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Developing a new regulatory framework for advanced reactors: Update on Part 53
White
The American Nuclear Society’s Risk-informed, Performance-based Principles and Policy Committee (RP3C) on March 29 held another presentation in its monthly Community of Practice (CoP) series. The presenter, Patrick White with the Nuclear Innovation Alliance (NIA), talked about the current status of efforts to develop a new regulatory framework for advanced reactors—known as 10 CFR Part 53 or simply Part 53. White serves as the research director of the NIA, where he leads their research as well as analysis-based stakeholder and policymaker engagement and education. White’s March 29 presentation is publicly available on YouTube and at ANS’s publication platform Nuclear Science and Technology Open Research (NSTOR).
RP3C chair N. Prasad Kadambi opened the CoP with brief introductory remarks about the RP3C before he welcomed White as the session’s presenter.
White covered three main topics: the history of the existing regulatory frameworks for new reactors, progress to date on the development of the Part 53 rule for advanced reactors, and the current status and next steps for the Part 53 rulemaking process.
M. T. Farmer, R. Bunt, M. Corradini, P. Ellison, M. Francis, J. Gabor, R. Gauntt, C. Henry, R. Linthicum, W. Luangdilok, R. Lutz, C. Paik, M. Plys, C. Rabiti, J. Rempe, K. Robb, R. Wachowiak
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 184 | Number 3 | November 2016 | Pages 293-304
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE16-13
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The reactor accidents at Fukushima Daiichi have rekindled interest in light water reactor (LWR) severe accident phenomenology. Postevent analyses have identified several areas that may warrant additional research and development (R&D) to reduce modeling uncertainties and assist industry in the development of mitigation strategies and in the refinement of severe accident management guidelines to both prevent significant core damage given a beyond-design-basis event and mitigate source term release if core damage does occur. On these bases, a technology gap evaluation on accident-tolerant components and severe accident analysis methodologies was completed with the goal of identifying any data and/or knowledge gaps that may exist given the current state of LWR severe accident research and augmented by insights gained from recent analyses of the Fukushima Daiichi accident. The ultimate benefit of this activity is that the results can be used as a basis for refining research plans to address key knowledge gaps in severe accident phenomenology that affect reactor safety and that are not being directly addressed by the nuclear industry or the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. As a result of this study, 13 gaps were identified in the areas of severe accident–tolerant components and accident modeling. The results clustered in three main areas: (1) modeling and analysis of in-vessel melt progression phenomena, (2) emergency core cooling system equipment performance under beyond-design-basis accident conditions, and (3) ex-vessel debris coolability and core-concrete interaction behavior relevant to accident management actions. This paper provides a high-level summary of the methodology used for the evaluation, the identified gaps, and, finally, the appropriate R&D that may be completed to address the gaps.