ML25238A063
| ML25238A063 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 08/20/2025 |
| From: | Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NRC-0433 | |
| Download: ML25238A063 (1) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards BWRX-300 Design-Centered Subcommittee Docket Number:
(n/a)
Location:
videoconference Date:
Wednesday, August 20, 2025 Work Order No.:
NRC-0433 Pages 1-137 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 BWRX-300 DESIGN-CENTERED REVIEW SUBCOMMITTEE 7
+ + + + +
8 WEDNESDAY 9
AUGUST 20, 2025 10
+ + + + +
11 The Subcommittee met via Videoconference, 12 at 8:30 a.m. EDT, Craig Harrington, Chair, presiding.
13 14 SUBCOMMITTEE MEMBERS:
15 CRAIG D. HARRINGTON, Chair 16 VESNA B. DIMITRIJEVIC 17 GREGORY H. HALNON 18 WALTER L. KIRCHNER 19 ROBERT P. MARTIN 20 THOMAS E. ROBERTS 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
2 ACRS CONSULTANTS:
1 RONALD G. BALLINGER 2
4 DESIGNATED FEDERAL OFFICIAL:
5 QUYNH NGUYEN 6
7 ALSO PRESENT:
8 KELLI BANKS, GE Vernova 9
DAVID HINDS, GE Vernova 10 SCOTT HUNNEWELL, Tennessee Valley Authority 11 BRIAN McDERMOTT, Tennessee Valley Authority 12 RAY SCHIELE, Tennessee Valley Authority 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 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 1
8:30 a.m.
2 CHAIR HARRINGTON: The meeting will now 3
come to order.
4 Im Craig Harrington, Chairman of the 5
BWRX-300 Design-Centered Subcommittee.
6 Weve got feedback -- okay.
7 ACRS members in attendance in person, Greg 8
Halnon, Robert Martin, and Thomas Roberts. ACRS 9
members Vesna Dimitrijevic, Walt Kirchner -- and Walt 10 Kirchner are participating virtually via Teams. We, 11 I think, have consultants Ron Ballinger and Dennis 12 Bley participating virtually.
13 Have I missed anyone, either ACRS members 14 or consultants, please speak up now?
15 MEMBER DIMITRIJEVIC: Vesna is also here.
16 I just joined. Good morning.
17 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Okay, very good.
18 Thanks, Vesna.
19 Quynh Nguyen of the ACRS staff is the 20 Designated Federal Officer for todays meeting.
21 No member conflicts of interest were 22 identified for todays meeting. And we have a quorum.
23 The ACRS was established by statute and is 24 governed by the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 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
4 FACA.
1 NRC implements FACA in accordance with our 2
regulations.
Per these regulations and the 3
Committees bylaws, this ACRS speaks only through its 4
published letter reports.
5 All member comments should be regarded as 6
only the individual opinion of that member, not the 7
Committee position.
8 All relevant information related to ACRS 9
activities such as letters, rules for meeting 10 participation, and transcripts are located on the NRC 11 public website and can be easily found by typing about 12 the ACRS in the search field on NRCs home page.
13 The ACRS, consistent with the Agencys 14 value of public transparency and regulation of nuclear 15 facilities provides opportunity for public input and 16 comment during our proceedings.
17 For this subcommittee meeting, we have 18 received no written comments. Written statements may 19 be forwarded to todays Designated Federal Officer.
20 We have also set aside time at the end of 21 this meeting for public comments which will be added 22 to the record and considered by the Committee in 23 future deliberations.
24 However, the Committee does not plan to --
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 on responding to specific comments during todays 1
meeting.
2 The purpose of todays meeting is to hear 3
a general overview from TVA of their construction 4
permit application for the Clinch River site.
5 Following that overview, hear a general 6
presentation of the BWRX-300 Design from GE Vernova, 7
which is the designated design for this site.
8 Previously, in December 2019, an early 9
site permit, ESP, was issued for the Clinch River 10 site.
11 A transcript of the meeting is being kept 12 and will be posted on our website.
13 When addressing the committee, the 14 participants should first identify themselves and 15 speak with sufficient clarity and volume so that they 16 may be readily heard. If you are not speaking, please 17 mute your computer on Teams.
18 If you are participating by phone, press 19 star six to mute your phone and star five to raise 20 your hand in Teams. The Teams chat feature will not 21 be available for use during the meeting.
22 For everyone in the room, please put all 23 your electronic devices in silent mode and mute your 24 laptop microphone speakers. In addition, please keep 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 sidebar discussions in the room to a minimum since the 1
ceiling microphones are live.
2 For the presenters, table microphones are 3
fairly unidirectional and need to be close. So, you 4
need to speak into the front of the microphone to be 5
heard online.
6 And finally, if you have any feedback for 7
the ACRS about todays meetings, we encourage you to 8
fill out the public meeting feedback form on the NRCs 9
website.
10 And, with that, Scott Hunnewell from TVA 11 will kick off the meeting.
12 MR. HUNNEWELL: Thank you. Im Scott 13 Hunnewell. Im the Vice President of the New Nuclear 14 Program for the Tennessee Valley Authority.
15 Good morning, and thank you for inviting 16 us to share our work on the BWRX-300 at the Clinch 17 River site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee with you today.
18 So, TVA was formed in 1933 as part of the 19 New Deal by FDR. In the 1940s, we primarily deployed 20 dams, hydroelectricity. 1950s, fossil fuel. The 21 1960s saw us enter the nuclear realm. And then, 22 1970s, primarily natural gas generation.
23 And as we look forward to the future, we 24 look at a diverse slate of generation, 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
7 potentially, new nuclear power.
1 So, East Millinocket, Maine, is a small 2
town about an hour north of Bangor on the edge of the 3
Allagash Wilderness.
4 I
want to read portions of the 5
valedictorian speech from the 1958 high school 6
graduating class.
7 The Italian navigator has arrived in the 8
New World. With these humorously cryptic words, 9
Arthur H. Compton telephoned James B. Conant to 10 announce the dawn of the Atomic Age. The navigator 11 was Enrico Fermi, the Italian-born American physicist.
12 The date was December 2nd, 1942. The 13 scene, a squash court under the stadium of the 14 University of Chicago. There, a select audience 15 watched, not sure what to expect, as a cadmium rod was 16 pulled slowly, foot by foot, from a strange structure 17 of carbon and uranium that looked somewhat like a 18 giant beehive.
19 At 3:20 p.m., Fermi achieved the first 20 self-sustaining atomic chain reaction and operated the 21 worlds first atomic furnace. He had, indeed, arrived 22 in the New World.
23 The achievements of atomic energy are 24 possible because of the atomic
- furnace, more 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 accurately called a nuclear reactor.
1 The reactor is a very unusual machine, for 2
it does two separate and entirely different jobs.
3 Both its abilities are of great practical value and 4
they are being developed simultaneously.
5 On the one hand, the reactor is a furnace.
6 It makes heat just as a furnace that consumes coal, 7
oil, gas, wood, gasoline, or any other fuel does.
8 The atomic furnace, flameless, strangely 9
quiet, almost entirely automatic, is used to make 10 steam for generating electricity.
Generating 11 electricity is probably the biggest use for atomic 12 heat, but there are other important applications.
13 It can propel ships, and an atomic engine 14 now keeps vessels cruising smoothly over vast 15 distances without need for refuel.
16 An unusual type of atomic furnace could 17 drive a railroad locomotive and still others are 18 developed to fly airplanes and rocket ships.
19 Medicine and agriculture have made perhaps 20 the biggest use of atomic energy so far. Radioactive 21 tools have given us new plants, fertilizers, and 22 insecticides, as well as improved cancer treatments.
23 Despite the Manhattan Projects 24 preoccupation with war work, they found time to plan 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
9 for the peacetime use of atomic energy that they 1
foresaw so clearly.
2 Many industrialists looked upon 3
radioactive isotopes as little more than a promising 4
toy for esoteric research. Most experts on electrical 5
power considered atomic electricity a dream that might 6
come true in 50, 75, perhaps 100 years.
7 Yet, only five years later, radio isotopes 8
were hailed as the most important instrument since the 9
invention of a microscope.
10 Within ten years, electricity from atomic 11 power plants was operating lights and toasters and 12 radios in the homes of ordinary people.
13 The optimists were right, but we are just 14 entering the Atomic Age. Noted atomic scientists say 15 that only the surface of atomic energy has been 16 scratched What changes the atom will bring in the 17 future are unknown, only time can tell.
18 Id like to thank Linda McDonald for 19 allowing me to share her speech with you here today.
20 The headlines are full of the power needs 21 across the country to power data centers in support of 22 artificial intelligence. There are daily stories of 23 industries returning manufacturing back to the United 24 States, plants that need electricity to operate.
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 We have gone from shrinking demand for 1
electricity to growth not seen in generations.
2 Utilities are deploying new generating 3
assets to meet this rapidly rising demand. And when 4
it comes down to it, there are only two forms of 5
dispatchable base load generation that can be 6
deployed, either a natural gas power plant or a 7
nuclear plant.
8 Utilities strive for a diverse portfolio 9
of generation to best weather unforeseen future 10 events, like the war in Ukraine. Nuclear is one of 11 the most resilient, reliable, and dependable sources 12 of electrical generation.
13 TVA is leading the country in advancing 14 the next generation of nuclear reactors and our work 15 on the BWRX-300 at the Clinch River site is helping us 16 lead that charge.
17 Id like to thank the NRC, when you look 18 at history, again, this is one of the first Part 50 19 applications in over 40 years. And many of the 20 regulations have been modified over the years to 21 really align to Part 52.
22 And that was one of our concerns three 23 years ago when we started our construction permit 24 application was, how were we going to navigate a Part 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 50 pathway that hasnt been used in 40 years with 1
regulations that have changes.
2 So, I really want to thank the NRC.
3 Theyve really worked with us. Its evidenced in the 4
questions they ask, the engagements that weve had, 5
the audit that weve had, that has really prepared us 6
to submit what we hope is a high-quality construction 7
permit application.
8 So, I first read this speech about ten 9
years ago and it strikes me every time I read it how 10 much progress we have made and the vast potential 11 still ahead of us.
12 When were in the middle of fray, we often 13 dont realize that history is being made. But I think 14 if you look around this room and at the innovation 15 happening with nuclear energy throughout the country, 16 I believe that we are making history that future 17 generations will learn about in school.
18 Thank you for inviting us here today and 19 I will turn it over to Ray Schiele.
20 MR. SCHIELE: Thanks, Scott.
21 Good morning, Im Ray Schiele, Senior 22 Licensing Manager for the TVA New Nuclear Program. It 23 is a pleasure to present to ACRS again. Last time was 24 for the full Committee the TVA CRN early site permit 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 licensing effort.
1 Presenting to the ACRS today is not just 2
a new chapter for TVA, but a continuation of the 3
effort back in December of 2019 when the early site 4
permit was issued.
5 On the slide we have on the screen right 6
now is just a pictorial of the location of the Clinch 7
River site as it relates to the Oak Ridge Reservation 8
and the Clinch River arm of the Watts Bar Reservoir.
9 Its 935 acres.
10 Next slide, please, Allen?
11 So, this slide is an overview of the 12 journey to submit the CPA from the time our early site 13 permit was issued.
14 The first thing we pursued was a
15 technology evaluation. The early site permit was 16 technology neutral. A plant parameter envelope was 17 used to compare four designs of various levels of 18 technical maturity.
19 The technology evaluation considered many 20 feature including supply chain constraints, advanced 21 manufacturing, seismic issues, modular construction, 22 advanced construction techniques.
23 From that, while we were doing technology 24 evaluation, we realized, looking forward towards 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
13 development of a construction permit, that Part 50 had 1
not been done for some time.
2 So, we pursued developing annotated 3
outlines comparing the content of Reg Guide 1.70, 4
which is the standard format and content for nuclear 5
power plants to NUREG-0800 to identify where gaps or 6
inconsistences existed.
7 When the drafts of the annotated outlines 8
were complete, we provided them to the NRC staff in 9
the electronic reading room for review.
10 Staff comments were incorporated and the 11 annotated outlines to further de-risk the scope of a 12 construction permit application development.
13 As part of the technology evaluation, the 14 BWRX-300 design was selected. And in June of 2022, 15 TVA and GVH agreed upon a contract and path forward to 16 develop a construction permit application for CRN-1.
17 The annotated outlines informed the 18 development of the regulatory framework documents 19 which further de-risked the development of a 20 construction permit application.
21 Question?
22 MEMBER MARTIN: This is Bob Martin.
23 You mentioned for the 2019 ESP and the 24 plant parameters envelope, was the BWRX-300 among 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 those four plants?
1 MR. SCHIELE: No, it was not.
2 MEMBER MARTIN: Okay, so youve obviously 3
done some looking to see if that envelope was broad 4
enough?
5 MR. SCHIELE: So, thats correct. So, the 6
four technologies evaluated were for PWRs of various 7
labels and maturity. And in the early site permit, 8
there are some tables towards the end that lists the 9
parameters that enveloped the permit.
10 So, when we were doing our technology 11 evaluation, yes, one of the things we looked at right 12 away is, what technology at the level of maturity that 13 it was at right now would fit into that -- those 14 boundaries in the envelope there?
15 MEMBER MARTIN: And I mean, how much did 16 level maturity matter? And I understand were all 17 some -- been around the block and we kind of know and 18 followed TVAs progress on this stuff.
19 MR. SCHIELE: I think it was significant.
20 One of the biggest things was fuel design. The fuel 21 design and the supply chain assessment table was one 22 of the biggest factors in selecting the technology at 23 the time.
24 MEMBER MARTIN: That makes a lot of sense, 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 supply chains everything, isnt it?
1 MR. SCHIELE: Yes.
2 MEMBER MARTIN: Can you build it and can 3
you operate it?
4 MR. SCHIELE: Exactly.
5 MEMBER MARTIN: All right, thanks.
6 MR. SCHIELE: Sure. So, CNR site -- early 7
site permit was incorporated by reference where 8
appropriate and the content was developed, and site 9
specific content was developed like TVA estimates.
10 A freeze date of April of 2024 was chosen 11 to control the scope of the application that we 12 intended to submit to the NRC.
13 In parallel with PSAR development, TVA 14 additionally developed a topical report for NQA-A for 15 the site new nuclear. We developed and submitted an 16 exempt request for a Part 2.101(a)(5) which further 17 enabled us to leverage submitting for a Part 50 either 18 the environmental report or the PSAR first gave us 19 that option.
20 We also submitted an exemption request for 21 early site excavation. Currently, as you know, the 22 definition for excavation does not allow anything to 23 be permanently left in the excavation because that 24 would fall into the definition of construction.
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
- However, for this deeply embedded 1
containment and reactor building, were talking about 2
an excess of 120 feet in excavating and in stages, 3
rock bolts, shotcrete wire would be left on the walls 4
in stages to stabilize the wall with no really support 5
for any safety features other than safety for the 6
workers. And if those things were being removed, 7
youd further destabilize the walls.
8 So, we submitted an exemption request to 9
allow those features to stabilize the walls to be left 10 in and not be considered part of the construction.
11 CHAIR HARRINGTON: So, this is Craig.
12 I take it from that, then, you have 13 already started digging the hole, basically?
14 MR. SCHIELE: No, we have not started 15 digging yet.
16 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Okay.
17 MR. SCHIELE: This is all in preparation 18 to dig the hole.
19 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Okay. Thanks.
20 MEMBER HALNON: Greg Halnon. You 21 mentioned a freeze date of April 2024, what is that 22 mean? What made you freeze?
23 MR. SCHIELE: So, the design is continuing 24 to mature. And its pretty impossible to keep an 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 application in step with design maturity.
1 So, we picked a date that -- to ensure 2
that the application was current with all the design 3
features as of that date with the anticipation that, 4
either part of the review process or afterwards where 5
certain critical functions had matured, we would 6
update the application with those things.
7 Now, theres been a couple exceptions to 8
that. One is the isolation condenser system. We 9
actually updated that because there was a design 10 change on that. But Id say 95-plus percent of the 11 application was frozen to the design as presented in 12 April of 2024.
13 MEMBER HALNON: Okay, so, you internally 14 made a judgment that that design at April 2024 was 15 adequate to get through at least the CPA?
16 MR. SCHIELE: Thats correct.
17 MEMBER HALNON: And then, how will you 18 identify the changes going forward in the FSAR here?
19 MR. SCHIELE: So, thats a good question.
20 As part of the annotated outlines we 21 developed and the regulatory framework documents, 22 content was cataloged DSAR or FSAR.
23 So, for those things that are cataloged 24 FSAR, as we go forward in the licensing process 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
18 getting ready to prepare the operating license 1
application, we have to ensure all those items that 2
are coded FSAR are available to complete the 3
application.
4 MEMBER HALNON: I would encourage you to 5
continue to keep the review in mind, though, to the 6
deltas between. We had some applications come in that 7
did a very nice job with showing the deltas, the 8
Kairos Hermes 2, for example. Thats one way of doing 9
it.
10 And weve had others come in that was just 11 a brand new thing and it takes a lot more effort to 12 review that to try to do a slew of delta documents.
13 MR. SCHIELE: Yes.
14 MEMBER HALNON: So, as you go through it, 15 itd be very good to keep that delta document or 16 somehow --
17 MR. SCHIELE: No, 100 percent agree. In 18 fact, one of the things we did for the construction 19 permit, which well talk about in a few slides, was in 20 Chapter 2, where it talks about tomography and 21 meteorology and so forth, a lot of that information 22 was incorporated by reference from the early site 23 permit.
24 And we provided the staff markups for 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 those chapters of the information, redline markups in 1
the reading room, to show what was IBR and what was 2
new to support the review.
3 MEMBER HALNON: Yes, just keep the review 4
in mind --
5 MR. SCHIELE: Yes, absolutely.
6 MEMBER HALNON: -- thatll help smooth it 7
through.
8 MR. SCHIELE: Yes.
9 MEMBER ROBERTS: This is Tom Roberts, a 10 quick question.
11 You wrote to emphasize this is the first 12 construction permit application pertaining to Part 50 13 in 40 years, but there are two others that are 14 currently in house, one of which preceded you by a 15 year and as well as theres Kairos, which I know is a 16 test reactor, but its probably, you know, has some 17 relevance to.
18 How much of that did look at? How much 19 coordination was there in looking at what the other 20 applicants were doing in terms of what the best 21 practices were for the CPA?
22 MR. SCHIELE: We have been following other 23 applicant challenges, specifically in the topical 24 reports that they were submitting to overcome those 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 Part 50 issues, many of them legacy items from Part 1
- 52. So, we have been following the other applications 2
of the challenges theyve had.
3 MR. HUNNEWELL: So, Ill just add on that 4
we have a cooperation agreement with Kairos power and 5
were actually actively involved in preparation of 6
their application.
7 MEMBER ROBERTS: I guess the question for 8
the staff maybe when its their turn, presumably, 9
theyre also profiting from the yalls 10 interactions in kind of their own best practices. So, 11 Ill just follow up on that when the staffs up.
12 Thank you.
13 MR. SCHIELE: Also, during this time 14 period, in addition to exemption requests and the 15 topical report, we prepared an environmental report 16 per 10 CFR 51.59.
17 And also, TVA is a government agency, we 18 had to do our own NEPA. So, we were providing -- we 19 prepared a subsequent environmental impact statement 20 taking advantage of what was done in the early site 21 permit and processed that application.
22 As we were providing the -- or going 23 through development during 23, 24 time frame, we 24 requested the staff perform a readiness assessment per 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
21 LIC 116. The assessment findings were dispositioned 1
in the application prior to us submitting a 2
construction permit application.
3 So, finally, we get to CPA submittal. The 4
construction permit application was submitted in two 5
parts, the environmental report portion was submitted 6
in April of 2025 and the preliminary safety evaluation 7
report in May of 2025.
8 The acceptance review was completed in 9
June and July of 2025 and the NRC commenced the review 10 of the environmental report and the PSAR with audits.
11 The environmental audit is ongoing, 12 nearing completion right now.
13 And the safety site audit is just getting 14 underway.
15 MEMBER HALNON: And whats the schedule 16 say?
17 MR. SCHIELE: So --
18 MEMBER HALNON: For approval?
19 MR. SCHIELE: Approval of the construction 20 21 MEMBER HALNON: Yes, from the NRC when 22 youre done?
23 MR. SCHIELE: Right now, I believe its 24 scheduled for issuance of the construction permit is 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 December of 26.
1 MEMBER HALNON: Okay, and thats what you 2
got in you acceptance letter was 12/26?
3 MR. SCHIELE: Yes. Next slide, please.
4 So, this is just a quick summary of all the 5
regulations and Reg Guides that informed the various 6
enclosures for our application. The application was 7
over 4,000 pages.
