Division of Advanced Reactors and Non-Power Production and Utilization Facilities Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation FROM:
Angelica Gheen, Senior Project Manager /RA/
Advanced Reactor Policy Branch Division of Advanced Reactors and Non-Power Production and Utilization Facilities Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
SUBJECT:
SUMMARY
OF THE JANUARY 16, 2025, PUBLIC MEETING, DISCUSSION ON ALTERNATIVE RISK-INFORMED, TECHNOLOGY-INCLUSIVE APPROACHES TO ADVANCED REACTOR REGULATION (EPID NO. U-2024-RU0-0000).
Meeting Information:
Public Meeting Notice Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS)
Accession No.: ML25015A231 Presentation Slides ADAMS Accession No.: ML25016A030 NRC Staff Prepared White Paper ADAMS Accession No.: ML24355A087 Meeting Attendees: See the enclosure for a list of meeting attendees.
On January 16, 2025, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff held a public meeting to engage with the NRC staff on the white paper on alternative risk-informed, technology-inclusive approaches to advanced reactor regulation. The white paper explored technology-inclusive alternatives to the proposed Part 53 rulemakings approach to licensing commercial nuclear plants where risk analyses are used in a supporting or confirmatory role during the licensing process. The Enclosure to this summary provides the attendees for the meeting as captured by Microsoft Teams and the attendee in-person sign-in sheet.
The meeting provided structured discussions on options for alternative risk informed, technology inclusive approaches to advanced reactor regulation as described in the staff developed white paper. Mike King, Special Assistant for the ADVANCE Act, and William Kennedy, Senior Project Manager, provided information on current ADVANCE Act efforts.
CONTACT: Angelica Gheen, NRR/DANU 301-415-1178
M. Wentzel 2
Meeting Summary:
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff conducted the meeting in accordance with NRC Management Directive 3.5, Attendance at NRC Staff-Sponsored Meetings (ADAMS Accession No. ML21180A271). The main points of discussion during the meeting included:
The NRC staff provided brief opening remarks on the background of alternative risk-informed, technology-inclusive approaches to advanced reactor regulation as well as the use of probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) in the proposed Part 53 rulemaking and Parts 50 and 52 and its distinction from the use of alternative evaluation for risk insights (AERI) methodology (ML21162A093).
Mike King, Special Assistant for the ADVANCE Act at the NRC, provided updates on the NRC efforts to implement the ADVANCE Act goals noting that the meeting was connected to the requirements in Section 208 of the Act. The current status of key milestones of the ADVANCE Act implementation efforts can be found at https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/governing-laws/advance-act.html. NRC Senior Project Manager William Kennedy provided additional information on Section 208 of the Act, which directs the NRC to develop and implement risk-informed and performance-based strategies and guidance to license and regulate microreactors in eight topical areas including risk analysis methods such as the ones discussed in this meeting.
NRC staff provided an overview of each option proposed in the white paper on alternative risk informed, technology inclusive approaches to advanced reactor regulation followed by a focused discussion on those options.
Option 1-Update 10 CFR Parts 50 and 52 to include technology-inclusive provisions for advanced reactors, discussion highlights include:
Participant perception that Option 1 would be the least resource intensive Participant perception of a lengthy timeline of implementation of any new rulemaking efforts The implications of not utilizing PRA to determine what is safety significant and utilizing a deterministic licensing approach, and discussion on what implementation may look like Option 2 - Incorporate the Framework B language into a standalone Part 56, including technical and administrative requirements, discussion highlights include:
Participant perception that a Part 56 effort would be resource intensive and potentially unnecessary if some changes are made to the proposed Part 53 rulemaking.
Encouragement of the NRC to not pursue the drafting of a Part 56 rulemaking.
Participants further stated that to begin a rulemaking process at this point in time would not be responsive to Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA)
Desire to utilize Part 53 to meet goals of a Part 56 Option 3 - Create a new standalone part; however, the regulatory requirements would be written more generally, leaving more detailed methods of compliance would be located in guidance, discussion highlights include:
Part 53 can be revised to meet the Commission intent of this option by changing PRA language to risk evaluation Discussion amongst participants about the value and necessity of PRA versus other methodology
M. Wentzel 3
Contention that with more flexible language used in Part 53, the finer points can be accomplished later via guidance documents Open discussion highlights:
Participants reiterated the lack of support for the development of a Part 56 Concerning criteria other than a PRA, NRC needs to think about how to incorporate consideration of potential accident sequences that are difficult to analyze Participants mentioned the use of a service provider licensing model, which was approved by the Commission for services for mining support in the materials arena, for microreactors AERI approach has merit, but not with such strict entry criteria Concerns with low probability events, evaluation of cliff-edge effects, and uncertainty for decision making in both PRA and other risk evaluation methods No regulatory decisions were made as a result of this meeting.
