ML20161A040
| ML20161A040 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 06/05/2020 |
| From: | Shaun Anderson Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Antonios Zoulis NRC/NRR/DRA/APOB |
| Anderson S, NRR/EVS, 415-2039 | |
| References | |
| Download: ML20161A040 (4) | |
Text
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 June 5, 2020 MEMORANDUM TO: Antonios M. Zoulis, Branch Chief PRA Oversight Branch Division of Risk Assessment Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation FROM: Shaun M. Anderson, Co-Founder /RA/
EMBARK Venture Studio Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
SUBJECT:
SUMMARY
OF MAY 14, 2020, CATEGORY 2 PUBLIC MEETING ON THE RISK-INFORMED PROCESS FOR EXEMPTIONS (RIPE)
On May 14, 2020, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) held a Category 2 public meeting to have public engagement on the NRC staffs efforts to address Recommendation 5 (i.e., assess options for addressing low safety significant issues within the licensing basis) that was endorsed in the Low Safety Significant Issue Resolution (LSSIR) Recommendation memorandum dated February 5, 2020 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML19260G224). This meeting discussed an initiative by the NRCs EMBARK Venture Studio, in conjunction with experts within the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR), to develop RIPE, a risk-informed process to address exemptions for very low safety significant issues within the licensing basis. This meeting provided an opportunity for NRC staff, industry, and the public to discuss EMBARK Venture Studio's initiative and to explore its viability and usefulness, including whether it or portions of it can be used to address low safety significant issues through exemptions or other NRC approval processes.
The public meeting agenda included presentation slides and summaries by the NRC staff and the Nuclear Energy Institute (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML20135G754 and ML20118C253).
Summary of Discussions During the public meeting, the NRC staff discussed the proposed RIPE process and the boundaries for using the process. Specifically, the NRC staff discussed that use of the proposed process would be limited to the following criteria:
- Only plant specific non-compliance issues would be considered as part of the process at this time.
CONTACT: Shaun M. Anderson, NRR/EVS 301-415-2039
A. Zoulis - Licensees must have an approved Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 50.69 license amendment, which includes implementation of an integrated decision-making panel (IDP).
- Licensees must have an approved Technical Specification Task Force (TSTF) 505, Provide Risk-Informed Extended Completion Times - RITSTF Initiative 4b, license amendment, which demonstrated the acceptability of their probabilistic risk assessment (PRA).
- The exemption must be able to be fully characterized using the parts of the PRA that were determined to be acceptable by the NRC.
- Security and emergency preparedness issues are not currently within the scope of the process.
The NRC reinforced that the process does not eliminate NRC review, nor does it imply an immediate approval, rather its a streamlined approach to the level of review. Any immediate actions necessary for continued safe operations, repairs for continued power productions, and issues for which the safety impact cannot be directly assessed using PRA are not within the scope of the process.
Industry discussed and requested clarification regarding the process in general as outlined in their presentation (ADAMS Accession No. ML20135G754). However, most of the discussion was related to the two licensing criteria (TSTF-505 and 10 CFR 50.69) to use the process. Specifically, the number of plants that could use the RIPE process would be limited due to the associated number of 10 CFR 50.69 and TSTF-505 license amendment approvals and recommended that using TSTF-425, Relocate Surveillance Frequencies to Licensee Control would be more appropriate. During the presentation, the industry noted that TSTF-425 was adopted by many licensees and the PRA expectations were sufficiently rigorous to address the purpose of RIPE. In addition, Industry noted that TSTF-425 also includes an IDP. The NRC staff noted that they would further evaluate the use of TSTF-425 to determine if it meets the pedigree necessary for the process and indicated their openness to evaluate other methods or approaches to support disposition of these very low safety significant issues.
Overall the Industry was supportive of this initiative and appreciated the creative approach to focusing agency and licensee resources on matters of most safety significance. Further, the Industry stated that RIPE provides a path for licensees to focus limited resources on improving plant safety and reliability, rather than correcting potentially old design issues.
Members of the public were in attendance and the NRC did not receive public meeting feedback forms.
The NRC will take the feedback present during the meeting and will continue dialog on the process.
The enclosure provides the attendance list for this meeting.
Enclosure:
List of Attendees
- Via email OFFICE CF:EVS PM:DORL BC:DRA NAME SAnderson
- TReed
- AZoulis
- DATE 6/5/2020 6/8/2020 6/8/2020 LIST OF MEETING ATTENDEES RISK-INFORMED PROCESS FOR EXEMPTIONS (RIPE) PUBLIC MEETING March 14, 2020 Name Organization Name Organization Shaun Anderson NRC Anil Jukla Nextera Antonios Zoulis NRC Steve Catron FPL Tim Reed NRC Alyssa Gill Audrey Klett NRC Michael Walker TVA Michelle Kichline NRC Lareynie, Olivier ASN Mike Franovich NRC Tatsuro Kobayashi TEPCO Greg Bowman NRC Russell Thompson TVA Jonathan Evans NRC Lori Tkacyk Phil McKenna NRC James Andersen Kayla Gamin NRC Thomas Basso NEI Monika Coflin NRC Maggie Staiger NEI Caroline Carusone NRC James Slider NEI Luis Betancourt NRC Brad Dolan TVA Dan Frumkin NRC Tim Riti Eric Bowman NRC Ronald Gaston Entergy Bill Orders NRC Edwin Lyman UCS Shakur Walker NRC Steven Dolley Global Platts Molly Marsh NRC Cheryl Gayheart SouthernCo Robert Kresk NRC Mike OKeefe Candace de Messieres NRC Christopher Riedl TVA David Roth NRC Darani Reddick Joe Gillespie NRC David Gullott Exelon David Cullison NRC Jason Zorn Exelon Chris Douglas NRC Ryan Joyce SouthernCo Stacey Rosenberg NRC Gary DeMoss PSEG Mike Montecalvo NRC Eilish Matthews Ameren Omar Lopez NRC Jana Bergman Curtiss Wright Sunil Weerakkody NRC Joel Gebbie AEP John Hughey NRC Ogden Sawyer Framatome Mike Coppin NRC Garrett Snedeker Michael Smith NRC Tison Campbell NRC Alexis Nelson NRC Justin Hiller Ameren Kevin Hsueh NRC Victoria Anderson NEI Andrew Mauer NEI Dave Gullott Exelon Marty Murphy Xcel Enclosure