8 is informed by 50.33.
9, public and private, Reg Guide 10 1.70, as we talked about, 0800, and 50.34(a) for our 11 PSAR. And the environmental report was 51.50, NUREG 12 1555, standard review plan, and Reg Guide 4.2.
13 Next slide, please. So, this is a little 14 more detailed look at the site. And the red on the 15 left is the area of proposed disturbance.
16 And on the right is a high-level, but 17 plant layout where we expect certain features to be 18 deployed.
19 Chapter 1 summarizes the principle aspects 20 of the design, conformance with the regulatory 21 requirements, and material that is incorporated by 22 reference in the PSAR.
23 Chapter -- Section 1.5 also provides, as 24 allowed by Reg Guide 1.70, requirements for further 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 technical information. Reg Guide 1.70 states that the 1
PSAR should identify and describe and discuss those 2
features or components for which further technical 3
information is required in support of the issuance of 4
the construction permit, but which has not been 5
supplied in the PSAR.
6 Currently, we have two items in Section --
7 Chapter 1.5. The first are Appendices 3(b) through 8
3(h). These are the summary of the preliminary 9
analyses that demonstrate the design of a seismic Cat 10 I structure. Tentatively, we are going to provide 11 those in a supplement no later than September of 25.
12 The second item is an evaluation assuming 13 fission product release based on a hypothetical event.
14 This is your containment performance analysis. Its 15 being developed right now and we believe it will be 16 submitted within six months after we submitted the 17 CPA, so sometime this fall.
18 MEMBER HALNON: Ray, is the seasonal --
19 this is Greg -- the seasonal control, the river level 20 going to be accurate the way its done or do you have 21 to modify that with the Authority?
22 MR. SCHIELE: So, thats a good question.
23 The Clinch River arm of the Watts Bar Reservoir, it is 24 a reservoir. Its not a free-flowing river. And 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
24 bypass flow from Melton Hill Dam, big topic of 1
discussion during the that permit for what was 2
proposed to be initially pursued there, there may have 3
been a need for a bypass.
4 At this time, with just deploying a single 5
unit, we dont believe a bypass is going to be 6
required. But the river is not a free-flowing river.
7 Its part of the bigger Watts Bar Reservoir, which is 8
a controlled level between the two dams, Watts Bar Dam 9
and the dams upstream.
10 MEMBER HALNON: This goes back a long 11 ways, I dont want to put you on the spot if you dont 12 remember, but one of your boreholes had -- they found 13 diesel fuel in it.
14 MR. SCHIELE: Yes.
15 MEMBER HALNON: Can you remind me what the 16 root cause of that or is it --
17 MR. SCHIELE: So, we did subsequent 18 evaluations on that with
- TDEC, the Tennessee 19 Department of Environment Control and we did 20 additional sampling and it was determined that that 21 was naturally occurring product. And those wells were 22 subsequently closed. And weve annotated those 23 details.
24 MEMBER HALNON: Yes, it was a big head 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 scratcher back then --
1 MR. SCHIELE: It was.
2 MEMBER HALNON: -- when it happened. And 3
it almost felt like somebody just poured a five-gallon 4
can of diesel fuel in that.
5 MR. SCHIELE: No, it was determined it was 6
naturally occurring.
7 MEMBER HALNON: Naturally occurring, yes.
8 MR. SCHIELE: Next slide, please. So, 9
Chapter 2 is site characteristics provides an 10 evaluation against the early site permit PPE and 11 justification of exceedances.
12 Site characteristics parameters, those 13 items that were incorporated by reference from that 14 SSAR, which is the site safety analysis report in the 15 early site permit, early site permit conditions and 16 early site permit COL action items.
17 On the slide you have in front of you 18 right now, those portions have some or a majority of 19 the content carried forward from the early site 20 permit.
21 Theres a table in Chapter 1 that 22 describes the cross reference of all the chapter 23 sections that have been incorporated by reference in 24 the PSAR.
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26 Next slide, please. In addition to 1
updating many of the site characteristics, once we 2
transitioned from the early site permit which had a 3
footprint for the deployment of two reactors, the 4
footprint for the BWRX-300 was identified and, per 5
regulations, we had to have some conforming or some 6
additional cohorts done at centerline and the four 7
corners.
8 And then, additional core bores where the 9
cooling towers would be and where the switch out would 10 be. So, as part of Chapter 2, weve performed 11 additional core bores for the footprint for the 12 deployment for CRN-1. And for those of you were part 13 of the early site permit, youll remember that there 14 was a tremendous amount of core bores from the breeder 15 reactor and then, from the mPower reactor, and then, 16 for the early site permit.
17 But in the picture, you can see the gray 18 hashed markings, those are some of the ones from the 19 previous efforts. They just didnt fall exactly where 20 we needed them for four corners and center.
21 So, Clinch River is highly, from a 22 subsurface perspective, highly characteristic.
23 Next slide, Allen?
24 MEMBER MARTIN: And you probably cover it 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 somewhere, you mentioned the plan right now is for a 1
single unit. But when you went into this with ESP 2
were youre thinking multi-unit or, I mean, is there 3
a potential to expand at some point? Or is this --
4 MR. SCHIELE: Well, the early site permit 5
demonstrated that the site characteristics could 6
handle the deployment of two or more with some certain 7
boundaries, 800 megawatts electric.
8 MEMBER MARTIN: So, 800 --
9 MR. SCHIELE: Yes, 800 megawatts electric 10 plus all the other parameters that would confine you 11 to operating two reactors, whether its the MET data 12 or a heat to the river, all these things informed the 13 early site permit. And that was for a PPE approach to 14 a permit.
15 MEMBER MARTIN: Yes, right.
16 MR. SCHIELE: Going forward, we decided to 17 deploy one, and Scott, you want to talk more about it?
18 MR. NGUYEN: Excuse me, Ray, can you speak 19 directly into the mic? Thank you.
20 MR. HUNNEWELL: Yes, so, let me just touch 21 on that briefly, right? So, the first thing is that 22 TVA has not decided to deploy a reactor at Clinch 23 River. The environmental report and CPA for a single 24 BWRX-300 at the site, we are performing continency 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 planning for the potential deployment of additional 1
reactors at the site of either BWRX-300 technology or 2
potentially a different technology.
3 So, from a planning standpoint, were 4
targeting a single reactor, but we are thinking beyond 5
that.
6 MEMBER MARTIN: Okay.
7 MR. SCHIELE: Chapter 3, design of 8
structures, systems, and components. Chapter 3 9
describes the classification of SSCs as well as 10 compliance with the general design criteria and 11 appendices that provide safety class, design analysis 12 of seismic structures, and a computer program for 13 design analysis of
- SSCs, and aircraft impact 14 assessment.
15 On the slide in front of you is an 16 illustration of how the reactor building containment 17 would be constructed using DPSC, diaphragm plate steel 18 composite method.
19 This chapter is also additionally informed 20 by the safety strategy LTR which is in flight right 21 now and being reviewed by the NRC, and also, the DPSC 22 LTR, both of which I believe GVH will discuss later in 23 their presentation.
24 MEMBER HALNON: Ray, this is Greg.
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29 On the picture on the left, wheres the 1
current ground level on that?
2 So, you go, one two, three, four --
3 MR. SCHIELE: So, you see where its the 4
reactor building with wall the arrow right there, its 5
just above that, youll see on the right hand of the 6
reactor building, theres like -- do you see where the 7
fuel -- spent fuel pool is?
8 MEMBER HALNON: Yes.
9 MR. SCHIELE: Just above that is ground 10 zero.
11 MEMBER HALNON: Okay, so, then that area 12 is completely under --
13 MR. SCHIELE: And I believe in the next 14 presentation, Davids got an elevation presentation.
15 MEMBER HALNON: Okay, good, thanks.
16 MR. SCHIELE: Okay.
17 MEMBER ROBERTS: I want to follow up, this 18 is Tom, with a follow up to my question earlier about 19 the first CP application for the area. And one thing 20 I had mentioned Id ask the staff a little later, but 21 the staffs not here, so Im not going to ask them, 22 Ill try to follow up later with them.
23 What occurred to me is the other CPAs we 24 have in are based on the TICAP, ARCAP advanced reactor 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
30 concept application and theres some streamlining, 1
significant streamlining that went into that.
2 And I was wondering if youd looked at 3
that when you considered using that structure instead 4
of the existing in Reg Guide 1.70, you know, meaning 5
light water reactor chapter, for instance?
6 It doesnt necessarily focuses is well on 7
safety and your safety strategy and topical report?
8 MR. SCHIELE: No, we did look at that, but 9
that was primarily designed for non-light water 10 reactors and this is a
light water reactor 11 application.
12 So, a lot of the things in the Part 53 and 13 LMP and TICAP and ARCAP really didnt apply. But 14 there were some good insights on how we managed 15 information demonstrating complaint and conformance 16 for Part 50 in there for an advanced reactor.
17 And this isnt an advanced reactor, its 18 passive having been informed by safety strategy, yes.
19 But it follows like the passive plant rules. Which, 20 if you look at Part 53 and LMP and TICAP and ARCAP, 21 its the same information. Its catalogued a little 22 differently but its very close, very close.
23 MEMBER ROBERTS: Yes, this is probably 24 something to look at in a couple years after testing 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
31 these three CP applications to see if theres some 1
common lessons in that. It maybe TICAP, ARCAP didnt 2
exactly hit the mark, either.
3 But it just occurs to me that it has the 4
potential to be more closely focused on safety and not 5
have a lot extraneous material in there thats 6
sometimes hard to integrate into the overall safety 7
case. So, you know, more to come on that, but thanks.
8 MR. SCHIELE: Yes, thank you.
9 MR. NGUYEN: For clarification, Member 10 Roberts, the NRC staff is not scheduled to present 11 today.
12 MR. SCHIELE: Lets go on to the next 13 slide, please. So, the BWRX-300 is a natural 14 circulation on boiling water reactor. Chapter 4 15 describes the design of the fueling reactor, reactor 16 core, including fuel rods, fuel assemblies, reactivity 17 control system, nuclear design, and thermal hydraulic 18 parameters.
19 There is an LTR being reviewed right now 20 by the NRC for stability control that will inform this 21 natural circulation reactor.
22 And I believe GVH will talk about -- more 23 about that LTR in the next presentation.
24 Chapter 5 describes the reactor cooling 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
32 system and connected systems that form the reactor 1
coolant pressure boundary.
2 The reactor coolant system is comprised of 3
Safety Class 1 called SC-1 as far as safety strategy 4
terminology goes, a portion of the nuclear boiler 5
system and condensate feed.
6 The RCS extends to and includes the 7
outermost containment isolation valves and the main 8
seed and feed piping.
9 So, on this illustration, and I know its 10 just a one line diagram, is something thats kind of 11 unique and interesting as compared to other designs.
12 The reactor isolation valves, and I 13 believe Davids going to discuss this more in the next 14 presentation, but the reactor isolation valves for 15 these major systems, feed steam and so forth, are also 16 your in-core isolation valves on the vessel.
17 So, thats very interesting and that 18 informs your reactor coolant pressure boundary with 19 your isolation valves on the outside of containment.
20 Next
- slide, please.
Chapter 6,
21 engineering safety features, for the BWRX-300, passive 22 systems that are not dependent on external source heat 23 power or operator action and fulfill the fundamental 24 safety functions for at least 72 hours8.333333e-4 days <br />0.02 hours <br />1.190476e-4 weeks <br />2.7396e-5 months <br /> after a design 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
33 basis accident, theres three primary fundamental 1
safety functions, control reactivity, removal of heat 2
from the fuel, and confinement of radioactive 3
material.
4 For the BWRX-300, it only credits three 5
systems, containment, the passive containment cooling 6
system, and the isolation condenser system.
7 So, on this illustration on the left, 8
youll see the three trains of the isolation condenser 9
system and how they tie into the vessel.
10 And on the
- right, youll see an 11 illustration of the trains of the passive containment 12 cooling system and how they tie in.
13 Next slide, please.
14 MEMBER HALNON: Im sorry, Ray, this is 15 Greg.
16 Did you say that the condenser --
17 isolation condenser system was added post-April 2024?
18 MR. SCHIELE: No, it was already in the 19 design -- could you go back a slide, please. It was 20 already in the design -- sorry, go to the Chapter 6 21 slide, please.
22 It was already in the design. What the 23 design had was three independent pools for the three 24 trains.
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34 You see this illustration here, theres a 1
pool for Train A, and theres another pool for Train 2
B and C. So, the major change for it to go from three 3
pools to two pools, so what you have right now is the 4
pool for Train A thats guaranteed to support 72 5
hours, and the pool with two trains, 7-day pool.
6 MEMBER HALNON: So, that is an example of 7
a significant modification that you updated the PSAR?
8 MR. SCHIELE: Exactly.
9 MEMBER HALNON: Okay, thanks.
10 MR. SCHIELE: And Im sure David will talk 11 about it more, but this is your primary ECCS system 12 for 50.46, very important.
13 Lets go to Chapter 7, please?
14 So, Chapter 7,
it describes the 15 instrumentation and control systems used for normal, 16 abnormal, and accident conditions.
17 Specifically, Chapter 7 includes the 18 integrated digital based I&C design, the architectural 19 arrangement that supports a plant-level defense-in-20 depth framework.
21 This framework relates to the safety 22 analysis framework and the inner loop bases for the 23 defense lines. Classifications scheme is based on 24 importance of the individual defense lines.
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35 The BWRX-300 I&C architecture and 1
associated system components are designed with 2
international standards and proven engineering design 3
practices, we present state of the art methods.
4 This illustration is just a block diagram 5
of the architecture and the trains that it supports 6
and how it goes from the defense lines balance 7
deployment and the data highways.
8 Next slide, please. Chapter 8, electric 9
power, Chapter 8 provides the description of the 10 alternating current and direct current power systems 11 and power requirements for normal, abnormal, and 12 accident conditions.
13 The electrical distribution system 14 architecture is a configuration of generators, buses, 15 transformers, and load centers that supply power to 16 all the design loads.
17 The BWRX-300 design minimizes the reliance 18 on electrical power support Category I functions. The 19 passive design of the plant is not dependent on any AC 20 power sources, including diesel generators to mitigate 21 design basis accidents.
22 Safety Class 1 power is supplied from 23 battery backed DC power.
24 The uninterruptible power system has a 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
36 coping period of 72 hours8.333333e-4 days <br />0.02 hours <br />1.190476e-4 weeks <br />2.7396e-5 months <br /> for design basis accidents.
1 In the illustration on this slide right 2
there, it shows you two trains for a to batteries 3
battery buses and the flows to supply the 4
uninterruptible power system. It is the single source 5
of power for you credited SC-1 design.
6 MEMBER ROBERTS: Hey, Ray, can you talk 7
briefly about the control of those retro isolation 8
valves? It seems like its hard to call them as 9
passive because I understand they need to shut to 10 contain your inventory for subsequent design?
11 MR. SCHIELE: Sure, so, the SECY-94-084, 12 the definition, the differentiation between passive 13 and active is what provides the mode of force for a 14 function to happen.
15 So, in this case, these valves, the RIBs, 16 they are powered by stored energy, stored energy 17 signal via the DC buses here.
18 Its not that the valves dont move or not 19 as far as passive or active, its where they get the 20 energy to perform their function. And so, by the 21 definition of passive, they perform their function 22 using stored energy.
23 MEMBER ROBERTS: Okay, thanks.
24 But they rely on the batteries for mode 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
37 power and for sensing when to shut?
1 MR. SCHIELE: And from the I&C system to 2
recognize that a certain event has happened. And not 3
all the valves go shut, some of them are already shut, 4
some will have to go shut to perform their function.
5 MEMBER ROBERTS: Right, but they dont 6
shut on loss of power? Do they shut on loss of power 7
to the I&C system?
8 MR. SCHIELE: I do not believe so.
9 David, can you --
10 MR. HINDS: Hi, this is David Hinds from 11 GVH.
12 So, the reactor isolation valves, we have 13 the -- those that Ill call power generation related 14 that are all configured to fail in a closed position.
15 They have stored energy such that if they lose power 16 and/or control to that reactor isolation valve, the 17 stored energy would cause the valves to go closed.
18 I will note that that power to them is 19 battery backed, so that means loss of all power.
20 There is a set of valves for the isolation 21 condenser system which are configured to fail as is.
22 Ill touch on that some more when I go 23 through slide presentations, if thats okay.
24 MEMBER ROBERTS: Okay, thank you.
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38 CHAIR HARRINGTON: And so, Ray, this is 1
Craig.
2 I assume from the comments that there are 3
no diesel generators at all?
4 MR. SCHIELE: No, there are diesel 5
generators and the diesel generators are credited SC-3 6
power for those features after 72 hours8.333333e-4 days <br />0.02 hours <br />1.190476e-4 weeks <br />2.7396e-5 months <br /> like to 7
replenish other systems. But they are credited after 8
72 hours8.333333e-4 days <br />0.02 hours <br />1.190476e-4 weeks <br />2.7396e-5 months <br />.
9 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Thank you.
10 MR. SCHIELE: So, Chapter 9, please?
11 Chapter 9 describes systems used to 12 support fuel storage and letting normal cooling water 13 process auxiliaries, heat sink values and cooling fire 14 power protection, power auxiliaries, communication 15 light.
16 Appendix 9A presents the fire hazards 17 analysis and the methodology for the fire safe 18 shutdown analysis, both of which will be finalized and 19 provided prior to the FSCRB issue.
20 On the slide right there is an 21 illustration of the pool that has the fuel racks and 22 the control blade racks in it. Thats on the left.
23 And on the right, youll see how its part 24 of the bigger scheme of pools at that level which 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
39 provides your ultimate heat sink so you can see the 1
Alpha pools for the condenser system and the Bravo, 2
Charlie pools for the condenser system and the fuel 3
storage racks.
4 MEMBER HALNON: Ray, this is Greg.
5 We havent seen the word multiple in front 6
of ultimate before. When -- does that mean that 7
theres multiple or different heat sinks for different 8
portions of the plant or is it a redundancy or how 9
does that --
10 MR. SCHIELE: Sure.
11 So, for the isolation condenser system, 12 the ultimate heat sink is the pools to atmosphere.
13 For the containment, the primary 14 containment cooling system is another heat sink.
15 Both of those are for like modes, what you 16 would call modes one through four or five.
17 But then, when you get into refueling, 18 going back to that other illustration where you saw 19 the very, very tall chimney, that whole column of 20 water that would be filled up for the reactor cavity, 21 thats the ultimate heat sinking mode which you would 22 call mode six for refueling.
23 MEMBER HALNON: So, these are all safety 24 class?
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40 MR. SCHIELE: Dedicated bodies of water 1
that will give you --
2 (Simultaneous speaking.)
3 MEMBER HALNON: -- the ultimate heat sink 4
like a --
5 MR. SCHIELE: It sounds like the river, I 6
dont know, Chesapeake Bay or something, you know,- or 7
the ponds that look -- you know, some reactors had to 8
build ponds next to them for their heat sink.
9 MEMBER HALNON: Is that unique to the 10 country area or maybe, David, is that the way the 11 plant was originally thought of relative here?
12 MR. SCHIELE: I think this is by design.
13 David, go ahead.
14 MR. HINDS: Hi, David Hinds, GVH.
15 So, the heat sink for safety is what Ray 16 was describing. There is, of course, a heat sink for 17 power generation. Thats when we get to cooling tower 18 and make up water.
19 Heat sink for safety -- Ill cover some 20 more in the slides, but primarily focus on the 21 isolation condenser system for the stored water within 22 the safety Class 1 as to about safety Class 1 or 23 safety related reactor building structure.
24 So, we store the water in the reactor 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
41 building. Similarly, we do the same thing for the 1
fuel pool.
2 MEMBER HALNON: Okay, so, not unique to 3
the site its just that --
4 MR. HINDS: No, its --
5 MEMBER HALNON: -- just this kind of set 6
7 MR. HINDS: -- part --
8 MEMBER HALNON: -- so you can be nimble 9
and place it anywhere in the country, then?
10 MR. HINDS: Thats correct, it is part of 11 the standard.
12 MEMBER HALNON: Okay.
13 CHAIR HARRINGTON: This is Craig.
14 This drawing on the right, we have a 15 similar version in GE slides, so Ill ask it now, the 16 inner and outer pools can you speak to how they relate 17 to each other? Are they just communicated that its 18 weir walls or whats the details?
19 MR. SCHIELE: I dont know, David, do you 20 have that that shows the weir wall?
21 MR. HINDS: Ill just describe it, we 22 dont picture that.
23 MR. SCHIELE: We may look it as if theres 24 a weir wall where, if one goes down, one will overflow 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
42 into the other one and provide the cooling. Because 1
effectively, youre steaming -- during an accident, 2
youre steaming that water down. It goes out through 3
the vents natural to the atmosphere.