Enclosure:
List of Meeting Attendees cc: Advanced Reactor Rulemaking and Guidance Development via GovDelivery
M. Wentzel 4
SUBJECT:
SUMMARY
OF THE JANUARY 16, 2025, PUBLIC MEETING, DISCUSSION ON ALTERNATIVE RISK-INFORMED, TECHNOLOGY-INCLUSIVE APPROACHES TO ADVANCED REACTOR REGULATION (EPID NO. U-2024-RU0-0000). DATED: APRIL 3, 2025 DISTRIBUTION:
PUBLIC RidsNrrDanu Resource RidsNrrDanuUarp Resource MKing,OEDO MWentzel,NRR WKennedy,NRR NFields,NMSS RBeall, NMSS AGheen,NRR ADAMS Accession Number: ML25098A233 NRC-001 OFFICE NRR/DANU/UARP/PM NRR/DANU/UARP/BC NRR/DANU/UARP/PM NAME AGheen MWentzel AGheen DATE 04/03/2025 04/03/2025 04/03/2025 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
Enclosure List of Meeting Attendees For the January 16, 2025, Public Meeting, Discussion on Alternative Risk-Informed, Technology-Inclusive Approaches to Advanced Reactor Regulation Name Organization Evan Anderson U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
Kenneth Armstrong NRC Bob Beall NRC Alysia Bone NRC Jeff Bream NRC Krupskaya Castellon NRC David Cullison NRC Nicole Fields NRC Angelica Gheen NRC Anders Gilbertson NRC Todd Hilsmeier NRC Ian Jung NRC William Kennedy NRC Charles Kreuzberger NRC Steven Lynch NRC Aaron McCraw NRC Kristin McElwee NRC Caty Nolan NRC James O'Driscoll NRC Donald Palmrose NRC Hanh Phan NRC Annie Ramirez NRC William Reckley NRC Beth Reed NRC Josh Rhodes NRC Aaron Sanders NRC Max Smith NRC Michael Spencer NRC Marty Stutzke NRC Scott Tonsfeldt NRC Nanette Valliere NRC Sunil Weerakkody NRC Derek Widmayer NRC Carolyn Wolf NRC Francis Akstulewicz Public Jason Albert Christensen Public Sari Alkhatib Public Steven Arndt Public Benjamin Beasley Public Jana Bergman Public Andrew Bowman Public Robert Budnitz Public Rob Burg Public
Name Organization Raymond Burski Public Michael C Wilt Public Travis Chapman Public Renae Connell Public Robert D Boston Public Cyril Draffin Public Jon Facemire Public Omar Fares Al Ali Public Scott Ferrara Public Martin Flynn Public Mason Fox Public Rani Franovich Public Darrell Gardner Public Samuel Gibson Public Dave Grabaskas Public MS Graham Consultants Public Kimberly Gwyn Lawrence Public Jordan H Public Jordan Hagaman Public Tanya Hockett Public Joy Jiang Public Robyn Johnson Public Tom King Public Anne Leidich Public Paul Loza Public Edwin Lyman Public Christopher Maxwell Public Michael Mayfield Public Julianne Mccallum Public Michael Mcmurtrey Public Richard Mogavero Public Ross Moore Public Michael Muhlheim Public Steve Nesbit Public Eric Oesterle Public Trace Orf Public Drew Peebles Public Timothy Polich Public Steven Pope Public John Richards Public Steve Schilthelm Public Farshid Shahrokhi Public Melanie Snyder Public Adam Stein Public Andrea Sterdis Public
Name Organization William T Jessup Public Eric Thornsbury Public Col Timothy Wyant Public Spencer Toohill Public Kelli Voelsing Public Bernard White Public Patrick White Public Bradley Wicker Dolan Public Edith Williams Public Kaniel Z. Tilow Public Joanne Zulinski Public
- Attendance list based on Microsoft Teams Participant list. This list does not include individuals that connected via phone.