Speaker
Description
In the United States, recent legislative actions and executive orders have spurred significant interest in utilizing advanced fuel technologies and analytical approaches to support power uprates and extended cycles at current operating boiling and pressurized water reactors. To facilitate efficient and timely licensing reviews while continuing to protect public health and safety, the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has been exploring a variety of risk-informed and performance-based licensing pathways, some initiated by the NRC and some proposed by licensees/applicants. This presentation will focus on commercial light water power reactor applications, though the underlying licensing concepts may be more generally applicable. Near term challenges to be resolved include licensing of novel small modular reactor designs and enabling higher burnups and enrichments for current operating reactors to allow for longer cycles and higher power levels. Establishing clear and efficient licensing pathways to address these challenges without compromising safety will require significant evolution in regulatory frameworks, licensing processes, and technical bases by the NRC. While the loss of coolant accident is the primary focus of this presentation due to its unique role as the primary design basis accident that nuclear power plants must be designed and maintained to mitigate, some of the changes will also ultimately inform similar changes elsewhere in the NRC’s licensing of nuclear power plants.