4 So, the inner pools will feed into the 5
outer pools as they steam down.
6 MR. HINDS: I do have a storage level 7
figure when I get to that.
8 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Okay, good, so well 9
have a better picture and talk about it some more.
10 Okay, thank you.
11 MR. SCHIELE: Slide Chapter 10, please?
12 So, the Chapter 10 describes the systems 13 used for steam and power conversion. And this 14 illustration is just a typical 1-HP wheel, 2-LP 15 wheels, feedwater heaters, MSRs.
16 So, this chapter talks about turbine 17 generator, main steam, and the associated system 18 support for power conversion.
19 Next slide, please.
20 CHAIR HARRINGTON: This is Craig, again.
21 On the power conversion, have you selected a vendor 22 yet or is that still in progress?
23 MR. SCHIELE: It is not selected, thats 24 why its a very generic one. Chapter 11, radioactive 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
43 waste management, Chapter 11 describes the 1
capabilities of the plant to control, collect, handle, 2
process, store, and dispose of liquid gaseous and 3
solid waste.
4 Theres two source terms that are 5
discussed in Chapter 11. One is the realistic model 6
which is based on nuclear concentrations that you 7
would find typically in BWRs.
8 This model is referred to as the normal 9
operation source term.
10 The other source term is the conservative 11 design basis model. And its based on GHGO clad 12 defect and its referred to in the chapter discussions 13 as the design basis coolant source term.
14 Chapter 12, radiation protection covers 15 the policy, design, and operational considerations for 16 ALARA. Pretty straightforward.
17 Chapter 13, Chapter 13 discusses 18 organizational structure, programs, procedures, staff 19 qualifications.
20 For emergency preparedness, the early site 21 permit had the major features of both a site boundary 22 and a two-mile EPZ.
23 For a PSAR Appendix E of 10 CFR Part 50 24 requires a limited amount of information which is 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
44 about the same amount of information we had in the 1
early site permit.
2 So, we updated that information to conform 3
to Appendix E and thats what youll see in the 4
application.
5 At this time, TVA has not decided to 6
continue down the 15.47 pathway that the exemptions 7
were provided for or to go down the 51.60 which is 8
performance based. Thatll be decided in part in the 9
operating licensing application.
10 Chapter 13 also includes physical security 11 and fitness for duty. As far as physical security, 12 the security by design Reg Guide 5.90 I dont believe 13 is quite approved yet. Its been through all the 14 reviews. Again, TVA will evaluate security by design 15 when it comes time to put together our operating 16 license application.
17 MEMBER HALNON: So, on your operational, 18 you see it being pretty traditional from the 19 standpoint of the operations maintenance or is it --
20 or are you going to try something a bit more codec and 21 to reduce staff to like on the BWR now?
22 MR. SCHIELE: The answer is yes, were 23 looking at all kind of aspects to lower the ultimate 24 O&M costs post-staffing maintenance and so forth.
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45 MEMBER HALNON: Okay, so you sort of 1
started with the traditional and trying to figure down 2
or are you coming from the bottom up?
3 MR. SCHIELE: You want to talk about this?
4 MR. HUNNEWELL: Absolutely.
5 So, weve got a targeted head count that 6
supports our O&M costs going to LCOE. And that does 7
assume certain things are automated.
8 For example, for work room management 9
system, highly automated compared to today where 10 youve got work room managers and schedulers who 11 manually do everything.
12 So, there is -- and then, Ive actually 13 got somebody that is just over O&M reviewing the 14 design with GVH to constantly give them feedback in 15 areas where the design could be improved to help on 16 the O&M side.
17 MEMBER HALNON: So, youre taking after 18 the building in what you would love to have in your 19 other plants now?
20 MR. HUNNEWELL: Correct.
21 MEMBER HALNON: Okay.
22 MR. SCHIELE: Chapter 14, initial test 23 program. The initial test program is composed of 24 phases characterized as construction, pre-op, 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
46 startup.
1 The construction tests serve as 2
prerequisites to pre-operational tests which work its 3
way up to your startup testing requirements.
4 Next slide, please. Chapter 15, safety 5
analysis. The safety analysis provides information on 6
the hazard analysis, deterministic safety, and 7
probabilistic safety assessment.
8 The safety analysis scope includes normal 9
operation, anticipated operational occurrences, AOOs, 10 design basis accidents, design extension conditions, 11 which youll see that
13 Chapter 15 also includes two appendices, 14 15A which discusses the practically eliminated 15 provisions, and also 15B which discusses complimentary 16 design features for mitigating design extension 17 conditions.
18 MEMBER MARTIN: Ray, I can probably guess 19 the answer to this, but do you expect much of a 20 departure on the NUREG-0800 Chapter 15? You know, 21 obviously, the natural circulation, you know, probably 22 brings in a unique stability event or something. But 23 for the most part, it will kind of look familiar?
24 MR. SCHIELE: So, the licensing topical 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
47 report that GVH is processing right now, I believe 1
will overcome most of those hurdles because when those 2
safety evaluations are issued and we disposition the 3
limitations conditions for lifesaving strategy, that 4
should help manage most of those differences, which 5
SSCs are credited for passive slant.
6 MEMBER MARTIN: I mean, go back 15 years 7
ago when, of course, NuScale and mPower would doing a 8
thing and they had a lot of design specific standards.
9 I dont know, we dont have the staff here, you know, 10 and although theyre kind of here, but has there been 11 talk of DSRS for the BWRX?
12 MR. SCHIELE: Not for Chapter 15. I mean, 13 we used for Chapter 7 the design reviews DRG for 14 Chapter 7 for instrumentation. So, that was used to 15 perform the content of Chapter 7.
16 But I havent heard any conversations 17 about getting over Chapter 15.
18 MEMBER ROBERTS: So, the PRA, theres a 19 lot of discussion certainly in the LMP world for the 20 degree of quality that has to go into a CP of PRN. We 21 had a meeting a couple months ago on how that applies 22 to 10 CFR 50.
23 How much did you use PRA in the CPA and 24 how did you resolve the, you know, the deficit quality 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
48 questions?
1 MR. SCHIELE: So, as you know, a Part 50 2
application does not include Chapter 19 PRA.
3 However, we do have a Section 15.6 that 4
has PRA information in it. And TVA participated with 5
the staff in the initial discussion on the white paper 6
on what is the scope of PRA for a construction permit 7
application?
8 And as you know, theres an ISG thats 9
been through you all getting ready to get approved 10 that frames the scope for a construction permit or 11 PRA.
12 Also TVA hosted in the electronic reading 13 room a GEH design information on their PRA for the 14 staff to review.
15 So, weve been very involved in the 16 information sharing on PRA between the design thats 17 already in the NRC. But the design right now, its 18 not mature enough to have even a preliminary PRA put 19 in our application.
20 MEMBER ROBERTS: So, the motivation for 21 that ISG was if folks were going to use PRA 22 information in their application, but youre saying 23 you dont really use PRA information at this point?
24 MR. SCHIELE: No, there are certain design 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
49 features that are risk informed, yes. But there is 1
not enough information to put together the initial PRA 2
for a construction permit on a design thats still 3
maturing. It would be different if we had like a 4
design cert, but we dont.
5 MR. HUNNEWELL: Yes. So our approach to 6
PRA at this phase is much more qualitative than 7
quantitative. The quantitative, once the design 8
matures to that point, is developed.
9 MEMBER ROBERTS: Okay. Thank you.
10 MEMBER DIMITRIJEVIC: This is Vesna. So 11 did you use any quantitative information for your 12 identification, categorization and grouping of the 13 initial events and accident scenarios?
14 MR. SCHIELE: I'm going to have to defer 15 that.
16 MS. BANKS: Good morning, everybody. This 17 is Kelli Banks. I'm with GE Vernova licensing. So we 18 do use also PRA techniques to prevent categorization.
19 It's not that we're using the PSA model itself. So, 20 for example, NRC has INL database where it has failure 21 data, initiating event frequencies; so we use that 22 type of information that is also an input to our PRA 23 to determine the frequency of a given event. And we 24 do categorize events according to frequency with some 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
50 exceptions like LOCAs. For example, even if they are 1
in a beyond design basis event frequency category, we 2
still categorize those breaks as on-basis accidents.
3 So we
- use, I
would
- say, similar 4
information, but it's not that the PRA itself is being 5
used. It's we use PRA engineers who are used to doing 6
event sequence frequency determinations, and we use 7
similar inputs.
8 MEMBER DIMITRIJEVIC: Thank you. But how 9
about safety objectives and acceptance criteria?
10 MS. BANKS: So we do have preliminary 11 appraisal to 15.6 for CDF and LERF. So based on, you 12 know, the preliminary PSA that we have done up to the 13 point, you know, that the design, when the PSAR was 14 submitted, we do submit and show that, you know, the 15 safety goals are also on track to being met. And, of 16 course, once the design is finalized, the process for 17 establishing a technically adequate PRA is finished, 18 then those, you know, results would be also updated in 19 the PSAR.
20 MEMBER DIMITRIJEVIC: All right. Thank 21 you.
22 MR. SCHIELE: Thank you, Kelli. We'll go 23 on to Chapter
- 16.
Chapter 16, technical 24 specifications. Chapter 16 provides the methodology 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
51 for developing technical specifications and the 1
associated bases that ensure compliance with the 2
safety analysis inputs, assumptions, and results. It 3
identifies preliminary variables, conditions, and 4
items as a result of the descriptions of safety 5
analyses contained elsewhere in the PSAR.
6 The selection methodology informs a 7
preliminary table of contents, including the reason 8
for inclusion of that selected content. The improved 9
standard tech spec ISTS NUREG-1433 for BWR/4 plants 10 and ISTS 1434 for BWR/6 plants were used as a template 11 for the BWRX-300 tech specs and bases. A complete set 12 of tech specs and bases will be provided as part of 13 the operating license.
14 Quality assurance, Chapter 17. Chapter 17 15 describes the QA program used during design and 16 construction of Clinch River 1 to ensure conformance 17 with regulatory requirements and the design bases 18 specified in the CPA. And, as I said earlier, we have 19 a approved topical report that governs design, 20 construction, and operation that is included in 17.5 21 of Chapter 17.
22 And the last thing is Enclosure 4.
23 contains exemptions and variances that 24 were included as part of the application. Currently, 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
52 it has one exemption associated with reactor vessel 1
material surveillance program requirements.
2 Variances. Right now, there are seven 3
variances identified. These variances are based on --
4 there were over 40 COL action items in the early site 5
permit. These seven variances are those items that 6
the design put us outside the boundary for those items 7
in the early site permit. An example is site grade 8
level. The finished elevation in the site grade is 9
814.5, but in the finished elevation that was assumed 10 in the ESP was 821. So we had to put a variance in 11 for the difference.
12 So all of these are, for whatever reason, 13 the variance, the difference, and the justification 14 where we were outside the boundary of what was in the 15 early site permit.
16 MEMBER HALNON: So some of those variances 17 are actually conservative then to --
18 MR. SCHIELE: Yes.
19 MEMBER HALNON: -- for all the dirt you 20 got to bring in.
21 MR. SCHIELE: Yes.
22 MEMBER MARTIN:
I just wanted a
23 clarification. I had asked a couple questions about 24 the single unit and the PPE. Where you have 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
53 variance of the single unit thermal megawatts, talk a 1
little bit about what that is.
2 MR. SCHIELE: So it was 300 megawatts 3
electric. And this unit is -- David, you'll have to 4
help me. I think it's what, 347?
5 MR. HINDS: I'd say nominally 300 6
electric.
7 MR. SCHIELE: That's nominal; but, actual, 8
it's a little more than that?
9 MR. HINDS: So we had to justify why 10 that's okay.
11 MEMBER MARTIN: Okay.
12 MR. SCHIELE: But the early site permit 13 allowed for 800 for two or more, so we're still inside 14 the permit, but we're higher than the single unit.
15 MEMBER MARTIN: Okay. That's interesting.
16 So maybe you were anticipating another four PWRs were 17 all smaller, but you went with probably the maximum 18 power of the four.
19 MR. SCHIELE: Yes. And another way to 20 look at it is that the early site permit justified a 21 certain set of boundaries for the deployment of two or 22 more. If TVA just chooses to deploy something else 23 there, we would have to justify that application of 24 that design separately. We couldn't use the early 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
54 site permit.
1 MEMBER MARTIN: I took your 800 number and 2
divided it by two. I'm going, oh, okay.
3 MEMBER HALNON: Ray, you know, you always 4
think about, when you start building SMRs, you're 5
thinking the end of the kind type thing. How close is 6
this, what you submitted, do you think is going to be 7
the next unit? I know Darlington's working on them, 8
and you're probably informed by that. Did you take 9
anything you see going into this PSAR something that 10 may not carry through the rest of the nth of a kind?
11 MR. SCHIELE: Don't know that I can 12 answer that right now. Darlington is first. It's the 13 lead plant.
14 MEMBER HALNON: Yes. By all years, may be 15 an nth of a kind --
16 MR. SCHIELE: We're watching Darlington 17 closely.
18 MEMBER HALNON: -- even though it's a 19 different unit.
20 MR. SCHIELE: But, as I said, in April of 21
'24, we froze it. Lots of things have changed since 22 then.
23 MEMBER HALNON: So we should expect a lot 24 of red lines in the FSAR.
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
55 MR.
SCHIELE:
The FSAR will look 1
definitely different than the PSAR. It's too early to 2
say how it's going to change, but it will reflect the 3
latest and greatest design maturity that we choose at 4
the time.
5 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Can you say just a 6
couple of words about the vessel surveillance program?
7 MR. SCHIELE: Yes. What we took the 8
change on that was the ASTM year dates. So that was 9
it.
10 CHAIR HARRINGTON: It's an administrative 11 decision. I can't remember what all -- I've been 12 reading, but I haven't got it.
13 MEMBER HALNON: Any other questions on the 14 content of the application? Members, anyone online?
15 Thank you.
16 MR. HINDS: Hi, I'm David Hinds. For GE 17 Vernova Hitachi. Thank you for time today. So I'm 18 here to give a brief overview of the design of the 19 BWRX-300.
20 The BWRX-300, the acronym there, is, of 21 course, the BWR. It stands for boiling water reactor.
22 That's been our legacy at GE Vernova Hitachi. Sorry, 23 new company name. But, anyway, so we have quite a 24 legacy of design and fabrication, construction 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
56 boiling water reactors. So the X is Roman numeral 10.
1 So this is 10th generation of boiling water reactor 2
design in our evolutionary design. The 300 is just to 3
represent the nominal electrical output. Of course, 4
electrical output varies, primarily driven by cooling 5
water of the specific site.
6 Go to the next slide, please.
7 MEMBER HALNON: Thank you. All right. Go 8
ahead.
9 MR. HINDS: Okay. Thank you. So 10 continuing on, just an outline to indicate some of the 11 information covered. This is only a partial overview 12 of the design with a focus on these areas. As always, 13 questions are fine in any area, but these are areas 14 that we've highlighted in the presentation and it also 15 introduces some of the acronyms that may have filtered 16 through the presentation. So talking about the 17 reactor pressure vessel, or RPV. The reactor 18 isolation valves, we've used an acronym RIV for 19 reactor isolation valves. Isolation condenser system, 20 or ICS, and the passive containment cooling system, or 21 PCCS.
22 Go to the next slide, please. Thank you.
23 As I indicated, the evolutionary design at GVH, we 24 based many of our design decisions, design principles, 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
57 analytical
- methods, codes, informed by prior 1
generations. So I thought it would be appropriate 2
here just to show a quick visual of some of that 3
evolutionary design, and we noted and segregated the 4
forced circulation design, which is in the green arrow 5
here, and the natural circulation design in the blue 6
or purple-looking arrow.
7 So the BWRX-300 is natural circulation.
8 It is, though, informed by both forced circulation, 9
and, when I say forced circulation, I'm talking 10 reactor recirculation flow; and it's also informed by 11 the natural circulation design predecessors. So some 12 of the presentation will focus on those plants in the 13 blue or purple.
14 Note Dodewaard is of particular interest 15 in that it informed much of the design and operation 16 of the BWRX-300. We did go through design 17 certification of the ESBWR, which is also natural 18 circulation, and we started a certification of the 19 SBWR. So there's a significant amount of information 20 related to the design and analysis and the regulatory 21 treatment of the ESBWR from our design certification.
22 So that highly informs our development of the BWRX-23 300. The sizes are different, but technology and 24 principles are very similar.
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
58 MEMBER MARTIN: Could you -- this is Bob 1
Martin -- speak to Dodewaard? Now, I just did a quick 2
Google search, and I did know a little about it, but 3
it looked like it was more of a demonstration plant, 4
maybe an opportunity to do some interesting things 5
with it and then collect data. Is there data that we 6
might see at a later time that supports the eventual 7
design certification?
8 MR. HINDS: Yes. So the bid for --
9 MEMBER MARTIN: There's juicier things, 10 obviously, but it seemed like that was a huge 11 opportunity, but it was a long time ago and things get 12 lost.
13 MR. HINDS: Yes. Dodewaard actually 14 operated for many years. I think it was approximately 15 25 years. It's in Europe and in Holland, and we 16 gathered a significant amount of data, information, 17 that informed our development of our analytical 18 methods. Our TRACG computer code has a significant 19 amount of benchmark data from the actual operation of 20 Dodewaard. So it was very, very effective at 21 informing and giving us confidence in our ability to 22 design and operate a natural circulating reactor.
23 Dodewaard, as you can see by its coloring, 24 it was a natural circulation. It's no longer 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
59 operation. However, it operated, as I said, for 1
approximately 25 years. And, yes, the simple answer 2
to your question is we did gather significant data, 3
and that data is used to confirm our methods, 4
analytical methods, design configurations are informed 5
by the learnings at Dodewaard. The evolution such as 6
startups, shutdowns, and power maneuvers are informed 7
by Dodewaard. So, yes, it's very beneficial.
8 MEMBER MARTIN: Again, I'm kind of making 9
assumptions about its use. Obviously, it was 10 generating power. Now, would they have entertained 11 tests that might have challenged the stability 12 criteria design limits? And as far as what's, you 13 know, most unique novel new here, you know, the 14 circulation and stability questions are near the top 15 of the list.
16 MR. HINDS: So, yes, we certainly gather 17 data associated with stability performance at many 18 different operating points within Dodewaard.
19 Similarly, at even forced circulation plants, we've 20 gathered stability data associated with it. Even 21 though there are forced circulation and BWRX's natural 22 circulation, the information is still relevant. So 23 there are specific stability tests that were performed 24 on a forced circulation power plant in Europe 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
60 highly informs our stability knowledge and methods.
1 So a combination of the forced circulation 2
fleet, primarily in cases where there's some change in 3
flow, such as stopping the reactor recirculation pumps 4
on a forced circulation plant. But, yes, Dodewaard 5
data highly informed our stability design or overall 6
configuration of the reactor.
7 MEMBER MARTIN: Thank you.
8 CHAIR HARRINGTON: This is Craig. Not to 9
turn this into a history lesson, but is there any 10 particular reason or thought behind why there are two 11 paths and why the Dodewaard plant was natural 12 circulation?
13 MR. HINDS: Some of them get into business 14 decisions. And I will say that the power density 15 within the reactor is very somewhat driven by whether 16 there's forced circulation or not. Generally, we have 17 a higher power density for circulation reactors. So 18 I'll say much of it is there's certainly technology 19 feeders into that decision making, but there's also 20 business aspects, too, of what's the desired output of 21 a power plant, for instance; what's the limitation, 22 whether it be business or technical or a combination 23 thereof, on sizes of reactor pressure vessels. The 24 configuration of the reactor pressure vessel is 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
61 substantially or significantly impacted by the choice 1
of natural circulation or forced circulation. So some 2
are in the fabrication of components and many are 3
business decisions but always informed by technology.
4 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Even utility or 5
regulator influence, I suppose.
6 MR. HINDS: Yes. There's also operational 7
differences and maneuvering differences between the 8
different types of designs.
9 Can we go to the next slide, please. This 10 slide has got many words, but it's meant to be, since 11 this was a relatively short overview of something we 12 could spend a long time on, we tried to pack quite a 13 lot of information into this slide, so hopefully it's 14 helpful to you. Some of these we've already touched 15 on, or at least one or two of them. Okay. It's a 16 nominal 300-megawatt electric gross output and, again, 17 varies based upon cooling water. That's the power 18 generation cooling water.
