DOE & NRC Advanced Reactor Public Workshops Coming Up Soon

Next week, from April 25-26, is the third NRC-DOE Advanced Reactor Workshop, to be held in Rockville, Maryland.  The conference is focused on improving efficiency in the development and licensing of advanced reactors.  Specific topics will include:

• Recent NRC and DOE initiatives;

• Regulatory review process options and safety-focused reviews;

• Modeling and testing in support of the reactor licensing process; and

• Reactor vendor licensing strategies and issues.

The full workshop agenda can be found here.  Some interested pre-reading for attendees includes the NRC’s recently published advanced reactor design criteria guidance, as well as the summaries and presentations from the prior two NRC-DOE workshops (from September 2015 and June 2016).  Although online registration has closed, the workshop is open to the public and interested members can reach out to the agency contacts listed here to find out how to attend (note, the registration page says registration is encouraged but not required).

The following week, from May 3 to May 4, is the NRC’s Public Meeting/Webinar on Possible Regulatory Process Improvements for Advanced Reactor Designs.  The meeting will circle around the follow topics:

• Physical security requirements;

• Defining licensing basis events;

• Probabilistic risk assessments (PRA) & containment performance criteria;

• Prioritization of policy issues;

• Potential use of standard design approvals; and

• Issues arising from the NRC-DOE Advanced Reactor Workshop.

For the discussion on physical security scheduled for the morning of Wednesday, May 3, the NRC has provided a link to a Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) white paper for a proposed revision to the NRC’s physical security requirements set forth in 10 C.F.R. Part 73.  The NEI white paper, which was issued in December 2016, argues that the new proposed Part 73 requirements should recognize the enhanced engineered safety and security features of many advanced reactor technologies, and enable these technologies to demonstrate to the NRC that they meet the new physical security “performance capabilities” set forth in the proposed rule.  Such a change, NEI argues, would make the NRC licensing process for these technologies more efficient.  Interested readers may also want to check out our summary of the NRC’s recently issued physical and cyber security draft guidance document.

The NRC has also provided a link to an April 2017 DOE-Southern Company white paper that seeks to modernize the technical requirements for licensing advanced reactors to be more risk-informed and performance-based.  The NRC intends to discuss this paper in the afternoon on Wednesday, May 3.  The NRC plans to address PRA on the morning of Thursday, May 4, and “various policy issues” in the afternoon of Thursday, May 4.  This meeting can be attended in person or through teleconference.

We strongly encourage the advanced reactor community to participate in these events.  As recently noted by the trade press, the regulatory framework for advanced reactors is being flushed out now, long before reactors will be built.  Major decisions such as development of design criteria and staged review processes are being made in the near term, unfortunately under tight budgets.  Engagement today can save years later by helping educate the NRC and DOE as to the most optimal regulatory path forward.

Authored by Amy Roma and Sachin Desai.