Laying the Foundation for New and Advanced Nuclear Reactors in the United States (2023) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 104-136
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From page 104... ...
Similarly, the CCF can be used to identify potential manufacturing-based issues that may manifest at a system integration or operational level. Completeness of Engineering Design Chapter 4 describes the economic challenge facing advanced reactor developers in making initial entry to energy markets, noting that a significant factor that may limit market entry is the anticipated front-end "sunk cost" for nuclear.
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From page 105... ...
. If advanced nuclear developers are to keep capital costs in control, designs must be as complete as possible prior to commencement of construction.
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From page 106... ...
. A recent DOE report titled Nuclear Energy Supply Chain Deep Dive Assessment indicates that the enhancement of the nuclear industry supply chain would have significant positive benefit to the cost of electrical energy production: The next generation of nuclear reactors will likely include small modular reactors (SMRs)
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From page 107... ...
2022) The challenges to development of this supply chain for advanced reactors are multiple.
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From page 108... ...
The lack of sufficient manufacturing capacity with strict quality assurance programs poses challenges for both product- and project-based deployment models. Expansion of the supply chain would necessitate implementation of Nuclear Quality Assurance (NQA-1)
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From page 109... ...
Potential for Employment of New Technologies Management of a project life cycle includes a multitude of moving pieces, contractors, and other stakeholders. Poor project management integration, specifically lack of real-time oversight and communication between groups of collaborators, has been cited as one of the main reasons for the failure of the VC Summer NPP (Beck et al.
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From page 110... ...
DOE also recently funded a new initiative called the Advanced Construction Technology (ACT) Initiative funded in FY 2021 for $5.8 million, which aims to Facilitate development of advanced nuclear plant construction technologies and approaches through partnerships that could provide game changing benefits to the construction of advanced nuclear power plants.
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From page 111... ...
Given that the nuclear island constitutes only 20 percent of the cost of a nuclear plant, there should be recognition of the need to ensure adequate funding to reduce overall construction costs. Table 6-1 shows that the civil work typically comprises 40–50 percent of the cost of current generation nuclear plants, and EPC costs typically comprise 10–20 percent of the total cost; moreover, new and advanced nuclear reactors may require more complex civil work, such as excavation (Glaser 2014)
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From page 112... ...
The preparatory work on the plant site would be similar to that of any major project, starting with planning, then into engineering design specific to the site, and then construction on site of supporting facilities. Various potential advantages and concerns exist for such an approach: • Potential advantages of product-based deployment: ° Standardized design for manufacturing can reduce cost and schedule overruns that would otherwise arise from incomplete or late designs ° Opportunity for improved quality through manufacture in a controlled factory setting 16 Note: These containment checks apply to those technologies that may follow containment designs similar to the existing fleet of light water reactors.
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From page 113... ...
This should be incorporated into digital twins and adjustments made as necessary for MBSE models to ensure real-world performance factors are captured to determine potential life cycle maintenance and performance issues.
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From page 114... ...
Recommendation 6-9: The Department of Energy should work with the relevant reactor vendors to develop best practices for the pursuit of a product-based approach to reactor deployment. The Manufacturing Approach A primary hypothesis for the vendors of advanced reactors is that they will take advantage of a modular manufacturing approach for development that will help reduce unit cost once market volume supports development at NOAK quantities.
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From page 115... ...
and in many cases had not even gone through a systems level preliminary design review at contract award. Three obvious takeaways for the advanced reactor community related to these cost and schedule challenges in a "manufacturing approach" are (1)
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From page 116... ...
While historical assessments do indicate that a production line approach as seen in shipyard production can lead to cost savings, it is unclear whether this approach will translate to significant cost savings in advanced reactor development because it does not necessarily address site development, which can be a primary cost driver in nuclear deployment. Recommendation 6-10: The Department of Energy should partner with the Department of the Navy and industry to evaluate lessons learned in nuclear shipbuilding to determine the metrics and cost factors that would inform a better understanding of potential cost savings from a manufacturing approach to nuclear new builds.
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From page 117... ...
2022. "Open Session with Advanced Nuclear Reactor Vendors." Presentation to the Committee on Laying the Foundation for New and Advanced Nuclear Reactors in the United States, Meeting 10, February 1–2.
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From page 118... ...
2021. "AI/ML Driven Innovation for High Precision Construction, Inspections, and Management." Presented to the Committee on Laying the Foundation for New and Advanced Nuclear Reactors in the United States, April 6.
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From page 119... ...
2021. "Digital Engineering to Accelerate Advanced Reactor Development." Presentation to the Committee on Laying the Foundation for New and Advanced Nuclear Reactors in the United States, April 6.
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From page 120... ...
https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-15-332t.pdf. World Nuclear Industry Status Report.
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From page 121... ...
As a result, significant modification or adjustment of regulatory requirements is required to accommodate some of the advanced reactors. THE REGULATORY PROCESS All but the two plants now under construction in the United States (Vogtle 3 and 4)
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From page 122... ...
Of particular interest to the vendors of some advanced reactors is the opportunity to obtain a manufacturing license that allows the fabrication of a nuclear power plant at a location other than the one where it is to be installed and operated. This license may be attractive to vendors that intend to establish a factory to build a reactor to be deployed at many sites.3 These various elements of Part 52 reduce regulatory risk because the matters resolved during the approval of the COL, ESP, DC, SDA or manufacturing license cannot be reexamined absent significant and new information that calls into question the previous resolution of an issue.4 But two problems remain.