19 The reactor pressure vessel I mentioned, 20 since it's natural circulation, the configuration of 21 the reactor pressure vessel is substantially or 22 significantly impacted by the choice of natural 23 circulation. So the reactor pressure vessel height is 24 selected accordingly. It's approximately a 27-meter 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
62 tall vessel. It's approximately a 4-meter in diameter 1
vessel. The diameter of the vessel is sized such 2
that, based upon the core sizing plus the annular 3
space for core flow, natural circulation, highly 4
informed by fire-operating plants.
5 We have 240 fuel bundles. It was 6
mentioned by Ray that part of the decision-making was 7
the availability and maturity of the fuel for the 8
reactor. We're using Global Nuclear Fuel, GNF-2 fuel, 9
which is very highly experienced fuel. It's currently 10 being manufactured and operated today, so it's not a 11 new fuel development. It is fuel that's already 12 proven, and so that was a very strategic choice.
13 The GNF-2 fuel, out of the various GNF 14 fuel product lines, GNF-2 was specifically chosen, 15 one, because it has a history and it's been proven, 16 but also because it has favorable natural circulation 17 behavior, low pressure drop, pressure drop that's 18 acceptable for a natural circulation reactor. So it 19 was a nice synergy, experienced fuel, currently 20 manufactured, proven in the industry, and the pressure 21 drop characteristics matched what's needed for our 22 natural circulating reactor.
23 CHAIR HARRINGTON: This is Craig again.
24 Are the fuel bundles standard length?
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63 MR. HINDS: Yes. Very good question. If 1
any of you have studied or been involved in our ESBWR, 2
we did, in the ESBWR, just going back in history for 3
a minute, we actually chose a special fuel design for 4
ESBWR where we reduced the height or length of the 5
fuel bundles for the purpose of pressure drop 6
characteristics. What we found by selecting GNF-2 7
fuel and part of that strategic objective of not 8
developing new fuel, we were able to use the standard 9
fuel length. So simple answer is standard fuel 10 length.
11 MR. HUNNEWELL: It's the same fuel that we 12 use at our Browns Ferry reactor.
13 MR. HINDS: We have 57 control rods. I 14 mentioned briefly that this actual core configuration.
15 I'll show a core here in a little while, but it was 16 also informed by an operating plant, KKM. I might 17 mispronounce it; it's in Europe, but operating 18 reactor, which is very, very similar core design. It 19 was a forced circulation plant. However, the core 20 design, highly informed by that. So a lot of history.
21 MEMBER HALNON: Are the control rods 22 relatively standard? It's probably not a great word 23 for it --
24 MR. HINDS: Yes.
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64 MEMBER HALNON: But proven technology.
1 MR. HINDS: Yes.
2 MEMBER HALNON: You don't have to do cycle 3
testing to see how many cycles or anything.
4 MR. HINDS: They are proven control rods.
5 So we were very selective about the introduction of 6
new features that haven't been used in the industry.
7 Fuel and control rods are not new features. They are 8
used in the industry.
9 So simple answer, yes, the control rods 10 are quite similar to the exact same as our Marathon-11 Ultra type of control rods. So they are proven in the 12 industry, so no new introduction of control rods.
13 There is a slight adjustment between, depending upon 14 which plant we're comparing to. We have a slide 15 coming up, but this plant uses fine motion control rod 16 drafts, so it has a special coupling. So the coupling 17 is different between this plant design and a locking 18 piston older plant design.
19 But outside of the coupling design, it's 20 the same. We have history with the coupling as well.
21 Passive design. This is a passive safety 22 power plant. So natural circulation and passive 23 safety. And we've found that there is a very nice 24 synergy between the passive safety and natural 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
65 circulation.
1 As I display here with the height of the 2
reactor pressure vessel, there is a need for, I'll 3
just say a relatively tall reactor pressure vessel to 4
support the natural circulation and to create the 5
flow.
6 There's also a synergy with our passive 7
safety with the coolant preservation approach, which 8
I'll touch on through upcoming slides. So we have a 9
lot of coolant relative to our past designs of forced 10 circulation plants. A lot of coolant is already in 11 the system, so that is a very nice synergy with 12 passive design and the 72-hour requirement associated 13 with passive power plants.
14 It was mentioned by Ray that we do not 15 depend upon electrical power for safety. Actually, we 16 do have diesel generators, but those diesel generators 17 are not credited in our conservative safety analysis.
18 We do have DC-backed buses. The highest safety class 19 1 DC buses are credited in our safety analysis.
20 However, we configure it such that, even upon loss of 21 DC, the plant is ensured to be safe. So we have this 22 plant such that, in the end, if loss of all 23 electricity, the plant will be in a
safe 24 configuration. We'll talk more about the safety 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
66 features here in a minute.
1 So some other key features. I've already 2
mentioned some numerous times here already natural 3
circulation. I'll show a figure of the reactor 4
pressure vessel, but a key feature to support natural 5
circulation is the chimney. So I'll talk more about 6
that.
7 The coolant preservation approach which I 8
briefly touched on. So we have more coolant in this 9
plant because it is natural circulation in this 10 reactor. We also introduce a coolant what we call 11 coolant preservation approach where we strategically 12 place nozzles on the reactor pressure vessel 13 relatively high, well above the top of active fuel, 14 so, thereby, improving the ability to cool the fuel 15 even in the event of a loss of coolant accident. So 16 we remove by design threats to cooling the reactor by 17 doing that.
18 And mentioned the reactor isolation 19 valves. I'll show more in upcoming slides. The 20 containment is a dry containment. It is nitrogen 21 inerted and it does have passive cooling. Mentioned 22 the acronym SCCV, Steel Plate Composite Containment 23 Vessel. So the construction of this plant is a steel 24 concrete steel, steel plate, diaphragm plate, or DPSC, 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
67 Diaphragm Plate Steel Composite construction. That's 1
both for the containment and for the reactor building.
2 MEMBER HALNON: Can you tell me what the 3
approximate volume of the containment is?
4 MR. HINDS: It's a little less than 7,000 5
cubic meters.
6 MEMBER HALNON: That's a couple orders of 7
magnitude less than the big ones that we're used to 8
seeing. I think the standard PWR is around 2 million 9
cubic feet.
10 MR. HINDS: I can't quote off memory the 11 PWR standard.
12 MEMBER HALNON: Yeah, it's anomalous, at 13 least the ones I've worked on.
14 MR.
HINDS:
Okay.
Thank you.
15 Overpressure protection is provided by the isolation 16 condenser system along with the reactor scram 17 function. We have submitted LTR on that which I'll 18 bring up in upcoming slides. Emergency core cooling 19 is performed by the isolation condenser system in 20 conjunction with the reactor isolation valves. Some 21 of the upcoming figures will help reinforce these last 22 two bullets because they're quite significant bullets.
23 Can we go to the next slide please?
24 MEMBER ROBERTS: Yes, I guess we'll get 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
68 into some of this with the detailed picture. This big 1
picture, it seems like the safety system is predicated 2
on shutting RIVs quickly on a leak and not shutting 3
isolation condenser valves on almost any scenario; is 4
that right?
5 MR. HINDS: That's a good observation, and 6
yes. So, in accident configurations, for example, if 7
we were to postulate a loss of coolant accident, then 8
the configuration would be similar to what you 9
described or the same as what you described, meaning 10 power generation-associated piping systems connected 11 to the reactor vessel are automatically isolated.
12 Isolation condenser system is placed in service to 13 provide cooling and pressure control. So, yes, you're 14 correct.
15 MEMBER ROBERTS: What kind of prototype 16 response are you assuming for the isolation valves?
17 MR. HINDS: The isolation valves, we have 18 an overall 15 seconds credited. That includes sense, 19 you know, the signal to be generated, to be sensed, to 20 go through the IEC platform, and then the closure 21 function. Closure function is generally credited to 22 be around five seconds once all the commands, once the 23 sensing command is all complete.
24 MEMBER ROBERTS: Okay. I guess it goes 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
69 without saying you've tested that with the various DPs 1
you will have during the event.
2 On the isolation condenser valves, are 3
they serving a containment isolation function?
4 MR. HINDS: So the isolation condenser 5
system valves, as with other reactor isolation valves, 6
they serve a dual function of reactor isolation and 7
containment isolation. I'll note that for the 8
isolation condenser system, there's very, very little 9
of that system that goes outside of containment. It 10 goes straight up through the top of containment to the 11 heat exchanger and straight back. So the only portion 12 that's outside of containment is the heat exchanger 13 immersed in a pool.
14 But the answer to your question is the 15 reactor isolation valves serve a dual role of 16 containment and reactor isolation.
17 MEMBER ROBERTS: Yes. I think with the 18 isolation condenser valves, obviously, the lesson we 19 learned from Fukushima is there can be conflicting 20 design requirements on needing to keep them open for 21 decay removal and for containment isolation, and 22 that's part of the longer list of problems that caused 23 that accident. If we could sort of talk about that 24 later, about how you'd meet the dual requirement 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
70 shutting them for containment isolation and keep them 1
open for decay removal?
2 MR. HINDS: I'll touch on it now, but I'll 3
try to touch it on again. But very good observation.
4 The isolation condenser system performs a high safety 5
significant function. We protect that function. And 6
keeping the system in service when it's needed is 7
highly important.
8 So, yes, there is also containment and 9
reactor isolation function. The high priority safety 10 function of that system is to cool the fuel. So the 11 prioritization is that the system will cool the fuel, 12 and the design is accordingly. We do have leak 13 detection and isolation functions if there were to be 14 a loss of coolant via that system. But there was a 15 high priority given to within the design of ensuring 16 that system remains in service. That's a safety 17 function.
18 MEMBER ROBERTS: Okay. Obviously, the 19 devil is in the details on this one, but it just seems 20 like it's a challenge going in to have safety 21 functions that are basically conflicting and having to 22 manage both of them.
23 MR. HINDS: I understand your question.
24 It was a very good question.
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
71 This slide is a busy slide, but I'll call 1
it a brief overview of our defense in depth and safety 2
strategy approach. We have a safety strategy 3
licensing topical report with the NRC, and this is a 4
graphical or figure representation of much of the 5
information within that. I'll give a brief overview, 6
which should be coming through -- there will be 7
further communication associated with the safety 8
strategy since it is currently under review.
9 So we've taken a very, very rigorous 10 approach to defense in depth on this plant design from 11 the beginning. It's not an overlay or not an 12 afterthought. It's embedded in the design, and this 13 figure helps to represent.
14 So at the top we have physical barriers 15 that we're protecting. That's the fuel cladding, your 16 reactor coolant pressure
- boundary, and the 17 containment. Then we have what we call defense lines 18 labeled there in the center of the figure. The 19 defense lines 2, 3, 4A, 4B, that's the way we stack up 20 our defense in depth approach and we align within the 21 design functions that are assigned to defense lines to 22 ensure that those physical barriers are protected and 23 maintained and that the fundamental safety functions 24 of fuel
- cooling, confinement of radioactivity 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
72 material, and radioactivity control are maintained.
1 So we rigorously go through postulations 2
of events and ensure for each and every event that's 3
postulated that not only do we have a defense line 4
function, such as an actuation of a reactor scram for 5
reactivity control, not only do we have function 6
within a defense line to defend against that threat to 7
safety, we also have a defense in depth measure such 8
that we also, at the same time, are protecting from 9
failures within our safety functions, such as a common 10 cause failure. It's built in to our designs, so we 11 can withstand a common cause failure of a control's 12 platform, for instance. It's built in to this layered 13 approach, such that we have two layers of defense to 14 the event sequences that we've postulated that begin 15 with a postulated initiating event. We characterize 16 those events into categories of AOO, or anticipated 17 operational occurrence, design basis accident, or 18 design extension conditions. So we cover the whole 19 spectrum of event sequences from the more frequent to 20 the very infrequent. And we apply this approach to 21 ensure safety is maintained if that event were to 22 occur.
23 The event sequences are layered such that 24 we postulate the initiator, then we take the same 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
73 event and we'll postulate failure of a mitigating 1
feature to prove effectiveness of the next line of 2
defense within defense in depth. Defense line 1, 3
shown in a couple of places on this figure, is a way 4
that we capture robust design to start with, such that 5
our goal is we don't even want the event to occur to 6
start with. But if the event were to occur, these 7
defense lines 2 through 4B are there to defend against 8
the event and ensure safety is maintained.
9 A lot of information on this slide, but it 10 is a very, very rigorous approach of defense in depth.
11 I would say the functions that are assigned to those 12 defense lines, we also apply design rules to them and 13 classification rules. So the safety classification of 14 these different defense lines varies.
15 The one in the center, defense line 3, is 16 what's been safety category 1 or what's analogous to 17 safety related. But we can't ignore the defense lines 18 2 and the 4A and 4B, which also have a safety 19 classification using a classification approach that's 20 aligned well with the International Atomic Energy 21 Agency and other programs within the industry, such 22 that we have a safety category 1, safety category 2, 23 safety category 3, and a non-safety category within 24 our design. And that flows all the way through 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
74 design, as well as the procurement of the associated 1
components.
2 MEMBER HALNON: Quick question then.
3 These are all just design features, not operational 4
programs, correct? Or do you have operational 5
programs embedded in the defense lines?
6 MR. HINDS: I'd say much of the 7
operational programs would be, I'd characterize as 8
embedded in the defense line 1 in that the operational 9
programs, as well as the maintenance and other 10 programs, help to ensure that the plant is in a proper 11 state for operation and is a robust design and 12 operation. And that underlies part of our thinking of 13 minimize the event to start with.
14 Now, there are programs also that are 15 graded on the associated quality programs and controls 16 programs for the procurement of components within each 17 of the physical defense lines, as well.
18 MEMBER HALNON:
So it's sort of 19 cross-cutting defense?
20 MR. HINDS: Yes.
21 MEMBER HALNON: Is the operator credited 22 for any LDE incident?
23 MR. HINDS: So the operator is not 24 credited for design basis accidents. Our design has 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
75 been that if we see that -- if we postulate an event, 1
event sequence, and, therefore, we design a defense 2
line feature to mitigate that event, it is never the 3
operator. It is a feature within the design. Of 4
course, the operator is important to be there and is 5
part of the overall insurance that the plant has 6
operated within its expected operational bands.
7 However, the defensive measures that I'm labeling 8
here, defense lines 2 through 4B, those are design 9
features that are highly automated or fail safe and 10 fail in a safe state, not the operator.
11 MEMBER HALNON: Okay. Thanks.
12 MR. HINDS: Next slide, please.
13 CHAIR HARRINGTON: I think this is 14 probably a convenient time to take a short break. We 15 do have one question from Dennis Bley, I believe.
16 We'll do that before we break. Okay. Dennis.
17 DR. BLEY: Thank you. You kind of already 18 answered this question, but I like, I think I like the 19 approach you're taking, and it struck me it's a very 20 similar approach IAEA and others in Europe have worked 21 on, and I think you said that.
22 That approach also looks at each level of 23 either lowering the likelihood of getting into the 24 state you're in or reducing somehow the consequences 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
76 at that point. Is that right, that it's an evolution 1
of what they did over there, or is this something you 2
develop more on your own?
3 MR. HINDS: Yes. You're correct that it 4
is heavily based upon the IAEA approach. However, 5
there's very much work that we've done in order to 6
develop our implementation of that because, in many 7
cases, the guidance programs that we're both referring 8
to from IAEA are a little more general than the 9
specifics that we need to design and analyze the power 10 plant.
11 So we developed a significant amount of 12 detail to come up with the implementation program.
13 And like this figure, for instance, we developed 14 informed by IAEA, but we created this program and 15 figure. But I'd say it's very, very well aligned with 16 the IAEA.
17 DR. BLEY: Okay. Thanks. I've always 18 liked that approach, and I'm glad you found a way to 19 adapt it to what you're doing.
20 MEMBER HALNON: Dennis, you have a squeal 21 on your line. If you're on the same computer, I 22 suggest, during the break, you log off and log back 23 in. Maybe they'll fix it.
24 DR. BLEY: Okay. Thanks. I have a 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
77 problem with this computer as the NRC one. If Quynh 1
could send me another invitation so I could use my 2
other computer, that would help.
3 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Okay. We'll let this 4
this slide soak in for a few minutes. So we'll 5
reconvene at 25 after the hour. Thank you.
6 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter went 7
off the record at 10:11 a.m. and resumed at 10:29 8
a.m.)
9 MEMBER HALNON: So, David, since we lost 10 the record there for a little while, could you start 11 back up on the first LTR?
12 MR. HINDS: Yes. So this is a brief 13 summary of the licensing topical reports that have 14 been submitted and reviewed and then, in further 15 slides, we'll go through licensing topical reports 16 that are currently under review. So this slide has 17 licensing topical reports that have been submitted and 18 already reviewed.
19 The first LTR was NEDC-33910, and that 20 focused on reactor isolation, reactor pressure vessel 21 isolation function and overpressure protection 22 function. And in brief summary, this function was to 23 isolate the reactor, including there would be a 24 reactor scram that would occur, reactor scram, 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
78 isolation, and isolation condenser systems come into 1
service, overpressure protection would be performed by 2
the function of the reactor scram plus isolation 3
condenser system cooling. I'll note the isolation 4
condenser system has a substantial capacity such that 5
it can handle the cooling function of decay heat, 6
including those of a pressurization transient. We'll 7
go through that a little more on an upcoming slide of 8
isolation condenser, but this was all introduced in 9
the 33910.
10 The next LTR is 33911, or NEDC-33911, 11 move from reactor boundary to the containment 12 boundary. We introduce the type of containment, which 13 is a dry nitrogen inerted containment with passive 14 containment cooling, and also included in this LTR was 15 the containment isolation function, which includes an 16 integration between an outside reactor or containment 17 isolation, coupled with the inside containment 18 isolation being performed by the reactor isolation 19 valves. This was all introduced in the 33911.
20 The next topic introduced by the LTR was 21 NEDC-33912. Yes.
22 CHAIR HARRINGTON: This is Craig real 23 quick. For the piping segment from the RIVs to 24 containment moment restraint, do you have to treat 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
79 that piping differently in any way?
1 MR. HINDS: Well, I'll say that piping is 2
very specially designed to special stress rules. It's 3
extremely robust as such that it would meet any rules 4
associated with, for example, break exclusion zone, 5
which is part of the French technical position with 6
the U.S. NRC. It meets those rules, so maybe that's 7
getting to the point.
8 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Yes, that's what I'd 9
suspect. Okay.
10 MR. HINDS: The 33912 LTR was reactivity 11 control. Much of the reason for this LTR and the 12 focus is on the means of reactor shutdown. And this 13 plant uses fine motion control rod drives, which have 14 both a hydraulic insertion method and a motor 15 insertion method. This design and the associated 16 controls and platforms associated with it, giving us 17 two means of shutdown via fast reactor scram and a 18 fast motor run-in, along with the controls platform, 19 since command and actuate type of platform, to give us 20 protection mitigation for an assurance of a reactor 21 shutdown when needed. And compliance was addressed 22 associated with the ATWS rule for the U.S. NRC.
23 And I'll note that we did justify and 24 credit those two means of control rod insertion. I'll 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
80 note from a design perspective, I think most of you 1
are probably very well familiar with the history of 2
the hydraulic scram functions. For the motor run-in 3
function for this plant, we did include some special 4
design features such as the speed of the motor is such 5
that it gives effective mitigation even in the case of 6
loss of the hydraulics if we have a common cause 7
failure. And we did include a UPS system for 8
insurance that power would be available for that 9
second means of shutdown. Topics of reactivity 10 control were addressed in this LETTER.
11 Next slide. Okay. This is continuing on 12 into already reviewed LTRs. So the first one on this 13 page is 33922, which is containment evaluation 14 methods. If you remember on the prior slide, there 15 was one on containment functional performance. This 16 continued all in the theme of and more detail 17 associated with how the containment is designed and 18 analyzed. So this licensing topical report introduced 19 the analytical methods and qualification of those 20 analytical methods for containment performance in the 21 presence of a design basis accident. So this LTR 22 built upon what was already introduced in 33911 and 23 33910 focused on the containment.
24 The next LTR was for civil structural 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
81 area, and it was 33914, advanced civil construction 1
and design approach associated with the reactor 2
building design. It's an embedded reactor building 3
design with a Diaphragm Plate Steel Composite 4
construction. So those aspects of embedding the 5
reactor building in the ground and being constructed 6
with the steel plate and concrete composite 7
construction, the associated design requirements and 8
analytical methods were introduced in this licensing 9
topical report.
10 MEMBER MARTIN: I'll ask a question here 11 on your containment evaluation methods. As you noted 12 early in your presentation, you've been through this 13 with the ESPWR, ESBWR. So really much departure from 14 those methods that you introduced, I guess, over a 15 decade ago.
