NRC Staff Agrees SMRs Won’t Need Large-Scale EPZs

1

Aug. 17–Aug. 23, 2018

A report to members of the Nuclear Energy Institute

In This Issue

www.nei.org

NRC Staff Agrees Small Modular Reactors

Won’t Need Large-Scale Emergency Zones

TVA shows small reactors’ safety features means emergency planning can

be scaled down

Staff conclusions encouraging for SMRs and other new reactor designs

Industry engaging with NRC to develop emergency preparedness regulations

for advanced reactor technologies

Aug. 22, 2018—In a potential regulatory breakthrough that could accelerate future

deployment of small modular and advanced reactors, Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff

agreed with the Tennessee Valley Authority that scalable emergency planning zones (EPZs)

for small modular reactors are feasible. The industry believes that this recognition of the

enhanced safety features of small and advanced reactors could greatly simplify the licensing

of these technologies and increase their cost competitiveness.

The preliminary finding was made public this week in the NRC staff’s advanced safety

evaluation of TVA’s 2016 early site permit application (ESPA) for a potential nuclear plant at

TVA’s Clinch River Nuclear Site in Tennessee. The plant would comprise multiple small

modular reactors (SMRs).

TVA’s ESPA uses information from four SMR designs—BWXT’s mPower, Holtec

International’s SMR-160, NuScale Power’s SMR, and Westinghouse’s SMR—to provide

the technical basis for a requested exemption to the 10-mile EPZ requirement

currently in use for the U.S. operating fleet of large light water reactors. Of these four

designs, the most detailed information was provided on the NuScale SMR, for which a

design certification application was submitted to the NRC in January 2017.

As part of the ESPA, TVA provided the agency with a detailed analysis of the unique

safety and performance attributes of SMRs that allow for scalable emergency

preparedness (EP) requirements. TVA showed that the enhanced safety characteristics

of the SMR designs encompassed by the ESP application—the smaller amount of fuel

in the reactor cores, simpler systems, and reliance on built-in passive safety features—

eliminate several potential emergency scenarios.

As a result, off-site EP requirements and plans can be scaled down to be

proportionate with those reduced risks, including an EPZ size that need not extend

beyond the plant site boundary.

The staff found TVA’s proposed dose-based, consequence-oriented methodology to

be a “reasonable technical basis” for determining EPZ size, consistent with the basis

used to determine EPZ size for large light water reactors.

The agency also granted TVA its exemption from a 10-mile EPZ for future combined

construction and operating license applications for which the radioactive source term

is bounded by the conditions established by the NRC. A July 2018 staff audit report

found that an SMR plant at the Clinch River site based on the NuScale SMR design

would meet the conditions for a site boundary-sized EPZ.

These preliminary findings will be discussed at an Aug. 22 meeting of the NRC’s

Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards.

Also to be reviewed that day is the NRC staff’s proposed rulemaking to develop EP

requirements and associated guidance for SMRs and other new nuclear technologies

that would be commensurate with the lower consequences to public health and safety

from potential accidents at these types of facilities. The commission already has

approved the staff’s plan and schedule for the rulemaking.

The proposed rule will be based on the public health and safety protection standards

contained in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Protective Action Guidelines.

These are the same standards used for the current large light water reactor fleet. This

approach ensures that new EP requirements will provide the same level of public

protection as existing requirements.

“NEI and our members are pleased that the NRC has recognized the need to

promulgate new EP regulations that reflect the inherently lower risk profile of

advanced reactor technologies,” NEI Technical Advisor for Nuclear Generation David

Young said.

“This rulemaking is consistent with direction from Congress, which has been

encouraging the agency to modernize its regulatory framework to facilitate the

licensing of these new technologies, particularly through recognition of their enhanced

safety features.

Page 2 Aug. 17–Aug. 23, 2018

“Absent a change to existing regulations, new reactor technology facilities would be

subject to current EP requirements, which would impose an unnecessary regulatory

burden on applicants and licensees. This will diminish the cost competitiveness of

advanced reactors, thus hindering their development and deployment,” Young noted.

The rulemaking will promote the establishment of a clear, predictable and stable

licensing process for advanced reactor applicants and licensees, and avoid the

inefficiency and uncertainty associated with achieving compliance through alternative

measures, exemptions and license conditions, he added. << Chris Charles, cic@nei.org

Milestones

World’s Third AP1000 Reaches Criticality;

First Two AP1000s Achieve More Milestones

China’s State Nuclear Power Technology Corp. (SNPTC) announced Aug. 17 that

Sanmen 2 in eastern China has achieved first criticality, the third Chinese

Westinghouse AP1000 to do so this year.