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From page 123... ...
As discussed later in this chapter, the vendors of some advanced reactors, on the other hand, seek significant departures from the existing requirements. Concurrent with the development of probabilistic capabilities, the regulatory philosophy of the NRC, as with other regulators, has evolved to emphasize outcomes rather than prescriptive requirements (Walker and Wellock 2010)
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From page 124... ...
See generally International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group, 1996, Defence in Depth in Nuclear Safety, INSAG-10, Vienna: International Atomic Energy Agency. 14 See Nuclear Energy Institute, 2022, Technology Inclusive Guidance for Non-Light Water Reactors: Safety Analysis Report Content for Applicants Using the NEI 18-04 Methodology, NEI 21-07, Rev 1, Washington, DC: Nuclear Energy Institute, https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ ML2206/ML22060A190.pdf.
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From page 125... ...
Microreactor designers seek to justify more significant modifications of the approaches to the assurance of safety than large reactors because of postulated lower risks.18 The NRC staff has observed that tailored modifications may be required relating to security requirements, remote and autonomous operations, siting considerations, environmental review, regulatory oversight, staffing requirements, manufacturing licenses, and annual fees, among other licensing issues.19 Again, a detailed review is necessary to justify any such adjustments of the regulatory requirements. At the same time, the advanced reactors may present new challenges.20 For example, sodium-cooled fast reactors will require consideration of sodium-water and sodium-air reactions that have plagued many past versions of this design.
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From page 126... ...
• Thorium/U233 cycle • U/Pu (MOX or metal) fuel • Steel cladding • Ceramic cladding • Graphite • Reprocessing/recycling • Inventory management and accounting of liquid fuels • Inventory management and accounting of pebble fuels Fuel/core analysis • Fuel element power limits • Pebble-bed modeling • Long-life cores Reactor design/materials • Advanced/high-temperature and high-dose alloys • Shutdown cooling/decay heat removal systems • In-reactor fuel handling systems Reactivity control • Control element design • Self-actuated shutdown systems • Diverse backup systems • Criticality control for liquid fuel systems Materials/structural analysis • Stress/strain limits for advanced materials • Creep • Cyclic stress/strain • Seismic analysis, including use of seismic isolation • Sloshing loads • Corrosion • Code cases for advanced manufacturing/novel manufacturing processes
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From page 127... ...
• Prevention of coolant freezing (sodium, molten salt) Plant fabrication/construction • QA rules for factory fabrication of modular/transportable reactors • QA implementation and NRC inspection of factory-fabricated reactors • Manufacturing licenses Plant operations • Remote operation • Autonomous operation Increased automation of operations Artificial intelligence Plant staffing Waste handling • On-line refueling and waste issues (e.g., pebble-bed, MSR online waste processing)
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From page 128... ...
NEIMA requires that most of the costs of NRC operations be recovered from fees paid by applicants and licensees, except for certain exempted activities. Congress provided an exemption from fees for activities relating to the development of regulatory infrastructure for advanced nuclear reactors, and the fiscal year (FY)
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From page 129... ...
The existing regulatory approach can be inconsistent with this investment strategy because of substantial cost that must be incurred before DC, an OL or a COL is issued. As a result, NEIMA requires the NRC to establish stages in the licensing process for advanced nuclear reactors.
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From page 130... ...
, as well extensive international engagement through, for example, the International Atomic Energy Agency and Nuclear Energy Agency. The United States recently entered a Memorandum of Cooperation with Canada that is focused on a coordinated response to technical issues associated with the licensing of advanced reactors (CNSC 2022)
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From page 131... ...
. The vendors of some advanced reactors argue that their designs justify relaxation of these siting and EPZ requirements.
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From page 132... ...
Several of the reactor vendors contend that a modified approach could serve to reduce the EPZ for their design to the site boundary. Careful and early determination of the appropriate siting and EPZ requirements is necessary to define the range of siting opportunities that are available for advanced reactors.
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From page 133... ...
Indeed, some vendors of microreactors claim that the risks are so slight that operation might proceed without a security force or even without operators of any kind. As discussed in Chapter 9, the NRC staff has sought authorization from the Commission to publish a proposed rule that would offer voluntary performance-based alternatives for meeting certain of the physical security requirements for advanced reactors.28 At the same time, the heightened concern for cybersecurity means that the careful consideration of the associated regulatory requirements is essential for advanced reactors, particularly because many intend to place much greater emphasis on digital systems and automated intelligence than existing reactors.
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From page 134... ...
. 32 For more information on fuel cycles for new and advanced reactors, see NASEM, 2022, Merits and Viability of Different Nuclear Fuel Cycles and Technology Options and the Waste Aspects of Advanced Nuclear Reactors, Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, https://doi.org/10.17226/26500.
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From page 135... ...
In sum, there are many difficult matters that must be resolved in the licensing of advanced reactors. Significant efforts are under way in the United States involving the generating companies, the vendors, DOE, various stakeholders, and the NRC to confront these challenges.
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From page 136... ...
2019h. Approaches for Expediting and Establishing Stages in the Licensing Process for Commercial Advanced Nuclear Reactors.
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