16 MR. HINDS: We did change the methods. So 17 there's an evolution. We changed the design, which 18 prompted us to change the methods. So, in ESBWR, we 19 actually use TRACG as the analytical tool for both 20 reactor cooling system and containment. And, as I 21 think you're probably aware, the ESBWR had a wet 22 containment, pressure suppression, suppression pool 23 type containment. BWRX-300 has a dry containment, no 24 suppression pool.
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82 That change in design type prompted us to 1
revisit our analytical methods, so that's what we 2
introduced in 33922. We transitioned from the TRACG 3
tool for containment. TRACG is still used on BWRX-300 4
for the analytical tool for reactor coolant system.
5 But for the containment performance, we are using 6
GOTHIC as far as the primary tool. The mass and 7
energy release comes from TRACG and is handed off to 8
GOTHIC for the response that the containment performs.
9 MEMBER MARTIN: Pretty standard in that 10 sense, yes.
11 MR. HINDS: It's recognized tools.
12 MEMBER MARTIN: Yes, exactly.
13 MR. HINDS: We just selected a different 14 one than we had in our predecessor designs that we 15 introduced at the LDR.
16 Next slide, please. Okay. Now we're into 17 licensed topical reports that are still under review.
18 The prior ones, just for a reminder, have already 19 completed their review. So the first one of these is 20 33926. And since these are still under review, I 21 would assume you'll hear more.
22 The one on the prior slide that I 23 mentioned that was civil structural oriented was for 24 the reactor building Diaphragm Plate Steel Composite 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
83 construction. This one's focused on the same type of 1
construction of the Diaphragm Plate Steel Composite, 2
but on the containment is included in this LTR. And 3
so it really builds upon what was already introduced 4
in the prior page LTR, but it gets more into the 5
containment, as well. You can see within here the 6
bullets of what's introduced, the design approach and 7
methodology, materials, fabrication, many topics 8
covered, and the associated criteria for this seismic 9
and ASME. From the containment perspective, seismic 10 and ASME structure/component. Functionally, it's a 11 component; but, physically, it's a structure.
12 So this is all still under review, so I 13 didn't intend to go very deep into this since it'll be 14 more introduced as it continues through the review.
15 It looks like Ray has a comment maybe.
16 MR. SCHIELE: For Greg, to answer a 17 question about where zero was? If you look on there, 18 at that picture, zero's right at the bottom base of 19 the fuel pool. If you look on the right-hand figure, 20 see the red floor? That's a green.
21 MEMBER HALNON: The thicker one.
22 MR. HINDS: Yes, the thicker one. Yes.
23 The top red floor. So, basically, the majority of the 24 containment is embedded underground, as you can see by 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
84 what we just discussed, and the majority of the rector 1
pressure vessel is underground, and the pools are 2
above ground.
3 I'll note that while we're on the figure 4
also that with the pools above ground, but they're 5
near grade; it's very easy to get water in them.
6 They're for refill. These pools are non-pressurized.
7 So just in your thinking about defense in depth and, 8
you know, eventually a pool needs refilled, it's not 9
very hard to get water in these pools. They're very 10 close to grade elevation, and they're not pressurized.
11 But, anyway, I'll just highlight that, and 12 also I'll highlight a couple of other things. Okay.
13 So the green here is just colored like that to show 14 the outline of containment, and the red is the reactor 15 building structure around the containment. They're 16 both cylindrical, cylindrical containment inside of a 17 cylindrical reactor building, and we just spoke about 18 the embedment.
19 The refueling area is that area up in the 20 top, of course, and in those pools, many of the pools 21 up top have, from the pool it would look like a roof, 22 but from above it would look like a floor and it 23 serves as refilled floor. So the isolation condenser 24 system pools are underneath concrete so, basically, 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
85 underneath the refueling floor. The fuel pool is an 1
open pool. So the isolation condenser system pools 2
are again covered by concrete, and the reactor cavity 3
pool is an open pool which is right above the reactor 4
pressure vessel. You can see here it's got blue there 5
indicating there's water in it and it does have water 6
in it. It's normally a flooded reactor cavity as 7
opposed to a dry reactor cavity.
8 MEMBER MARTIN: So these pools, so, 9
obviously, the boundaries are concrete, but they're 10 steel lined? Is that the intent or what's the support 11 for the pool?
12 MR. HINDS: Yes. The structural support 13 is concrete. Concrete, yes. And then there's 14 appropriate liners, where appropriate, for liners to 15 ensure that there's no, you know, there's watertight 16 boundaries. Exactly, yes.
17 CHAIR HARRINGTON: So more than just the 18 steel composite plate, steel in their surface, there 19 would be a pool liner in addition to that?
20 MR. HINDS: Where appropriate. So, for 21 instance, in the fuel, yes.
22 CHAIR HARRINGTON: And with the concrete 23 roof, floor, over those pools? I guess there's then 24 a vent path forward.
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86 MR. HINDS: Exactly, exactly, yes; you're 1
correct. So I'll have another figure on the isolation 2
condenser system. It may help highlight some of these 3
features. I'm just trying to show the physical layout 4
within the building, but your statement is correct.
5 The isolation condenser system pool surface is vented 6
to atmosphere and there is, as we both said now, a 7
roof over and there's a vapor space above the water 8
surface and that vapor space is vented.
9 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Dennis has a question, 10 but, first, let me ask one other clarifying thing. On 11 the earlier cross-section of this area of containment, 12 there's one segment that was not marked as a pool. I 13 guess that's access for shipping fuel in and out and 14 things like that.
15 MR. HINDS: Oh, I understand your question 16 now. Yes. There is an area that allows for access 17 from grade level into the structure for, like, for 18 instance, one of the figures that Ray had shown has 19 showed a cask in there. So a spent fuel container 20 cask can be moved and loaded within the pool, lifted, 21 moved out via that access, for example. And there's 22 also access such that equipment can be moved to and 23 from the refueling floor.
24 So, yes, you're correct. There is an 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
87 access area in one of the quadrants, and there's also 1
a personnel access area over in another quadrant. But 2
we do take up a lot of real estate of the upper 3
portion of the building near grade with water.
4 And back to the heat sink question you 5
asked earlier, the safety heat sink you're looking at, 6
the safety heat sink is all protected within that 7
safety category 1 or safety related structure. The 8
power generation heat sink is the one that's outside.
9 So it makes for quite a robust protection of ensuring 10 the cooling is maintained for safety. It's all inside 11 the structure.
12 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Dennis.
13 DR. BLEY: Yes. Over on the right side, 14 just below the 15-foot level, there's what looks like 15 a penetration. Is that a way to bring outside water 16 in an emergency, or what is that?
17 MR. HINDS: I was having a little trouble 18 seeing the -- okay. I see where you're looking.
19 There are some penetrations up above grade. For 20 example, HVAC has to come in and out of the buildings.
21 We do have penetrations for HVAC. We do have other 22 service penetrations that aren't shown here for piping 23 and cables. There is, since you're asking about 24 penetrations, I'll also mention there is a steam 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
88 tunnel area that's a quadrant where it's right up at 1
the top of containment. On this representation, I 2
believe it'd be over on the left side of the figure, 3
just underneath the pool surfaces. There's a 4
dedicated room there that's radiation controlled where 5
the steam and feed water pipes, for example, exit 6
containment, go through a steam tunnel, and go out to 7
the turbine building.
8 But I believe the penetration you're 9
pointing to, I believe, is HVAC. It's just 10 representative penetration.
11 DR. BLEY: Okay. And they just don't show 12 what's going on inside. Okay. Thanks.
13 MR. HINDS: Okay. Can we go to the next 14 slide, please.
15 MEMBER MARTIN: Where is the load to 16 support the reactor vessels? What level is it at?
17 MR. HINDS: The reactor vessel is 18 supported by a pedestal structure. If you see the 19 blue --
20 MEMBER MARTIN: Yeah.
21 MR. HINDS: -- RPV pedestal shown there.
22 It's a cylinder. So, we have lots of cylinders here.
23 So, we have a reactor building cylinder, containment 24 cylinder inside of that, and inside of the containment 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
89 cylinder is another cylinder, the reactor pressure 1
vessel cylinder, and the reactor pressure vessel sits 2
down inside of that cylinder.
3 It has a dual function. It provides 4
shielding and it also provides support of the reactor 5
pressure vessel. There's a skirt assembly you can see 6
up about mid-height on the reactor pressure vessel, 7
which is part of the reactor pressure vessel assembly, 8
and that's where the connection is made between the 9
reactor pressure vessel and the pedestal, and the 10 pedestal is supported down on the base mat.
11 MEMBER MARTIN: So, like in your seismic 12 analysis --
13 (Simultaneous speaking.)
14 MR. HINDS: Yes.
15 MEMBER MARTIN: A lot of attention there.
16 MR. HINDS: The pedestal is a very big 17 focus area in the seismic analysis, yes. Good 18 question.
19 CHAIR HARRINGTON: And this is Craig 20 again. I guess the little gray circles there and down 21 below are airlocks?
22 MR. HINDS: Yes, we do have accesses to 23 the containment, and we have airlock access. We have 24 equipment. We have upper and a lower access, and so, 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
90 yes, you're pointing at the upper and the lower.
1 Upper is focused on doing maintenance on 2
valves and other components of the upper portion of 3
the containment, and the lower is focused on doing 4
maintenance on under-vessel components normally sealed 5
and closed as part of containment boundary during 6
operation. Okay, next slide, please.
7 This is, I believe, the last one of the 8
licensee topical reports that we have listed here for 9
under review, and this -- no, I'm sorry, there's one 10 more, but anyway, this is the safety strategy. The 11 safety strategy is still under review.
12 I introduced that on the prior slide with 13 that figure with the defense-in-depth. Those types of 14 concepts are introduced in this safety strategy LTR, 15 and then there's a regulatory evaluation associated 16 with our design and analysis associated with that 17 approach that's introduced in this licensing topical 18 report.
19 As I mentioned before, we do have a graded 20 safety class, Safety Class 1, 2, and 3, and on safety, 21 and we made the connections between the design 22 analysis and the regulatory evaluation associated with 23 that defense-in-depth approach, and this includes 24 evaluation against the GDCs, for example, so that's 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
91 all embedded within this safety strategy LTR still 1
here under review.
2 CHAIR HARRINGTON:
And so, the 3
implementation of this will be reflected in the FSAR 4
or will there be another separate report that captures 5
that?
6 MR. HINDS: In all aspects of our design 7
information, and analysis information, and then the 8
applications submitted by TVA define aspects of this 9
safety strategy embedded within there, the terminology 10 used and the classification of SSCs. It's already 11 embedded in there.
12 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Okay.
13 MR. HINDS: This gives the wrapper, if you 14 will, of introducing the whole concept, and the 15 process by which it's treated, and the regulatory 16 evaluation such that it's in a focused type of review 17 as opposed to scattering the review only within the 18 application.
19 CHAIR HARRINGTON: That's about where I am 20 in the PSAR, so I haven't seen that, okay.
21 (Laughter.)
22 MR. HINDS: Okay, next slide, please.
23 Okay, now I think we're to the last one. So, this is 24 also under review, a stability analysis licensing 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
92 topical report.
1 We introduced some concepts associated 2
with stability or the regulatory treatment of 3
stability within the reactivity control LTR that I had 4
previously mentioned of 33912, but this one goes 5
deeper and gets into the stability analysis of this 6
plant. It's a natural circulating power plant, so 7
many, including us, focus on ensuring thermal-8 hydraulic stability is maintained within the plant.
9 Just a couple of notes on stability, I 10 mentioned previously in the other side that the core 11 design heavily leverages the prior design and 12 operation of the KKM core configuration, the same 13 number of fuel bundles and core configuration.
14 It leverages the learnings from the prior 15 natural circulators, and the analytical methods are 16 built upon that. Also, I have test and development 17 programs that further feed into that. So, the 18 specific topic of stability and the associated 19 analysis is introduced in this licensing topical 20 report.
21 The core design that I've mentioned 22 several times here, its behavior is such that it's 23 very tightly coupled and we do not see threats to 24 regional instability in these. The core is not big 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
93 enough.
1 If we don't see threats to regional 2
instability, I'll contrast it to the larger ESBWR, 3
which has already been reviewed by the U.S. NRC. We 4
did focus on regional stability on the ESBWR, but we 5
found with the size and the type of core we selected 6
for this plant, it's very closely coupled and regional 7
stability is not an issue.
8 And we present those concepts and topics 9
within a combination of the construction permit 10 application, the 33912 which has already been removed, 11 and this LTR here, but it behaves quite well with 12 stability. I've got some more topics, or more tidbits 13 on that that will come up in some future slides.
14 MEMBER HALNON: So, you're not going to be 15 worried about project power until the last stage, and 16 we think we're getting away from the mid-cycle 17 readjustment of control rods.
18 MR. HINDS: We're not ruling out rod 19 sequence exchange if that's what your last --
20 MEMBER HALNON: Yeah, yeah.
21 MR. HINDS: So, there will be some rod 22 pattern changes within the cycles. So, we have been 23 doing quite a lot of analysis with core design, 24 including the entirety of, you know, going through a 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
94 cycle, and so there would be some rod pattern changes 1
within the cycle.
2 It's quite simple rod patterns on this 3
plant though. Primarily, we use a control cell core, 4
and primarily, it's four control rods doing --
5 (Simultaneous speaking.)
6 MR. HINDS: Well, that's what's doing the 7
-- in control at any one moment.
8 MEMBER HALNON: Okay.
9 MR. HINDS: Now, at another point in the 10 cycle, those four, we swap to a different four, but 11 it's typically two to three groups of control rods.
12 We have them in groups, two to three groups of control 13 rods primarily with groups of four, and the center rod 14 plays in some, that are actively in control. It's 15 quite simple.
16 MEMBER HALNON: So, you say you're trying 17 to design those out or at least minimize it?
18 MR. HINDS: We'll minimize sequence 19 exchanges, but I'm not ruling them out.
20 MEMBER HALNON: That would be very 21 helpful, especially with the low number of operators 22 and other things. That all complicates life when you 23 have to do sequence exchange.
24 MR. HINDS: Sure, sure, and the small, 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
95 relatively small number of control rods helps as well, 1
as also the control cell core helps, and the 2
relatively small number of rods.
3 We also have, I'll mention to you since 4
you mentioned operations, we do have an automation 5
system which helps with control. So, we have 6
capability in the design to automate basically the 7
majority, if not all, of the functions you're alluding 8
to.
9 MEMBER HALNON: Okay.
10 MR. HINDS: Okay, next slide?
11 MEMBER MARTIN: Just real quick, Bob 12 Martin. The TRs that you've presented, is that the 13 extent to which TRs are otherwise incorporated by 14 reference in the CPA? I anticipate that maybe there's 15 a fuel one maybe that follows from other designs that 16 may already have been approved, but --
17 MR. HINDS: I don't know. Kelli, do you 18 have a comment to that, topical reports incorporated 19 by reference?
20 MS. BANKS: So, the topical report that is 21 incorporated by reference is NEDC-33922, I think, is 22 the right
- number, the containment evaluation 23 methodology licensing topical report. That one is 24 incorporated by reference because it, you know, 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
96 provides summaries of the methodology and things like 1
that.
2 The remainder of the LTRs are referenced 3
within the PSAR where appropriate. Limitations and 4
conditions, you know, are addressed within the PSAR.
5 The only one that is incorporated by reference is that 6
containment I had mentioned.
7 MEMBER MARTIN: Okay, well, I wasn't 8
really covering all of that, so, but nothing else, 9
like, related to fuel?
10 MR. HINDS: Well, as we've said, we're 11 highly leveraging the past history of methods, use of 12 TRACG, for example, that do continue.
13 MEMBER MARTIN: You mentioned GNF2 fuel 14 and I know there's a topical report, possibly, once 15 upon a time.
16 MR. HINDS: I'll need to defer to --
17 MEMBER MARTIN: I think it incorporated it 18 into --
19 MR. HINDS: -- Ray or Kelli on the 20 regulatory treatment.
21 MR. SCHIELE: So, there are quite a few 22 topical reports that are referenced.
23 MR. HINDS: Yeah.
24 MR. SCHIELE: But in Chapter 1, I believe 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
97 there's two things listed as incorporated by 1
reference, and that's the containment performance that 2
Kelli mentioned and the QA topical report for 17.5.
3 Those are the only two things we have listed as 4
totally incorporated by reference.
5 MR. HINDS: Thank you.
6 MR. SCHIELE: Go ahead.
7 MR. HINDS: Okay, next slide, please.
8 Okay, so now transitioning off of the LTRs and just 9
going back to the same design features that I 10 introduced before, so just a transition slide. If you 11 could move to the next slide, please.
12 We've already hit on some of these topics, 13 but I give you little quick visuals as well anyway 14 just to reinforce the history. Natural circulation is 15 known and we do have historical data as well from 16 plant, excuse me, plant operation, as well as from 17 tests, and so this is just a very brief summary of 18 some of the history.
19 So, I'll highlight a few things on here, 20 one I've already mentioned, but I'll mention again, is 21 that Dodewaard is heavily leveraged in our history and 22 analysis. We also have stability testing that was 23 performed. We have, that was mentioned, operating 24 plant.
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98 Again, that was a forced circulation plant 1
that had a recirc pump trip, and we did stability data 2
gathering, which once the pumps are tripped, it 3
becomes a natural circulator, and so the data is 4
useful for both forced circulation plants as well as 5
natural circulating plants.
6 We've done chimney two-phase flow testing 7
to ensure that the chimney, which is the area annular 8
space up above the reactor pressure vessel where the 9
steam transitions up to the separators and dryer, the 10 chimney two-phase flow, it's very important that we 11 understand that, and we do, and we've done testing to 12 show that, and our computers models for tests check 13 against the analytical, I'm sorry, the test data.
14 Start-up characteristics, a
natural 15 circulator starts up differently than the forced 16 circulating plants. We've done testing for start-up, 17 and I've already mentioned TRACG is qualified to this 18 type of data.
19 The part I mentioned on stability, we were 20 very strategic about our selection of core size and 21 also the core power density. So, we've selected core 22 size and power density to make it behave very well, 23 natural circulation in a stable fashion, and we've 24 proven that analytically and it's backed up by these 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
99 tests. So, much of this, I've already covered, but 1
it's just a reinforcement. Next slide?
2 CHAIR HARRINGTON: This is Craig, real 3
quick.
4 MR. HINDS: Yes?
5 CHAIR HARRINGTON: The chimney, and two-6 phase flow, and start-up characteristics, were those 7
primarily non-nuclear test facilities or a little of 8
both?
9 MR. HINDS: Yes, those tests were not using 10 nuclear fuel. Now, of course, that operating BWR 11 stability test was an operating plant, but the other 12 bullets that you're pointing to or referring to, 13 those, there was no nuclear fuel. Of course, we used 14 nuclear-grade quality controls. However, they were 15 not nuclear fuel.
16 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Okay.
17 MR. HINDS: But the thermal-hydraulics 18 still stand.
19 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Sure.
20 MR. HINDS: Okay, next slide, please.
21 This is just showing the configuration of the reactor 22 pressure vessel and the internals. Just, and some of 23 it is talking about our operating experience to also 24 give a brief summary of the configuration of 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
1 So, the design and fabrication of the RPV 2
is consistent with our past designs and very well 3
know, so operating experience, as well as design and 4
fabrication experience. There's the KKM plant I 5
mentioned, which we leveraged for the core size and 6
design, the chimney, the Dodewaard plant did have a 7
chimney, and we've done testing to also prove chimney 8
behavior.
9 So, to make sure everyone knows what I'm 10 talking about with the chimney, maybe you can see it's 11 pointing to the chimney region. It's in the center of 12 the RPV in this figure, and the chimney is simply a 13 cylindrical steel structure on top of the core shroud 14 assembly. The core shroud is underneath and the fuel 15 is within the core shroud. If you can read the 16 labeling, it will help.
17 The shroud is the cylinder, steel cylinder 18 around the fuel. The chimney is the steel cylinder 19 with just a steam space. The control rods come in 20 from the bottom, and as with our other BWRs, they 21 control reactor power.
22 So, the left descriptions give just a 23 little more about our history and understanding of 24 these individual components. The steam dryer is 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
101 virtually the same or very similar to past dryers, and 1
the separators are the same or similar to past steam 2
separators.
3 The separators and dryers, of course, are 4
in the upper portion of the reactor vessel on top of 5
the chimney drying the steam as it exits. I already 6
mentioned the fuel is widely used and the control rods 7
as well.
8 The fine motion control rod drives, we 9
have experience from them, from the design and 10 operation of the ABWR and the design of the ESBWR.
11 So, they have operational experience, two means of 12 insertion, and one means of withdrawal. The one means 13 of withdrawal is by motors. The two means of 14 insertion is hydraulics and motors. I have another 15 figure that shows the simple assembly of the fine 16 motion control rod drive. Next slide, please.
