ML23083B369

M230330: Slides/Supporting Presentation Material - Staff Slides - Briefing on Nuclear Regulatory Research Program

ML23083B369
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Issue date:	03/30/2023
From:	NRC/OCM
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ML23067A027	List: ML23083B363 ML23083B364 ML23083B365 ML23083B366 ML23083B367 ML23083B368 ML23083B369 ML23083B944 ML23094A150
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M230330
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BRIEFING ON NUCLEAR REGULATORY RESEARCH PROGRAM Commission Meeting March 30, 2023 Cathy Haney Deputy Executive Director for Materials, Waste, Research, State, Tribal, Compliance, Administration, and Human Capital Programs Ray Furstenau Research Program Overview; Collaboration; Future Focused Research Mike Franovich NUCLEAR Research Contributions to Mission Success REGULATORY Fred Sock Cooperation with National Reactor Innovation Center RESEARCH under the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act PROGRAM Louise Lund Enhancing the Research Program Through Stakeholder Outreach Thomas Boyce Fuel Cycle Research Cooperation

3 Ray Furstenau Director Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research Be Ready for New Technologies

• World-class expertise 199 RES FTE

• Building capabilities to support our safety and security mission 67% RES staff with advanced degrees

• Striking a balance of in-house and external capabilities $42 M contract support

5 Partnering for Success

• Strong engagement with internal and >100 International external partners agreements

• International activities

• FIDES II and joint projects >10,000 Computer

• Robust international safety analysis code code users user groups Rod Bundle Heat CAMP Transfer Facility Ad va n ced Tes t Rea ct or

CSARP RAMP

Ph ot o c ou rt e s y of Id a h o Na t ion a l La b ora t ory

6 Fostering Readiness for New Technologies and Regulatory Innovation

• Future Focused Research (FFR) supports the 46 University R&D mission and RES capabilities grants (FY20-22)

• Mission-related R&D grants effectively engage universities 24 FFR projects

• Both programs are important for enabling the (FY20-23) safe use of advanced nuclear technologies Digital Twins FFR (FY20) Remote Operations FFR (FY21)

7 Mike Franovich Director Division of Risk Assessment Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Research Helps Us Make Better Decisions Upgrades

FLEX NFPA 805 improvements Analysis

2020 Derecho 9 Applying Expert RES Knowledge to Challenging Licensing Issues

• EPZ sizing is a key issue for SMRs

• Risk-informed, consequence-based solution

• Approval of first-of-a-kind EPZ sizing method

RIS K 10 Research is Foundational to Reliable Regulations

SOARCA Level 3 PRA Project SMR Licensing Regulatory Source Term RG 1.183 (Rev 1)

Collaborative Research

2005 202020102015 MELCOR & MACCS Code Development and Applications

Po st - 9/11 Security Studies

Post-Fukushima Studies License Renewal

-Spent Fuel Pools (NUREG-2161) AT F / H B U Non-LWR Readiness GEIS

-Containment Venting (NUREG-2206) 11 Frederick Sock Structural Engineer Division of Engineering Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act Spurs NRIC Collaboration

Organizational Structure

• Nuclear Energy Innovation Center (NRIC) established as an addendum under NEICA memorandum of understanding framework Goal

• Improving NRC s technical readiness for advanced nuclear reactor applications NRC Participation

• Two NRC staff on assignment with NRIC

• Advanced Construction Technology Initiative

• Exploring 3 technologies to build a smaller SMR version

13 Benefits of Collaboration Between NRIC and NRC Preser ving Regulatory Independence

• NRIC addenda consistent with NRC s role as an independent regulator Benefits to NRC

• Access and review new construction technologies

• Evaluating inspection and acceptance criteria

• Update NRC inspection procedures and manuals in support of staff readiness for future licensing activities

14 Vertical Shaft Construction Technology

Vertical Shaft Sinking Machine Conventional use of retaining walls (secant piles, etc.)

15 Use of Steel Bricks' in Construction

Steel Brick' as fabricated at shopSteel Brick' prototypes at Purdue from Caunton Engineering, to be filled with concrete for stress testing 16 Advanced Condition and Performance Monitoring & Digital Twin

Seismometers to monitor construction

17 Louise Lund Director Division of Engineering Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research Engaging Domestically and Globally

Technical Technical Access Leadership N e t wo r ks Timely Data

Government-to-C o m p l ex Government Technical Issues

Long-term E n ga g eRelationships Industry

19 Leveraging a Spectrum of Instruments

International Conferences Agreements and Symposia Interagency Contracts Codes and Agreements and Grants

Standards

Project-specific Agreements Public Memoranda of Meetings Bilateral Understanding Agreements

20 Partnering for Success

Four Stakeholder Decades Engagement of Global is Enhancing Our Leadership in Readiness Nondestructive Activities on Artificial Examination Built Intelligence on Engagement and Outreach

2121 Tom Boyce Branch Chief Materials and Structural Branch Division of Fuel Management Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards Informing Regulation of Storage and Transportation

Applications

Mission-Ready Tools

Staff Expertise

Risk-Informed Regulator

NRC tools & expertise for independent analysis of spent fuel licensing reviews

23 Ensuring Safe Storage

• Materials research for aging management

• Cask integrity - Chloride-Induced Stress Corrosion Cracking

24 Readiness for Reprocessing

• Readiness for applications

• Technical assessments of pyroprocessing techniques

Most of the fission products Uranium, other actinides, Uranium and salt and other actinides Oxide fuel from Metal thermal reactors Metal Salts

Metallic fuel from from fast reactors

25 Readiness for Advanced Reactor Fuel Cycles

ENRICHMENT FUEL FABRICATION REACTORSPENT FUEL STORAGE

1 3 5 7

2 4 6 UF6 TRANSPORTATION FRESH FUEL IRRADIATED FUEL TRANSPORTATION TRANSPORTATION SCALE/MELCOR Non-LWR Fuel Cycle Demonstration Project Technical assessments of non-LWRs Domestic & international collaborations &

monitoring industry progress

26 Cathy Haney Deputy Executive Director for Materials, Waste, Research, State, Tribal, Compliance, Administration, and Human Capital Programs Glossar y of NRC Computer Codes

Computer Codes FAST - Code for simulating nuclear fuel behavior SCALE - Code for reactor physics and radiation shielding analysis MELCOR - Code for simulating nuclear reactor severe accidents MACCS - Code for simulating the dispersion of radioactive materials SPAR - Code for reactor risk assessments Code User Groups CAMP - Code Applications and Maintenance Program CSARP - Cooperative Severe Accident Research Program RAMP - Radiation protection computer code Analysis and Maintenance Program

28 Acronyms

EPRI - Electric Power Research Institute EPZ - Emergency Planning Zone FLEX - Diverse and Flexible Coping Strategies FIDES II - Second Framework for Irradiation Experiments FTE - Full-Time Equivalent GEIS - Generic Environmental Impact Statement INL - Idaho National Laboratory NEA - Nuclear Energy Agency NFPA - National Fire Protection Association RH - Relative humidity T - Temperature SMR - Small Modular Reactor SOARCA - S tate -of-the-Art Reactor Consequence Analyses UNLP - University Nuclear Leadership Program

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