ML23199A259

Summary of July 11, 2023, Public Meeting with Nuclear Energy Institute and Industry to Discuss Risk-Informed Process for Evaluations (RIPE) Guidance Updates from the First RIPE Review

ML23199A259
Person / Time
Issue date:	07/24/2023
From:	Siva Lingam NRC/NRR/DORL/LPL4
To:	Jennifer Dixon-Herrity NRC/NRR/DORL/LPL4
Shared Package
ML23199A260	List: ML23199A259
References
Download: ML23199A259 (1)

Text

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Public Meeting Summary

July 24, 2023

Title:

Public Meeting to Discuss U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Observations from its First Risk-Informed Process for Evaluations (RIPE) Review and Nuclear Energy Institute Comments on RIPE

Meeting Identifier: 20230772

Date of Meeting: 07/11/2023

Location: Webinar

Type of Meeting: Comment-Gathering

Purpose of the Meeting: The purpose of this meeting between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff, and representatives fr om the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and industry was to discuss RIPE guidance updates based on the observations from the first RIPE review, and NEIs letter dated April 19, 2023, recommending adjustments to the RIPE risk thresholds (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML23163A048).

General Details: The meeting was a virtual meeting conducted via Microsoft Teams platform.

The meeting started at 11:30 AM (eastern time (ET)) and concluded at 12:30 PM ET. There were 34 NRC staff, and 20 external participants, representing Certrec, Constellation, Breakthrough Institute, Curtis Wright, Dominion Energy (Services - 6), Entergy, Information Systems Laboratories, MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology] Nuclear Reactor Laboratory, NEI, NextEra, South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company, Southern Nuclear, and Tennessee Valley Authority that attended the meeting. In addition, there were members of the public present at the meeting that had the opportunity to ask questions or make comments; however, no comments were received. No facilitator was used to conduct the meeting. A list of attendees is provided below.

Summary of Presentations:

Antonios Zoulis, Chief, Division of Risk Assessment, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, presented information, which included the following:

Benefits of RIPE.

Best practices and planned guidance updates based on the observations from the first RIPE review.

Emphasizing the importance of meeting the five principles of Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.174, An Approach for Using Probabilistic Risk Assessment in Risk-Informed Decisions on Plant-Specific Changes to the Licensing Basis, specifically addressing defense-in-depth, safety margin, and performance monitoring.

Feedback from NEI, Industry, and the public on these planned guidance updates for NRC consideration before finalizing the guidance documents.

Andrew Mauer and Victoria Anderson of NEI provided their presentation, which included the following:

Overview of the RIPE process.

Recommendation to increase the RIPE risk thresholds for core damage frequency and large early release frequency by five times as this would be one-half of the very small change acceptance guidelines given in RG 1.174.

Recommendation better meets the guidance from section 2.5, Comparison of Probabilistic Risk Assessment Results with the Acceptance Guidelines, of RG 1.174.

One of the NRC staff members suggested to NEI t hat it will be helpful if NEI can provide detailed justification for specifically increasing the risk threshold by five times.

Public Participation: Public members were present and had the opportunity to ask questions or make comments; however, no comments were received.

Action Items/Next Steps:

Based on the observations from the first RIPE review and considering feedback from this meeting to further enhance the RIPE process, the NRC staff will finalize revision of the RIPE guidance documents. Further, the NRC staff will re visit and look to further improve the RIPE guidance documents after completing four to five additional RIPE licensing reviews.

Additional Information:

Meeting notice and agenda - ML23184A008 NRC presentation slides - ML23192A010 NEI presentation slides - ML23191A016

Meeting

Participants:

LIST OF ATTENDEES FOR JUNE 11, 2023, COMMENT-GATHERING PUBLIC MEETING

Name Affiliation Steven Alferink NRC Laurel Bauer NRC Eric Benner NRC Eric Bowman NRC Norbert Carte NRC Gordon Curran NRC Vic Cusumano NRC Jennifer Dixon-Herrity NRC Julie Ezell NRC Billy Gleaves NRC

LIST OF ATTENDEES FOR JUNE 11, 2023, COMMENT-GATHERING PUBLIC MEETING

Name Affiliation Todd Hilsmeier NRC Luke Haeg NRC John Hughey NRC Nageswara Karipineni NRC Meena Khanna NRC Michelle Kichline NRC Daniel King NRC Andrea Kock NRC John Lehning NRC Ming Li NRC Siva Lingam NRC Tony Nakanishi NRC David Nold NRC Charley Peabody NRC Dave Roth NRC Derek Scully NRC Steve Smith NRC Richard Stattel NRC Gregory Suber NRC Nicholas Taylor NRC Hanry Wagage NRC Michael Waters NRC Brian Wittick NRC Antonios Zoulis NRC John Conly Certrec Roy Linthicum Constellation Charlyne Smith Breakthrough Institute Deanne Raleigh Curtis Wright Mary Miller Dominion Energy (Services - 6)

Brian Mount Dominion Energy (Services - 6)

Phil Couture Entergy Operations, Inc.

Steven Pope Information Systems Laboratories Emillo Ahuactzin-Garcia MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory Victoria Anderson NEI Andrew Mauer NEI Brett Titus NEI Steve Catron NextEra Jarrett Mack NextEra Kenneth Mack NextEra Maribel Valdez NextEra Drew Richards South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company Cheryl Gayheart Southern Nuclear Bradley Wicker Dolan Tennessee Valley Authority Jeremiah Gilbreath Unknown

Package: ML23199A260 Meeting Notice: ML23184A008 Meeting Slides: ML23192A010 (NRC) and ML23191A016 (NEI)

Meeting Summary: ML23199A259 OFFICE NRR/DORL/LPL4/PM* NRR/DORL/LPL4/LA* NRR/DRA/APOB/BC*

NAME SLingam PBlechman AZoulis DATE 7/17/2023 7/20/2023 7/21/2023 OFFICE NRR/DORL/LPL4/BC* NRR/DORL/LPL4/PM*

NAME JDixon-Herrity SLingam DATE 7/24/2023 7/24/2023