17 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Real quick.
18 MR. HINDS: Yes?
19 CHAIR HARRINGTON: This is Craig. The 20 shrouds on there --
21 MR. HINDS: Yes.
22 CHAIR HARRINGTON: -- between the core 23 plate and the top guide --
24 MR. HINDS: Yes.
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102 CHAIR HARRINGTON: -- is there something 1
in there?
2 MR. HINDS: That's the fuel. That's the 3
core. So, sorry, we didn't -- we only have one, it 4
looks like one bundle in this visual here, but the 5
core is inside the shroud.
6 So, the core -- the fuel, the 240 fuel 7
bundles fit inside that area above the core plate and 8
supported on the bottom by fuel support castings, 9
which are inserted into the core plate, and the top, 10 you get lateral support there from the top guide.
11 CHAIR HARRINGTON: I failed to read the 12 label of control rod guide tubes at the bottom and was 13 assuming that was the core.
14 MR. HINDS: It's easy -- it's a lot of 15 stack-up here. So, the control guide tubes are down 16 there now as you see, and then the control rod drives 17 down below.
18 CHAIR HARRINGTON: That makes entirely --
19 (Simultaneous speaking.)
20 CHAIR HARRINGTON: I just didn't study it 21 close enough.
22 MR. HINDS: Okay? And again, that's just 23 a steam space up above the core. So, this would be 24 very similar to an existing boiling water reactor 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
103 except for we insert the chimney in there, and there's 1
an annular space around both the chimney as well as 2
the shroud, which is where the downflow comes for 3
natural circulation. Okay, next slide, please.
4 This is just a representation of the fine 5
motion control rod drives, and again, there's motors 6
and there's hydraulics, and the motors provide for 7
insert and withdrawal. The hydraulics will lift if 8
needed, and if a hydraulic scram occurs, lift the 9
control rod basically up off of the ball nut and 10 insert it.
11 And so, these two means, although they 12 move the same control rods, they can function 13 independently. So, a scram from hydraulics is not 14 impacted by the motors, and the motors can insert 15 regardless of whether the scram worked or not, so two 16 means of shutdown of inserting control rods. Normal 17 power control is with the motors, with our fine motion 18 and very small movements. Next slide, please.
19 This is showing the core representation 20 and some instrumentation.
We have in-core 21 instrumentation similar or basically the same as our 22 operating experience with local power range monitors 23 or LPRMs. They're inserted within the core and spaced 24 around to their appropriate locations within the core 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
104 such that we get a full power reading at power, during 1
power operation.
2 And then for startup and low-power 3
operation, we also have, within the core, wide-range 4
neutron monitors. All of those neutron monitors, they 5
are non-movable. They're fixed in-core. We calibrate 6
our local power range monitors by using gamma 7
thermometers that are integral on the LPRM string.
8 They sense the gamma flux and equate that 9
to a neutron flux and use that as a calibration 10 standard for the local power range monitors. We also 11 have a small little representation out on the 12 periphery showing of an in-core water level 13 measurement from below.
14 CHAIR HARRINGTON: So, two questions. As 15 a PWR guy, the neutron monitors, do they also provide 16 flux mapping capability axially or --
17 MR. HINDS: Yes, the LPRMs have sensors 18 that are spread in a predetermined fashion on the 19 axial, as well as we have them placed in the 20 designated locations you can see on the figure here 21 radially, but yes, there's four sensors there giving 22 power levels at different axial locations.
23 And then the gamma thermometers are there 24 to actually give a diverse indication of the neutron 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
105 flux that can be used or the gamma flux that can be 1
correlated to the neutron flux and that then can be 2
used to compare for calibration standard, but yes, 3
there is an axial measurement.
4 CHAIR HARRINGTON: And then the water 5
level, water sensing, what type of sensor?
6 MR. HINDS: That's a heated junction 7
thermocouple type, yeah, and it's just a diverse means 8
of water level sensing. It's only in the worst case, 9
if water level were to be extremely low. Our normal 10 water level sensing should sense normal operation as 11 well as the majority of accidents. For a very extreme 12 low-frequency accident, if the water level were to get 13 very low, this is the backup.
14 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Thank you.
15 MR. HINDS: Next slide, please.
16 MEMBER ROBERTS: I'm not very familiar 17 with this technology. How do you correlate the gamma 18 flux to power?
19 MR. HINDS: We've done in-core testing, 20 operating reactors, and we've done a significant 21 amount of analysis. There was quite a number of 22 submittals to the NRC under the ESBWR where that 23 technology was covered in licensing space, but there's 24 a significant amount of testing, both up to 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
106 including in operating reactors, and the gamma flux 1
does have, we have a correlation of gamma flux to 2
neutron flux which can be used to correlate to actual 3
reactor power.
4 MEMBER ROBERTS:
So, there's no 5
calorimetric calibration required?
6 MR. HINDS: We do have a heat balance 7
that's running live time at all times. So, we have a 8
heat balance that's checking and used to calibrate for 9
the gain adjustment factors for the neutron monitors.
10 So, the gamma thermometers are primarily 11 there to -- they're local. The heat balance is global 12 or the whole system. So, the heat balance for the 13 whole system, the gamma thermometers can give us a 14 flux distribution across the various locations, both 15 radial and axial, within the core.
16 So, we can take that heat balance and 17 correlate that to the total core power, and then we 18 can use the gamma thermometers to assign that to the 19 various locations within the radial and axial 20 locations within the core, so we do both, but yes, 21 there is a, quote-unquote, calorimetric. We call it 22 heat balance.
23 MEMBER ROBERTS: Okay, that makes sense.
24 Thank you.
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107 MR. HINDS: Okay, I've mentioned several 1
times the reactor isolation valves. Here's a visual 2
representation, dual valves attached directly to the 3
reactor pressure vessel and supports the coolant 4
preservation approach.
5 There is no piping between the reactor 6
isolation valves and the reactor vessel, so thereby, 7
there is no pipe that could break inboard of the 8
reactor isolation valves.
9 The nozzles associated with the reactor 10 pressure vessel are forged nozzles.
They're 11 integrally fabricated with the reactor pressure 12 vessel, and then very significant bolting is used, 13 meaning, when I say significant, very high-strength 14 bolting used to connect a dual valve assembly directly 15 to the reactor pressure vessel, thereby supporting the 16 coolant preservation approach. So, if there were some 17 threat to coolant loss in the connective system, these 18 two redundant valves would close to isolate the 19 associated system.
20 MEMBER ROBERTS: Can you explain what 21 large means in that first bullet? So, that implies 22 there are some penetrations that are so --
23 MR. HINDS: Yes.
24 MEMBER ROBERTS: -- large they don't have 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
108 valves?
1 MR. HINDS: Excellent question. Yes, so 2
we've characterized every reactor vessel nozzle as 3
whether it needs the reactor isolation valve or not.
4 The only ones without reactor isolation valves are 5
very small instrument line connections for reactor 6
water level and pressure sensing.
7 And those are very carefully located 8
height-wise. They're at least four meters above the 9
top of active fuel, and they're also sized such that 10 even if we were to have a double-ended break of those 11 sensing lines, we would still maintain fuel cooling 12 over an extended period of time.
13 And within the
- PSAR, within the 14 construction permit application, we present an 15 analysis to show the response of the plant if we were 16 to have a break of those sensing lines, but anything 17 bigger than those sensing lines, which are less than 18 an inch in size, they would have integral isolation 19 valves.
20 MEMBER ROBERTS: So, there's some sort of 21 makeup capability that can keep up with a small line 22 break?
23 MR. HINDS: Well, as I mentioned in some 24 of the lead-in of the coolant preservation approach, 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
109 we start with a lot of coolant in this plant. Being 1
a natural circulator, we can break one of those 2
instrument lines, have zero makeup, provide decay heat 3
removal with the isolation condenser system.
4 There's enough coolant to last in excess 5
of three days. So, the passive capability requirement 6
of three days' cooling can be maintained, zero makeup, 7
even in the presence of an instrument line break, and 8
that's demonstrated by analysis in the PSAR.
9 MEMBER ROBERTS: Within the three days, 10 you'd have the capability to --
11 (Simultaneous speaking.)
12 MR. HINDS: Yes, we do have -- so, the 13 control rod drive system that was shown with the 14 control rod drives in the bottom of the vessel has a 15 normally running, at-all-times running purge water 16 system function to keep the control rod drives nice 17 and clean, and that purge water does serve a dual 18 function as a makeup.
19 Not much water is needed.
Those 20 instrument lines, the coolant loss is minimal, 21 especially with the isolation condenser system 22 providing the cool down and depressurization in those 23 types of events.
24 MEMBER ROBERTS: Okay, thank you.
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110 CHAIR HARRINGTON: And I read someplace, 1
I think, that you also credit those, that kind of a 2
leak as helping to achieve pressure balance between 3
containment and the vessel or --
4 MR. HINDS: We don't --
5 CHAIR HARRINGTON: -- am I making that up?
6 MR. HINDS: We don't -- I understand the 7
topic, I think, that you're touching on. The 8
containment pressurization actually can help to limit 9
any potential coolant loss. I think that's what 10 you're referring to, is --
11 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Yeah.
12 MR. HINDS: -- meaning we would catch and 13 collect that coolant if it were to be lost, say, for 14 instance, in an instrument line break or other line 15 breaks.
16 As the containment pressurizes and as the 17 reactor depressurizes, the equalization serves to 18 limit the coolant loss, and the isolation condenser 19 system capacity is large enough that it does 20 depressurize the reactor.
21 CHAIR HARRINGTON: And so, between the two 22 isolation valves, I would assume that trapped volume 23 is ported back to the vessel side somehow if it, so 24 that it doesn't heat up and --
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111 MR. HINDS: We do evaluate the potential 1
for pressure lock or any of those types of functions, 2
but it's not ported back to the reactor vessel, and 3
that is a dual-valve assembly that we're showing here.
4 We're running either out or very short of 5
time, so you can stop me at any moment, but I'll keep 6
on moving until the point where you would like me to 7
stop. Next slide, please.
8 MEMBER MARTIN: I just can't help myself, 9
sorry, Craig. What's the technology maturity of those 10 IAVs or RIVs? Have you all fabricated and done some 11 testing or are you still on paper?
12 MR. HINDS: So, the testing, physical 13 testing of our specific valves has not yet occurred, 14 but is planned. We are using, I'll say -- I'll avoid 15 mentioning company names right now, but we are using 16 well-known, reputable valve and actuator suppliers 17 such that it's not their first introduction of valves.
18 We're leveraging their technology 19 evolution and basis, similar to what we were 20 leveraging our own technology evolution such that we 21 have high confidence in the concepts and the specific 22 application, but the physical specific tests that 23 we've asked them for has not yet been performed.
24 Because we've asked them to perform steam 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
112 shutoff tests to prove that, with our conditions, in 1
a worst-case type coolant loss, that the valves can 2
close and --
3 (Simultaneous speaking.)
4 MEMBER MARTIN: But ultimately, it's also 5
trying to eliminate breaks at those locations, right?
6 MR. HINDS: The, again, the --
7 MEMBER MARTIN: Well, in, say, a LOCA, 8
eventual LOCA analysis, will you still --
9 MR. HINDS: Just to clarify, there is no 10 piping, or to repeat, there is no piping inboard of 11 the reactor isolation valves --
12 MEMBER MARTIN: Right.
13 MR. HINDS: -- and that is a reactor 14 pressure vessel nozzle that's directly attached to a 15 valve, and that nozzle is very robust, similar, 16 basically thicker than the reactor pressure vessel by 17 virtue of the shape --
18 MEMBER MARTIN: Right.
19 MR. HINDS: -- and fabricated to the same 20 standards of the reactor pressure vessel, and the 21 bolting is quite significant.
22 MEMBER MARTIN: Okay, I just wanted to 23 make sure.
24 MR. HINDS: There are --
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113 (Simultaneous speaking.)
1 MEMBER MARTIN: -- record, really, or you 2
hadn't said it yet.
3 MR. HINDS: There are no piping welds 4
inboard.
5 MEMBER MARTIN: Are these --
6 MR. HINDS: Oh, and there is forged 7
assembly, and it's a forged valve assembly, forged 8
nozzle assembly and forged valve assembly directly 9
bolted together. The only weld for the nozzle, the 10 nozzle is actually part of the reactor pressure vessel 11 fabrication, which, you know, reactor pressure vessels 12 have full penetration welds.
13 MEMBER MARTIN: Sure.
14 MR. HINDS: Those nozzles are part of the 15 reactor pressure vessel fabrication.
16 MEMBER HALNON: Is this a feature of the 17 Darlington reactors?
18 MR. HINDS: It is.
19 MEMBER MARTIN: Okay, that was my 20 question, whether -- okay.
21 MR. HINDS: Yes, okay, next slide, please.
22 Okay, this is somewhat of a repeat, and the only 23 reason I included it is just to trace out one system, 24 this is the main steam system, to show you how it's 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
114 configured as a system.
1 So, you can see the reactor isolation 2
valves directly attach. We have two steam lines 3
directly attached to the reactor pressure vessel.
4 Then the piping runs out of containment. The 5
containment penetration is shown as that sleeve area, 6
and then there's additionally an outside containment 7
isolation valve for the main steam system.
8 So, there's three valves in series where 9
historically we've had two, and historically they've 10 been further removed from the energy source. So, now 11 we're having the ability to shut off right at the 12 energy source. That's our strategy there, coolant 13 preservation, and the isolation condenser systems help 14 to enable that to occur because the cooling is 15 maintained. Next slide, please.
16 You can stop me any time you're ready to 17 move on, but this is the isolation condenser system, 18 which I've mentioned several times. We have -- we 19 meet the passive plant rules of in excess of three 20 days of cooling of our passive system, but we, instead 21 of having a makeup to get between three and seven 22 days, we have already sized the cooling such that we 23 have in excess of seven days' worth of heat removal 24 contained in these pools.
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115 And Ray had already told you about the 1
pool figuration. There's a pool on one side of the 2
structure, with the Alpha heat exchanger immersed in 3
it, and there's a pool on the other side with the 4
Bravo and Charlie heat exchangers immersed in it.
5 So, there's three trains of isolation 6
condensers, and all that's needed to place them in 7
service -- you can see the blue valves down towards 8
the lower portion of the figure. There's two parallel 9
redundant valves. They're condensate return valves.
10 All that has to happen is one of those two 11 valves has to open. They're configured to fail open.
12 So, the failsafe nature here is this system fails in 13 a cooling function. Those valves, if they lose either 14 a mode of force or electrical power signal, they would 15 fail open and the system would go into service, 16 similar to all our other safety functions, fail in a 17 scram.
18 So, the failsafe nature of this plant is 19 that it would fail with the reactor shutdown via 20 hydraulic scram with stored energy. The reactor would 21 isolate via the reactor isolation valves.
22 The isolation condenser system would be 23 placed in service by simply opening one or two, or 24 both of those valves, allowing condensate flow to come 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
116 back from the heat exchanger. All it is, is steam 1
flows in from the reactor into the heat exchanger.
2 It's condensed.
3 The LEGO (phonetic) condensate comes back 4
to the reactor vessel and it flows. We've chosen to 5
pour it into the chimney region of the reactor. It 6
helps to suppress pressure very well by putting it in 7
the chimney region. It actually suppresses core flow 8
and helps in even more severe events.
9 MEMBER HALNON: Is each ICS 100-percent 10 duty?
11 MR. HINDS: Yes, so for --
12 MEMBER HALNON: How are you going to swing 13
-- I mean, the Charlie one is sort of an extra?
14 MR. HINDS: We have a consideration of a 15 rotation, if you will, for -- I think you were talking 16 about duty on them. In a transient, all we would need 17 is one, and in a pressurization transient, all we 18 would need is one.
19 In a LOCA, we've chosen to configure the 20 logic such that all three will initiate. So, all 21 three will initiate, and that provides the maximum 22 cooling, and therefore depressurization in a LOCA to 23 help minimize coolant loss. I'll keep moving and stop 24 at any time.
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117 CHAIR HARRINGTON: And we're going to try 1
to get through all of these slides, but do you have a 2
concern about overcooling since you've got 300 3
percent?
4 MR. HINDS: Excellent question. So, yeah, 5
there was some -- we looked very hard at did we over-6 design and oversize? And, you know, it's very, very 7
beneficial to have them large from the standpoint of 8
pressure suppression, over-pressure
- control, 9
depressurization of LOCA.
10 And, oh, by the way, these have undergone 11 full-scale testing of this specific design as part of 12 our evolutionary design for SBWR and ESBWR. So, we 13 wanted to preserve that testing and we also wanted the 14 excess capacity.
15 So, to your question, part of our design 16 of the reactor pressure vessel and the isolation 17 condenser system is to build into it the thermal 18 cycles and the stress associated with the cool-down 19 effects of both transients as well as accidents.
20 We select the numbers of postulation 21 through postulation of how many we would put into the 22 design of those metal components to build those stress 23 cycles, so it's already built-in, the stress cycles, 24 into the nozzles, the RPV, the system, so we have 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
118 built in the cooling effect.
1 Now, of course, we select the cycles 2
appropriately based upon the probability of a LOCA and 3
how many the plant would be postulated to have in the 4
life of the plant.
5 CHAIR HARRINGTON: And reactivity as well, 6
I assume, is not a concern for that kind of --
7 MR. HINDS: Oh, no. Now, I mentioned 8
briefly that it discharges into the chimney area.
9 Discharging into the chimney area mitigates the 10 reactivity portion since we're not shooting cold water 11 directly into the inlet of the reactor, so it actually 12 helps to suppress power.
13 So, if we were to have a fail-to-scream, 14 initiation of the isolation condenser system helps 15 with both pressure control and reactivity control, as 16 opposed to herding reactivity control. Good question.
17 MEMBER HALNON: Seven days' coping time is 18
-- days four through seven, any operator action at 19 all?
20 MR. HINDS: No operation action.
21 MEMBER HALNON: So, it's fully happening 22 23 MR. HINDS: Yes.
24 MEMBER HALNON: -- all the way through?
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119 MEMBER MARTIN: The other thing about the 1
seven-day, I
assume that's assuming all your 2
uncertainties, your conservative, your safety 3
analysis. Realistically --
4 MR. HINDS: We can go a long time beyond 5
that.
6 MEMBER MARTIN: I mean, have you -- you 7
know, of course, you have 300-percent capacity to 8
cool, but is your pool sized? I mean, is it --
9 MR. HINDS: Yes.
10 MEMBER MARTIN: -- really 21 days, you 11 know what I mean, or --
12 MR. HINDS: I won't commit to you all how 13 many days beyond seven, but it's beyond seven. There 14 is some detailing of some of the, you know, overflows, 15 drains, and all of the details of the pools that can 16 have impacts to that.
17 (Simultaneous speaking.)
18 MEMBER MARTIN: -- connectors between the 19 pools, right?
20 MR. HINDS: Yes. Oh, yeah, let me 21 describe that a little further, and we significantly 22 will exceed seven days, so, to your general point, but 23 the pool, the inner and the outer pools. The inner 24 pools are segregated such there's no communication out 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
120 of the inner pools. You cannot lose water from the 1
inner pools even if you lose the entire outer pools.
2 The outer pools serve -- they are 3
interconnected. The outer pool is basically one 4
functionally, and the outer pool provides passive flow 5
into the inner pool, and it's via underwater piping 6
and check vales, so one-way flow, the water from the 7
outer to the inner, but it cannot come out of the 8
inner, regardless of what you do to the outer pool.
9 And so, the outer can makeup to any of the 10 inner pool, both of the inner pools, and the inners 11 are segregated such that the Bravo Charlie does not 12 communicate at all with the Alpha pool.
13 MEMBER MARTIN: So, the inner pool, just 14 so I'm 100 percent, the outer pools will cover the 15 other maybe 200 pools.
16 (Simultaneous speaking.)
17 MR. HINDS: Yeah, you know, for the seven-18 day coping, we're going to need the outer pool.
19 MEMBER MARTIN: Okay.
20 MR. HINDS: But the inner pool is 21 primarily there just to protect the first few days.
22 MEMBER MARTIN: Sure.
23 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Is there some logic or 24 issue for having two trains in one pool?
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121 MR. HINDS: It's mostly geography within 1
the building. Yeah, and so what we wanted to do was 2
have the nozzles coming off the reactor pressure 3
vessel around, you know, and segregate the trains 4
within the containment, and we wanted to shoot as 5
close to straight out.
6 We want to minimize crossties and things 7
such as running all the way around containment, and so 8
we go almost straight up, so it's mostly geography of 9
the piping runs.