Its sister plant, Sanmen 1, became the world’s first AP1000 to attain criticality on

June 21. It was connected to the grid on June 30 and reached 100 percent of its 1,117-

megawatt design power capacity Aug. 14.

Haiyang 1 was the second AP1000 to reach criticality, on Aug. 8. It was connected to

the grid Aug. 17. SNPTC said the reactor will begin a test operation phase in

preparation for commercial operation. Fuel loading for Haiyang 2 also began Aug. 8—it

is expected to start up in 2019.

There are also two AP1000s under construction at Southern Co.’s Vogtle site in

Georgia.

India to Triple Nuclear Capacity by 2031

India’s Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) told parliament Aug. 15 it is expecting to

increase the country’s installed nuclear power capacity from 6,780 megawatts (MW) to

22,480 MW by 2031. Minister of State Jitendra Singh told parliament in March that

India plans to increase its nuclear share of electricity from 3 percent to 25 percent in

2050.

The expansion will come via nine additional nuclear reactors with a cumulative

capacity of 6,700 MW by 2025, and 12 more reactors with a cumulative capacity of

9,000 MW by 2031. The first nine reactors are under various stages of construction,

according to the DEA, while the 12 additional reactors were “accorded administrative

approval and financial sanction by the government in June 2017.”

The 22,480 MW target is substantially lower than the 63,000 MW figure that had

been mentioned in the country’s climate action pledges submitted to the United

Nations in 2015.

In June, GE and French state-controlled utility EDF agreed to form a partnership to

build six EPR reactors at Jaitapur in western India—which at 9,900 MW would be the

largest nuclear power plant in the world once completed.

Page 3 Aug. 17–Aug. 23, 2018

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Swiss Government Issues Permits to Explore Nuclear Waste Sites

The National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste, or Nagra, has been

granted permits by the Swiss government to drill three exploratory boreholes to

examine potential sites for the disposal of nuclear waste, the Swiss Federal Office of

Energy said Aug. 21.

Drilling is scheduled to begin next year, and Nagra will announce in 2022 for which

areas it will prepare general license applications for the construction of a high-level

waste deep-geologic repository, a low- and intermediate-level waste repository or

combined storage facilities.

Swiss high-level radioactive waste has been stored since 2001 in an interim facility in

northern Switzerland known as Zwilag.

Nagra is responsible for the management and disposal of Switzerland’s civilian

nuclear waste, and was established in 1972 as a cooperative of Switzerland’s nuclear

power plant owners. << Chris Charles, cic@nei.org

Contracts

DOE Awards Funds for Technology Commercialization Projects

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) announced

Aug. 22 it is providing matching funds worth more than $20 million for 64 projects that

will help deploy “a broad spectrum of energy technologies” to the marketplace by

partnering private companies with DOE’s national laboratories.

Among the nuclear energy projects that will receive funds are:

Kairos Power LLC and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) to collaborate on a

project to support the design and licensing of the company’s fluoride salt-cooled

high-temperature reactor ($750,000)

Westinghouse Electric Co. and ANL to collaborate on qualifying system-level

advanced reactor safety analysis software for lead systems ($250,000)

Exelon Generation Co. and Idaho National Laboratory to partner on a pilot

demonstration of a wireless valve position indication sensor system in nuclear

power plants ($750,000).

The funds are being provided through the OTT’s Technology Commercial Fund, which

was created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The awards were chosen out of more

than 100 applications, and require a 50 percent match from the private entities. A full

list of the projects awarded is available in the DOE announcement.

Bechtel Wins Contract to Manage UK’s Wylfa Nuclear Project

Horizon Nuclear Power announced Aug. 22 it has appointed U.S.-based engineering

and construction company Bechtel as project management contractor for its proposed

Wylfa Newydd Nuclear Power Station on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales.

Horizon said the move will enable the project to move into the next phase. Bechtel

expects nearly 200 employees to work with Horizon to oversee the project.

Page 4 Aug. 17–Aug. 23, 2018

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Hitachi subsidiary Hitachi Nuclear Energy Europe will supply two U.K. Advanced

Boiling Water Reactors for the new Wylfa Newydd units, to be built next to the existing

Wylfa A Nuclear Station.

Horizon was formed in 2009 to develop new nuclear power stations in the U.K. It was

acquired by Hitachi in November 2012. The company is developing plans to build at

least 5,800 megawatts of new nuclear power generation at Wylfa and at Oldbury-on-

Severn in Gloucestershire, England. << Chris Charles, cic@nei.org

Transitions

Industry

STP Nuclear Operating Company has appointed Gerald Powell as its president and

chief executive officer, effective Aug. 20. Powell has served as the company's interim

president and CEO since January.

Page 5 Aug. 17–Aug. 23, 2018

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