10 CHAIR HARRINGTON: And you had a quadrant 11 for access outside for casks, and fuel, and all that?
12 MR. HINDS: Yes, so the center between 13 them is used primarily for refueling activities. So, 14 there needs to be a segregation of one side of the 15 building to the other basically primarily for the 16 reactor cavity and the refueling.
17 CHAIR HARRINGTON: And one side had more 18 real estate to fuel and the other side --
19 MR. HINDS: Yes.
20 CHAIR HARRINGTON: -- needed some real 21 estate?
22 MR. HINDS: Yes, because as you noted, 23 there is, in some quadrant, there is accesses with no 24 water, so, yes, you're correct. Next slide, please.
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122 This is just more of the same. I think I've covered 1
everything here. It's just a different figure to show 2
more functionally with the valves.
3 But again, I'll reinforce that this system 4
is always pressurized, steam pressure on top and then 5
condensate back on the backside, and the only thing 6
preventing it from actually flowing is one of the two, 7
the two closed condensate return valves that are 8
configured such that they'll fail open.
9 MEMBER ROBERTS: So, what is the strategy 10 for containment isolation, your third bullet there?
11 We talked about it earlier this morning. There's a 12 conflicting safety requirement.
13 MR. HINDS: Yeah.
14 MEMBER ROBERTS: You want to have the 15 system online for cooling, but you need to sometimes 16 isolate it for containment.
17 MR. HINDS: Yes, we've prioritized this 18 system and we designed -- first off, we designed from, 19 like, our Defense Line 1 type of approach. We've 20 given the highest ASME class, the highest safety 21 class, and the highest treatment of this system to 22 ensure that it will not break, and stress rules, et 23 cetera.
24 This is an ASME Class 1 system in its 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
123 entirety. It's considered part of the reactor coolant 1
system boundary. The valves for isolation are all 2
attached directly to the reactor pressure vessel, 3
those reactor isolation valves. There is no valve 4
outside of containment for isolation.
5 It's a closed-loop, a simple closed-loop 6
that goes in the heat exchanger and comes immediately 7
right back. The prioritization within our logic and 8
control scheme is that cooling wins. The cooling 9
function is the safety function of this system.
10 The likelihood that we were to have a 11 coolant loss from this system is very, very low. The 12 likelihood that we would need this system for cooling 13 is significantly higher. The safety function is the 14 high-priority function. We do not ignore the 15 potential for loss of coolant, and we do have leak 16 detection and isolation, but we do prioritize the 17 cooling function.
18 Next slide, please. This is just showing 19 a little more on the containment. I've already 20 covered most of this, but it's an evolutionary 21 containment design.
22 But I'll note that the choice for BWRX-300 23 was dry containment as opposed to pressure suppression 24 wet containment. And our containment LTRs that we've 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
124 presented to the NRC and already reviewed presented 1
both the analytical methods, the safety performance.
2 This works very well in conjunction with our coolant 3
preservation approach.
4 We don't have valves that blow the system 5
down to -- we don't have SRVs to a suppression pool is 6
really what I was alluding to. We have the isolation 7
condenser system rather that's discharging its heat 8
through the closed loop up in the isolation condenser 9
system pool.
10 So, dry containment was chosen and it's a 11 60 psi design pressure containment, cylindrical 12 containment, and we built upon both the structural as 13 well as the analytical and safety learnings from the 14 past. Next slide?
15 This is -- I've mentioned we have a 16 passive containment cooling system. This is it. It's 17 quite simple. It's an array of piping, and the array 18 of piping simply takes water from the pool up above.
19 Now, this is leveraging other pools.
20 I mentioned briefly that, you know, when 21 we were talking about the geography of the pools, on 22 one side of the building is the Bravo Charlie pool and 23 the other side of the building is Alpha pool for 24 isolation condensers. In the center alley between 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
125 there is an equipment pool, and a reactor cavity pool, 1
and a fuel pool.
2 There's gates that segregate the fuel pool 3
from those other pools, but those other pools are 4
always flooded during operation. We've leveraged the 5
water within them for a dual purpose for -- they're 6
used for refueling, but we also use that same water as 7
the heat sink for the passive containment cooling 8
system.
9 It's very simple. There's no moving parts 10 needed to place this in service. It's always in 11 service. It's just its flow is determined by the heat 12 demand, so just the differential density drives water 13 down the cold leg and runs it back up the hot leg, and 14 so the differential head and differential density 15 causes water movement there, so it acts similar to a 16 radiator, but it's a piping array that's spaced around 17 inside the containment, up very close to the 18 containment inner surface.
19 It removes heat. It's very, very 20 effective as a condensing surface for steam. If there 21 were to be a loss-of-coolant accident, the steam would 22 condense on these tubes and help to suppress the 23 pressure within the containment.
24 MEMBER HALNON: I know you've got seismic 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
126 isolated, but are you concerned, anything about 1
sloshing? You've got these pools that are at the 2
highest point of their structure.
3 MR. HINDS: Well, they're actually not at 4
the highest point of the structure, but they are up 5
there. They're up --
6 (Simultaneous speaking.)
7 MR. HINDS: They're actually right around 8
grade elevation. So, they are, relative to the base 9
mat, they're pretty high, but relative to the ground, 10 they're not high, so that's the kind of --
11 MEMBER HALNON: Yeah.
12 MR. HINDS: But, yes, and, of course, we 13 look at any dynamic loads as well.
14 CHAIR HARRINGTON: And I suppose since all 15 three of those heat exchanger panels lead into the 16 same pool --
17 MR. HINDS: They do.
18 CHAIR HARRINGTON: -- the single pool is 19 somehow treated in the safety case as, I guess, it's 20 further down the list of concerns, so having them all 21 in a common pool is not --
22 MR. HINDS: Yeah, it's just a -- treat it 23 as a common heat sink, but yes, you're correct, and we 24 haven't found failure modes that would cause concern 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
127 there. It is a very simple system and it doesn't have 1
moving parts. And anyway, we did not see the need for 2
creating a segregation scheme in there, and we do 3
multipurpose these pools.
4 CHAIR HARRINGTON: And you've got 15 5
seconds to stop the LOCA in progress so you don't have 6
a huge heat dump to containment.
7 MR. HINDS: The heat load on these is not 8
-- the heat load on the isolation condenser systems is 9
relatively large. The heat load on these is not 10 anywhere even close. We don't even boil these pools.
11 We boil the isolation condenser pools, but these do 12 help to minimize the peak pressure within the 13 containment, but the majority in a LOCA --
14 Remember, when an isolation condenser 15 system is initiated, it's depressurizing the reactor.
16 That's where the energy's coming from, and if we're in 17 a LOCA, you know, theoretically, we're communicating 18
-- if we haven't isolated it, we're communicating with 19 the containment, so this is taking what got discharged 20 to the containment and just helping to minimize the 21 pressurization.
22 We do -- you know, it's a 60 psi 23 containment, so we do have pressurization, but this 24 helps to limit the peak, especially in a small break 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
128 LOCA like the one that we were talking about for the 1
instrument line break, you know, where we postulate a 2
continual steam discharge. It's condensing on these 3
tubes.
4 I think this was the last slide. Is there 5
another slide? That's the last one. Sorry for my 6
time management. I went over.
7 PARTICIPANT: No, it's completely our 8
fault.
9 CHAIR HARRINGTON: And this was -- the 10 point of today is yeah, yeah, to cover all of this 11 information, and I think it's been very helpful. Many 12 of us are new on the committee since a detailed 13 presentation from GE on this design, so that was 14 getting us all kind of up to the same point was really 15 the intent today --
16 MR. HINDS: Thank you.
17 CHAIR HARRINGTON: -- and we very much 18 appreciate that. Are there other questions?
19 MEMBER HALNON: Real briefly, from a 20 multi-reactor site perspective, have you envisioned 21 what systems would be shared and economies of scale?
22 How would that look?
23 MR. HINDS: The current design as 24 developed -- that's a very good question. You know, 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
129 of course, things could change with time, but the 1
current concept is these, this standard plan is 2
standalone, so it doesn't matter if it's single unit 3
or multi-unit.
4 Where the sharing is primarily implemented 5
to be design site specific is when you get into 6
support functions around the power block structures.
7 So, the current approach is to make the power block 8
stand alone, and then as desired by individual 9
customers, optimize sharing of administration --
10 (Simultaneous speaking.)
11 MR. HINDS: -- security administration, 12 security, even, you know, replenishment or makeup, you 13 know, fire protection.
14 MEMBER HALNON:
What about diesel 15 generators? Do you think that -- is that --
16 MR. HINDS: Currently not shared. That's 17 an excellent question, but currently there are two 18 diesel generators as part of this standard design 19 dedicated to that unit. That was a very reasonable 20 question.
21 MEMBER HALNON: Is it designed to be an 22 energy island to where it could be disconnected from 23 the grid?
24 MR. HINDS: That would be a site-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
130 customization. The standard design is neutral on 1
that. Now, I will say a little bit to the point you 2
were alluding to. The standard design is not, does 3
not have the 100-percent bypass capability of steam 4
bypass to the condenser.
5 Therefore, if there's a load reject from 6
100-percent power, the standard design has a reactor 7
scram because there's, you know, the load reject. We 8
have, within our experience base, certainly the 9
capability to introduce a higher bypass capacity, but 10 the current standard design does not have 100-percent 11 bypass.
12 MEMBER HALNON: It's not a black start, is 13 it?
14 MR. HINDS: Not part of the --
15 (Simultaneous speaking.)
16 MEMBER HALNON: Not the diesel generators, 17 I mean.
18 MR. HINDS: Not part of the standard 19 design. We would need a power source to power 20 features such as condenser cooling water or 21 circulating water.
22 The diesel generators back with the 23 standard design are sized to back functions such as 24 fuel pool cooling, shutdown cooling, but more nuclear-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
131 specific functions, from a defense-in-depth, and 1
restoration of battery chargers and recharge your 2
batteries.
3 This is all sized for that, but not sized 4
large enough to power and configure it in the bus work 5
to power the circulating condenser cooling water or 6
cooling towards, for example, so additional power 7
would be needed for, you know, for example, cooling 8
tower loads.
9 MEMBER HALNON: Last question, extreme 10 temperatures, how does it look for very hot and very 11 cold?
12 MR. HINDS: I can't recall the TVA PSAR 13 temperature extreme limit, but we do have quite a 14 range of temperatures from cold, very cold to very 15 hot, you know.
16 MEMBER HALNON: I mean, you're putting it 17 in Canada, so.
18 MR. HINDS: Yes, you know, working in a 19 snowbound territory.
20 MEMBER HALNON: Just so you know more 21 about the cold, I mean --
22 MR. HINDS: Yeah.
23 MEMBER HALNON: -- they have a pod.
24 MR. HINDS: Yes, we do have consideration 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
132 for adjustments primarily within the HVAC system on a 1
site-specific basis because it doesn't make great 2
sense to have all of the HVAC sizing completely 3
standard, so there is allowance for site-specific 4
adaptation to, you know, resizing of some of the HVAC 5
components. Their structures are built to accommodate 6
that.
7 MEMBER HALNON: Thanks.
8 MEMBER MARTIN: I'll just follow that up.
9 See, you do have a specific design. These guys have 10 a specific design in mind. Are you all just looking 11 to deploy the standard plant or have you asked for 12 anything unique that might touch on some of the things 13 Greg said?
14 MR. HUNNEWELL: So, we have not started 15 the site-specific design. We have considered things 16 such as islanding and black start capabilities, and 17 that would be really driven by if there was a need.
18 For example, we're adjacent to the Oak Ridge facility.
19 If Oak Ridge came along and said, hey, we 20 want you to be part of our resilient power supply and 21 you need to have black start capability, that's when 22 we would likely look at that, because it does add 23 costs and we are very cost conscious on it.
24 MEMBER MARTIN: Yeah, I know, of course, 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
133 Clinch River has been thought of in the sense of 1
supporting Oak Ridge for a long time specifically, so 2
you can see them having unique needs.
3 MEMBER HALNON: Yeah, and you've also got 4
Hermes up there too.
5 MEMBER MARTIN: And then you have Hermes, 6
so, yeah, a little competition for small things there, 7
huh?
8 MR. HUNNEWELL: Very small.
9 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Other questions? Do 10 any ACRS members or consultants online have questions?
11 MEMBER KIRCHNER: Yes, I have one, Craig.
12 This is Walt Kirchner.
Thank you for the 13 presentation, everyone. Just, it was mentioned that 14 when the containment, when the isolation condenser 15 system is operated, that would probably lead to 16 boiling.
17 Would the normal configuration be to close 18 the reactor building, isolate that as well, and would 19 that then contribute to a very wet atmosphere inside 20 the building in terms of the equipment qualification, 21 et cetera?
22 MR. HINDS: For the isolation condenser 23 system, as I mentioned, there's a roof, if you will, 24 or there's a slab up above the isolation condenser 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
134 pools.
1 MEMBER KIRCHNER: Right.
2 MR. HINDS: And that slab serves as, you 3
know, a top for the pools, and there is a vapor space 4
between the top of the pool surface and the slab.
5 That vapor space is vented outside. So, there is a --
6 MEMBER KIRCHNER: That's vented outside, 7
okay.
8 MR. HINDS: Yes.
9 MEMBER KIRCHNER: Can you isolate that if 10 necessary?
11 MR. HINDS: It's --
12 MEMBER KIRCHNER: Or you would isolate a 13 condenser, one of the three trains if you, for 14 whatever reason, detected a release?
15 MR. HINDS: Yes, the latter, what you just 16 said, in that --
17 MEMBER KIRCHNER: Okay, okay.
18 MR. HINDS: -- we do not isolate them. We 19 do not isolate the vent because that would basically 20 plug up the, you know, basically tend to pressurize 21 the pool vapor area --
22 MEMBER KIRCHNER: Sure.
23 MR. HINDS: -- but we do have the leak 24 detection and isolation for, if there was a leak 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
135 within a train, to isolate that train and that train 1
only.
2 MEMBER KIRCHNER: Okay, thank you.
3 CHAIR HARRINGTON: I noticed in the PSAR 4
that it mentions that you are not distinguishing 5
between identified and unidentified leakage? I don't 6
know. I'm a PWR guy. I don't know if that's 7
typically in a BWR or is new here. Can you speak to 8
that?
9 MR. HINDS: So, on past BWRs, say current 10 forced circulation BWRs, for example, like Browns 11 Ferry, for example, there is reactor recirculation 12 pumps. They took the green, what is it, green side 13 there, you know, so that's a forced circulation plant, 14 reactor recirculation pumps. Those recirculation 15 pumps have a designed seal leak-off. That designed 16 seal leak-off is routed to an equipment train tank 17 within that design.
18 It's planned to have flow there, and 19 because there's planned flow, then there is the 20 segregation for things that were to leak in the 21 containment, so you could segregate the two. In this 22 plant, we do not have design leak-offs such as that 23 within the containment.
24 So, anything that were to be, call them 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
136 present coolant, collect in the sump, it would be from 1
something that's not planned. It would be a leaking 2
component, for example, so that's the unidentified 3
leakage.
4 So, because there was no designed leak-5 off, we did not include the equipment trains. They're 6
all just unidentified and collected in a common sump.
7 CHAIR HARRINGTON: And not a lot of other 8
water sources in containment that would be confused 9
without any --
10 MR. HINDS: No, it's --
11 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Okay.
12 MR. HINDS: There are coolers within 13 containment, but we also collect the condensate from 14 the coolers, which would be indicative. If there's 15 condensate in the dry containment, then it must have 16 been some vapor coming out of some component, for 17 example.
18 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Okay, all right, that 19 all makes sense. Thanks. Any other last questions?
20 Okay, well, we very much appreciate your time today to 21 prepare and come. As we -- in the coming months, 22 we'll be starting our review and trying to figure out 23 how to focus that. I mean, this session today is very 24 helpful.
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
137 MEMBER HALNON: Public comments?
1 MR. HINDS: Yeah, we do have to do that, 2
appreciate that. So, anything else before we go out 3
for public comments?
4 MR. NGUYEN: Yes, I was going to say 5
public comments.
6 CHAIR HARRINGTON: Okay, if there is 7
anyone online in public that has a comment to make 8
yourself, then do so. Identify yourself and your, any 9
organizational affiliation, and make your comment.
10 I don't see any indication of any public 11 comments, so I think, with that, we can adjourn the 12 meeting. Thank you again very much for coming today.
13 With that, the meeting is adjourned.
14 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter went 15 off the record at 11:46 a.m.)
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
TVA Clinch River Nuclear Project Construction Permit Application -
Application Overview Ray Schiele Senior Licensing Manager
Topics
Introductions
TVA Mission and the Role of New Reactors Pathway from Early Site Permit to Construction Permit Application Structure/Content of the Construction Permit Application Questions 2
TVA Mission and the Role of New Reactors B U I L T F O R T H E P E O P L E O F T H E V A L L E Y 3
I N N O V A T I N G F O R T H E P E O P L E O F T H E V A L L E Y Since its inception, TVA has innovated to meet the needs of the Valley.
1 9 3 3 T V A A C T S I G N E D 1 9 4 0 s H Y D R O 1 9 5 0 s F O S S I L 1 9 6 0 s N U C L E A R 1 9 7 0 s P U M P E D S T O R A G E &
G A S 2020+
T V A S E N E R G Y F U T U R E E N E R G Y Electricity at the lowest feasible rate and highest feasible reliability E N V I R O N M E N T Stewardship of the natural resources for best use by the public E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T To attract and retain good jobs and capital investment in the Valley Today and in the future, the Valley needs affordable, reliable, resilient, and secure energy to lead the nation in energy innovation and economic development.
TVAs Clinch River Nuclear Site Department of Energy Oak Ridge Reservation The CRN Site is located on 935-acres of TVA land in Oak Ridge, Roane County, Tennessee adjacent to US Department of Energy Oak Ridge Reservation.
CRN Site 4
5 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 ESP Issued SMR Technology Evaluation CPA Scoping CPA Development CPA Submittal Annotated Outlines:
- NUREG 0800 Environmental Report
- Select GVH BWRX-300 Technology
- Development of Regulatory Framework Documents
- Develop an Environmental Report for CRN-1
- Develop 10 CFR 50 Construction Permit Application
- Part 1 ER 4/2025
- Part 2 PSAR 5/2025 CPA Acceptance Review
- ER 6/12/2025
- ER 7/14/2025
- PSAR 7/14/2025
- Topical Report for NQA-1 CRN 1 Program
- Exemption Request 2.101(a)(5)
- Exemption Request Excavation
- LCOE
- Supply Chain Constraints
- Advanced Manufacturing
- Seismic Considerations
- Modular Construction
Construction Permit Application Content (CPA) 6 Content of TVA CRN-1 CPA - General and Administrative Information 10 CFR 50.33 Contents of applications; general information - Preliminary Safety Analysis Report [Non-Public]
10 CFR 50.34(a) Contents of applications; technical information.
NUREG 0800 Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants: (LWR Edition)
Reg Guide 1.70 Standard Format and Content of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants (LWR Edition) - Preliminary Safety Analysis Report [Public] - Exemptions and Variances 10 CFR 50.12 Specific exemptions 10 CFR 52.39 Finality of early site permit determinations - Environmental Report 10 CFR 51.50 Environmental report-construction permit, early site permit, or combined license stage NUREG 1555 Standard Review Plans for Environmental Reviews for Nuclear Power Plants Reg Guide 4.2 Preparation Of Environmental Reports For Nuclear Power Stations Application Content
>4000 pages
7
- Field surveys of the entirety of the CRN Site were conducted for nine resources from 2021-2024.
CRN-1 Disturbance Area Barge Unloading Facility 7
PSAR Chapter 1 Introduction and General Plant Description
8 PSAR Chapter 2 - Site Characteristics and Site Parameters Dispositions ESP-006 Permit Conditions and COL Action Items Updated CRN Site Characteristics and Parameters Aspects of CRN ESPA Site Safety Analysis Report Incorporated by Reference PSAR Table 1.8-1 provides a cross reference of Site Safety Analysis Report information that is incorporated by reference into this PSAR:
2.0 Plant Parameter Envelope Evaluation 2.1 Geography and Demography 2.2 Nearby Industrial, Transportation and Military Facilities 2.3 Meteorology 2.4 Hydrologic Engineering 2.5 Geology, Seismology, and Geotechnical Engineering 13.3 Emergency Preparedness 13.6 Physical Security
9 CRN-1 Site Plan Confirmatory Core Bores
Chapter 3-Design of Structures, Systems, and Components 10 BWRX-300 Design Feature Safety Strategy LTR in Review (Section 3.2)
DPSC LTR Rev 3 in Review (Section 3.8)
11 BWRX-300 Design Feature
Natural Circulation BWR Increased RPV height
Tall chimney Reactor Isolation Valves Flow Stability LTR In Review Reactor Isolation Valves Chapter 4 - Reactor & Chapter 5 - Reactor Coolant System and Connected Systems
12 Chapter 6 - Engineered Safety Features
Chapter 7 -
Instrumentation and Controls 13
14 Chapter 8 - Electric Power Chapter 8 Contents Includes:
Offsite and Onsite Power Systems Uninterruptable Power Supply BWRX-300 Design Feature The BWRX-300 does not require AC power to reach a safe, stable shutdown following an Anticipated Operational Occurrence or a Design Basis Accident Stored energy via batteries is provided:
1.
Ensure that all functions that maintain the plant in a safe condition are available 2.
Monitoring equipment can be powered for at least 72 hours8.333333e-4 days <br />0.02 hours <br />1.190476e-4 weeks <br />2.7396e-5 months <br /> following a Design Basis Accident.
15 Chapter 9-Auxiliary Systems BWRX-300 Design Feature
Multiple credited Ultimate Heat Sinks
BWRX-300 water is strategically located during operations in SC1 pools to last for 7 days until FLEX/EME replenishment
16 Chapter Contents Includes:
Turbine Generator Main Steam System Additional Steam and Power Conversion Systems Chapter 10 -
Steam and Power Conversion System
Chapter 11 - Radioactive Waste Management 17 Chapter Contents Includes:
Source Terms Liquid Waste Management System Gaseous Waste Management System Solid Waste Management System Process Radiation Monitoring Chapter 12 -Radiation Protection Chapter Contents Includes:
Occupational Radiation Exposure ALARA Radiation Sources Radiation Protection Design Features Dose Assessment Health Physics Program Chapter 14 - Initial Test Program Chapter Contents Includes:
Scope of Initial Test Program Design Features that are Specific, Unique or First of a Kind Conformance of Test Programs with Regulatory Guides Test Program Schedule Augmenting Staff During Test Program Chapter Contents Includes:
Organizational Structure Training Emergency Preparedness Operational Programs Plant Procedures Physical Security Fitness for Duty Chapter 13 -
Conduct of Operations
Chapter 15 -
Safety Analyses 18 Chapter Contents Includes:
Considerations of the BWRX-300 Safety Analysis Identification, Categorization and Grouping of Postulated Initiating Events and Accident Scenarios Safety Objectives and Acceptance Criteria Human actions Deterministic Safety Analyses Probabilistic Safety Assessment Results of Deterministic Safety Analyses and Probabilistic Safety Assessment BWRX-300 Design Feature Re-characterization of Safety Related/Non-Safety Related to the Safety Class 1, 2, 3, N structure Chapter 16 -
Technical Specifications Chapter Contents Includes:
Preliminary Safety Analysis Report Requirements Regulatory Guidance for Preliminary Technical Specification Contents Conformance with Industry Standards and Practices Methodology for Selection of Preliminary Technical Specification Contents Results of Selection Methodology Application
19 Variances
CRN ESP VAR 2.0-1 Site Grade Level
CRN ESP VAR 2.0-2 Ground Water Level
CRN ESP VAR 2.0-3 Single Unit Thermal Megawatts
CRN ESP VAR 2.1-1 2020 Census Data
CRN ESP VAR 2.2-1 Nearby Industrial, Transportation and Military Facilities
CRN ESP VAR 2.4.12-1 Groundwater Level Models
CRN ESP VAR 2.4.12-1 C-1Groundwater Vistas Version 8.19 Build 4 - Exemptions and Variances Exemptions
Reactor Vessel Material Surveillance Program Chapter 17 - Quality Assurance Chapter Contents Includes:
Quality Assurance During Design and Construction Phases Design Reliability Assurance Program Quality Assurance Program Description-New Reactor Applicants Topical Report - NNP-TR-001-NP Quality Assurance Program Description for TVA New Nuclear incorporated by reference.
Final Safety Evaluation contains Limitations and Conditions (PSAIs) and are disposition in Chapter 17.5
Questions/Comments/Actions 20
21
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BWRX-300 DESIGN
2 Outline BWRX-300 Design Overview Unique design features for:
Reactor Isolation Valves (RIVs)
Isolation Condenser System (ICS)
Passive Containment Cooling System (PCCS)
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GE is a trademark of General Electric Company and is used under trademark license.
3 Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) Innovation BWR concept developed in the 1950s Continuous evolution in the design Main changes related to:
Steam cycle Recirculation flow Nuclear fuel Containment
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4 BWRX-300 Design Overview Size
~300 MWe gross electrical output RPV inner diameter ~ 4 meters RPV height ~ 27 meters 240 bundles of GNF2 fuel 57 control rods Passive Design Safety Category 1 functions are not dependent on AC generated sources of power nor operator action to control reactivity, remove heat from the fuel, and confine radioactive material for 72 hours8.333333e-4 days <br />0.02 hours <br />1.190476e-4 weeks <br />2.7396e-5 months <br /> following a design basis accident Select Key Features Natural circulation BWR with increased height relative to a forced circulation BWR RPV contains tall chimney, nozzles are well above Top of Active Fuel (TAF), and RIVs are attached directly to RPV Dry, nitrogen inerted containment, which is cooled passively Steel-Plate Composite Containment Vessel (SCCV)
Emergency Cooling System is made up of ICS and RIVs Overpressure protection is provided via ICS and reactor scram function
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Defense In Depth Built Into The Design From The Start 5
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(DLs)
6 NRC Approved Licensing Topical Reports (LTRs) for BWRX-300 NEDC-33910P-A, BWRX-300 RPV Isolation and Overpressure Protection (NRC Final Safety Evaluation Report (SER) Issued 11/18/2020)
Describes design requirements, acceptance criteria, and regulatory basis for RPV isolation and overpressure protection design functions for mitigation of loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCAs) and RPV overpressure events. LTR established ECCS for BWRX-300 as ICS and RIVs, and established overpressure protection to be made up of reactor scram and ICS functions. This allowed for the elimination of an automatic depressurization system, suppression pool, additional water inventory source, relief valves, and safety valves.
NEDC-33911P-A, BWRX-300 Containment Performance (NRC Final SER Issued 3/12/2021)
Addresses physical design requirements for new dry, inerted containment design (including containment vessel, containment penetrations and PCCS), and acceptance criteria requirements (design basis pressures and temperatures) for containment performance following the specified design basis accidents.
NEDC-33912P-A, BWRX-300 Reactivity Control (NRC Final SER Issued 1/12/2021)
Describes design requirements, acceptance criteria, and regulatory basis for reactivity control functions for shutting down the reactor following anticipated operational occurrences and design basis accidents. Allows removal of safety-related standby liquid control system from design, as one is not needed to comply with NRC Anticipated Transient Without Scram (ATWS) regulations.
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GE is a trademark of General Electric Company and is used under trademark license.
7 NRC Approved LTRs for BWRX-300 NEDC-33922P-A, BWRX-300 Containment Evaluation Method (NRC Final SER Issued 4/27/2022)
Addresses development of and qualification of analytical methods for determining containment response (calculated containment pressures and temperatures over time) after a design basis accident for comparison with acceptance criteria of NEDC-33911P-A.
NEDO-33914-A, BWRX-300 Advanced Civil Construction and Design Approach (NRC Final SER Issued 4/27/2022)
Describes regulatory basis, analytical methods, design and inspection requirements, acceptance criteria and guidelines specific to the innovative approaches implemented for design and construction of the BWRX-300 Reactor Building vertical shaft design.
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Applicable Limitations and Conditions (L&Cs) from previously approved LTRs are addressed in TVA PSAR
8 BWRX-300 LTRs Currently Under NRC Review NEDC-33926P, BWRX-300 Steel-Plate Composite Containment Vessel (SCCV) and Reactor Building (RB) Structural Design (Initially Submitted to NRC 5/4/2023)
Seeks NRC approval for (1) The design approach and methodology of Diaphragm Plate Steel-Plate Composite (DP-SC) structural elements for the Seismic Category I SCCV and RB structures, (2) Requirements for the material, fabrication, construction, inspection, examination and testing of the DP-SC modules for the SCCV and RB structures, (3) Proposed criteria and requirements for materials, design, fabrication, construction, inspection, examination, and testing for the SCCV adapted from specific Section III requirements, and (4) Modified criteria and requirements for material, design, analysis, fabrication, construction, inspection, examination, and testing of non-containment Seismic Category I structural members, including slabs and curved walls, built using DP-SC modules
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9 BWRX-300 LTRs Currently Under NRC Review NEDC-33934P, BWRX-300 Safety Strategy (Initially Submitted to NRC 3/8/2024)
The BWRX-300 Safety Strategy applies a Defense-in-Depth design approach to achieve an internationally deployable design with an inherent high level of safety. NEDC-33934P describes the use of DL functions to mitigate design basis and beyond design basis events, and the resulting Structures, Systems, and Components (SSC) classification and seismic categorization.
NEDC-33934P, Rev. 1, seeks the following NRC approvals:
(1) BWRX-300 Safety Class 1 (SC1) SSCs are equivalent to the safety-related SSCs definition in 10 CFR 50.2 (2) The LTR identifies the correct set of SSCs that are applicable to GDCs involving important to safety or protection system (3) Safety Strategy event categorization process is acceptable (4) The LTR identifies the correct set of SSCs that are applicable to Technical Specifications Limiting Conditions for Operation Criteria (5) Identification of Regulatory Treatment of Non-Safety Systems (RTNSS) SSCs is not necessary, as the Safety Strategy already classifies such SSCs as Safety Class 3 (SC3) or higher.
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10 BWRX-300 LTRs Currently Under NRC Review NEDC-34270P, BWRX-300 Stability Analysis (Initially Submitted to NRC 3/31/2025)
The BWRX-300 Stability Analysis LTR supports an applicant fulfilling L&C 5.3 from NEDC-33912P-A, BWRX-300 Reactivity Control, thereby conforming to NUREG-0800 Standard Review Plan (SRP) 15.9, Boiling Water Reactor Stability, and demonstrating compliance to the acceptance criteria provided therein. NEDC-34270P requests NRC approval of the BWRX-300 stability analysis, which utilizes implicit numerical integration for channel components and a nominal core wide Decay Ratio acceptance criterion of 0.80.
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Design concepts for LTRs currently under NRC review are not expanded in this presentation, since these LTRs will get their own ACRS meeting, if required.
11 Unique Design Features Because GVH has utilized LTRs extensively for new or unique design features, ACRS has previously reviewed associated BWRX-300 design phenomena However, its been several years since ACRS has seen some of these LTRs Presentation will focus on the following design features:
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Natural Circulation - Background & Overview
- Proven effective operating power reactor technology
- EBWR (20100 MWt), Chicago
- Dodewaard reactor (163 MWt), Netherlands
- Humbolt Bay 3 (215 MWt), California
- Operating BWR data gathered from Stability tests under Natural Circulation and from Recirc Pump trip events benchmarks flow at higher power (> 1000 MWt)
- Chimney two phase flow testing conducted
- Startup characteristics testing performed
- TRACG code qualification includes above data - predicts natural circulation flow well at power when flows are much higher and at decay heat powers when flows are very low.
- Core power density/size and RPV configuration to support natural circulation flow are designed to ensure thermohydraulic stability
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12
BWRX-300 Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) and Internals Proven Components with Operational Experience RPV same material and fabrication processes as ABWR and much of the operating BWR fleet RPV diameter and fuel assembly arrangement similar to Kernkraftwerk Mühleberg (KKM)
Partitionless Chimney drives core flow.
Steam Dryer has same features as ABWR and replacement dryers in operating BWRs Steam Separator is same as in BWR/6s and ABWR GNF2 Fuel is widely used Control Rods essentially same technology used in operating BWRs Fine Motion Control Rod Drives (FMCRDs) essentially same as ABWR
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13
BWRX-300 Fine Motion Control Rod Drives (FMCRD)
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GE is a trademark of General Electric Company and is used under trademark license.
14 BWRX-300 Simplified View of FMCRD with Hydraulic Scram Positive insertion means of controlling reactivity include:
Hydraulic scram control rod insertion function using the hydraulic control units and control rods Motor-driven control rod run-in insertion function using the FMCRDs and control rods
Reactor Core Monitoring Instrumentation Local Power Range Monitors (LPRMs) and Wide Range Neutron Monitors (WRNMs) are distributed across the core to measure neutron flux Each LPRM detector provide neutron monitoring sensitivity from
~10% core thermal power to greater than 100% reactor thermal power Each WRNM detector is sensitive to neutrons from below criticality to power operation Fixed, in-core Gamma Thermometers (GTs) convert local gamma flux to an electrical signal, providing a diverse means of detecting core thermal power GTs are used for neutron instrument calibration Fixed, in-core GTs were also used in ESBWR
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15
16 Reactor Isolation Valves (RIVs)
- All large RPV penetrations have two integral RIVs (excludes instrumentation lines)
- Valves are installed directly on the RPV nozzles via flanged connections
- Design consists of two valves in a single body
- RIVs are part of the reactor coolant pressure boundary and are ASME Class 1 components
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17 Reactor Isolation Valves (RIVs)
- RIVs effectively mitigate large pipe breaks
- Coolant loss is limited by one of two RIV closure for large breaks
- RIVs are also part of the containment isolation function (i.e., are the containment isolation valve inside containment)
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18 Isolation Condenser System (ICS)
S E V E N D AY S C O P I N G T I M E Isolation Condenser System (three trains) provides heat removal/pressure control Mild transient response due to large steam volume in RPV No need for safety relief valves - ICS along with scram function provides overpressure protection Only one Isolation Condenser (IC) train required to respond to the transient.
Seven-day coping time for station blackout and with passive system response to transients and design basis accidents Simple actions of adding water using installed systems or FLEX after seven days to increase time indefinitely
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19 Isolation Condenser System (ICS) Functions ICS along with RIVs perform ECCS function since inventory is being retained and decay heat is being removed ICS in conjunction with reactor scram provides reactor pressure boundary overpressure protection when system is isolated ICS provides isolation capability to maintain Primary Containment integrity ICS returns condensate to the chimney in the RPV ICS provides heat removal in all modes when the RPV head is in place ICS mitigates pressurization transients, provides decay heat removal for isolation events, and provides pressure reduction in LOCA events to limit coolant loss
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BWR Containment Design Evolution BWRX-300 has a dry containment like the earliest BWRs Simpler Smaller Faster to Build Less Expensive
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20
21 Passive Containment Cooling System (PCCS)
During normal operation heat is removed from the containment by active cooling Following an accident, PCCS provides containment heat removal using passive natural circulation flow Heat is also removed from Containment naturally through the containment head PCCS is always in service unless portions are manually isolated (i.e., no active components or actuation signals required to initiate or maintain function)
Equipment pool provides the cooling source for the PCCS heat exchangers Three independent trains each with a Passive Containment Cooling Pipe Array (PCCPA)
Mounted to interior of Primary Containment wall Piping to and from the Equipment Pool
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GE is a trademark of General Electric Company and is used under trademark license.
© 2025 GE Vernova and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
GE is a trademark of General Electric Company and is used under trademark license.
- 1. Summary Meeting title: Clinch River CPA - Overview Attended participants: 98 Start time: 8/20/25, 7:26:52 AM End time: 8/20/25, 1:35:51 PM Meeting duration: 6h 8m 59s Average attendance time: 2h 20m 33s
- 2. Participants Name Quynh Nguyen Allen Fetter Ricky Vivanco Stacy Joseph Thomas Dashiell William Roggenbrodt Ravi Penmetsa Elias Haddad India Banks Shandeth Walton Thomas Scarbrough Steven Bloom John Honcharik Derek Widmayer Theresa Buchanan John Parillo Angie Buford Joshua Miller Alexandra Terres Walt Kirchner Stewart Bailey Allegra Chilstrom Khadijah West Shanlai Lu 13014153220 Dan Widrevitz Michele Sampson Steve Sarver Stephen Cumblidge Matthew Mitchell Luissette Candelario-Quintana Marissa Bailey 17035177420 (Unverified)
Karkour, Suzanne (GE Vernova)
Matthew Humberstone Michael Benson Jan Mazza
Mike Gallagher (Unverified)
Lentz, Tony Fraley Roberts Banks, Kelli (GE Vernova)
Jackson, Tony Petrarca, Dennis Allen Syed Haider George Thomas Tammy Skov Keith Miller Gregory Halnon Adakou Foli Flynn, Martin (GE Vernova)
Hinojosa, Luis (GE Vernova)
Montague, Kelvin Jevon Moorrees, Michele Yvette Vesna Dimitrijevic Dominik Muszynski (Unverified)
Ryan Nolan Gordon Curran Wadkins, George (GE Vernova)
Spencer Toohill (Unverified)
Casey Emler Jason Thompson Fanta Sacko Robert Martin Dave Gasperson Lauren Gibson dennis bley (Unverified)
Janet Riner Andrea Torres Stephen P O'Hearn (Services - 6)
Harrison Ngo Kazanas, Marc T (GE Vernova)
Steven Pope Jonathan DeJesus Spencer Toohill (Unverified)
Carol Moyer Christina Antonescu Hosung Ahn Christopher Brown Joseph Staudenmeier Raul Hernandez Karen Sida Mary H Miller (Services - 6)
Jordan Glisan Michael Snodderly Wendell Morton Sandra Walker Matthew Yoder
Tuccillo, Karen [DEP]
Roberto Torres Davis Hossein Nourbakhsh Edward Stutzcage Dennis Bley Cory Padilla Spencer Toohill (Unverified)
Weidong Wang Yoshinori TAKECHI_NRA Japan (Unverified)
Getachew Tesfaye Madeleine Arel John Bozga
- 3. In-Meeting Activities Name Quynh Nguyen Allen Fetter Ricky Vivanco Stacy Joseph Thomas Dashiell William Roggenbrodt William Roggenbrodt Ravi Penmetsa Ravi Penmetsa Elias Haddad Elias Haddad India Banks Shandeth Walton Thomas Scarbrough Steven Bloom John Honcharik Derek Widmayer Theresa Buchanan Theresa Buchanan John Parillo Angie Buford Angie Buford Joshua Miller Alexandra Terres Alexandra Terres Alexandra Terres Alexandra Terres Walt Kirchner Walt Kirchner Stewart Bailey Stewart Bailey Stewart Bailey Allegra Chilstrom Khadijah West
Shanlai Lu Shanlai Lu 13014153220 Dan Widrevitz Michele Sampson Steve Sarver Steve Sarver Stephen Cumblidge Matthew Mitchell Luissette Candelario-Quintana Marissa Bailey 17035177420 (Unverified)
Karkour, Suzanne (GE Vernova)
Matthew Humberstone Matthew Humberstone Michael Benson Jan Mazza Mike Gallagher (Unverified)
Lentz, Tony Fraley Roberts Banks, Kelli (GE Vernova)
Jackson, Tony Petrarca, Dennis Allen Syed Haider George Thomas Tammy Skov Keith Miller Keith Miller Keith Miller Gregory Halnon Adakou Foli Flynn, Martin (GE Vernova)
Hinojosa, Luis (GE Vernova)
Montague, Kelvin Jevon Moorrees, Michele Yvette Moorrees, Michele Yvette Vesna Dimitrijevic Dominik Muszynski (Unverified)
Ryan Nolan Gordon Curran Wadkins, George (GE Vernova)
Spencer Toohill (Unverified)
Casey Emler Jason Thompson Fanta Sacko Robert Martin Dave Gasperson Dave Gasperson Lauren Gibson Lauren Gibson
Lauren Gibson dennis bley (Unverified)
Janet Riner Andrea Torres Stephen P O'Hearn (Services - 6)
Harrison Ngo Kazanas, Marc T (GE Vernova)
Steven Pope Jonathan DeJesus Spencer Toohill (Unverified)
Spencer Toohill (Unverified)
Spencer Toohill (Unverified)
Carol Moyer Christina Antonescu Hosung Ahn Hosung Ahn Hosung Ahn Hosung Ahn Christopher Brown Joseph Staudenmeier Raul Hernandez Karen Sida Mary H Miller (Services - 6)
Jordan Glisan Michael Snodderly Wendell Morton Sandra Walker Matthew Yoder Tuccillo, Karen [DEP]
Tuccillo, Karen [DEP]
Roberto Torres Davis Roberto Torres Davis Hossein Nourbakhsh Edward Stutzcage Edward Stutzcage Dennis Bley Cory Padilla Spencer Toohill (Unverified)
Weidong Wang Yoshinori TAKECHI_NRA Japan (Unverified)
Getachew Tesfaye Madeleine Arel John Bozga Getachew Tesfaye NRR Mahmoud Jardaneh NRR Ray Schiele TVA David Hinds GE Verona Scott Hunnewll TVA Brian McDermott TVA
Kelli Banks GVH Stacy Joseph NRR Allen Fetter NRR