NRC review of passive reactor design certification testing programs: Overview and regulatory perspective
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)
Reactor vendors are developing new designs for future deployment, including [open quotes]passive[close quotes] light water reactors (LWRs), such as General Electric's (G.E.'s) simplified boiling water reactor (SBWR) and Westinghouse's AP600, which depend primarily on inherent processes, such as national convection and gravity feed, for safety injection and emergency core cooling. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has implemented a new process, certification of standardized reactor designs, for licensing these Plants. Part 52 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10CFR52) contains the requirements that vendors must meet for design certification. One important section, 10CFR52.47, reads [open quotes]Certification of a standard design which . . . utilizes simplified, inherent, passive, or other innovative means to accomplish its safety functions will be granted only if: (1) The performance of each safety feature of the design has been demonstrated through either analysis, appropriate test programs, experience, or a combination thereof; (2) Interdependent effects among the safety features have been found acceptable by analysis, appropriate test programs, experience, or a combination thereof; and (3) Sufficient data exist on the safety features of the design to assess the analytical tools used for safety analyses. . . . The vendors have initiated programs to test innovative features of their designs and to develop data bases needed to validate their analytical codes, as required by the design certification rule. Accordingly, the NRC is reviewing and evaluating the vendors programs to ensure that they address adequately key issues concerning safety system performance. This paper provides an overview of the NRC's review process and regulatory perspective.
- OSTI ID:
- 6844163
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-931160-; CODEN: TANSAO
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States), Vol. 69; Conference: American Nuclear Society (ANS) winter meeting, San Francisco, CA (United States), 14-18 Nov 1993; ISSN 0003-018X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Use of phenomena identification and ranking (PIRT) process in research related to design certification of the AP600 advanced passive light water reactor (LWR)
GE`s advanced boiling water reactors for the 1990s and beyond
Related Subjects
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
BWR TYPE REACTORS
REACTOR LICENSING
STANDARDIZATION
ENGINEERED SAFETY SYSTEMS
TESTING
PWR TYPE REACTORS
CERTIFICATION
DESIGN
REACTOR SAFETY
REGULATIONS
US NRC
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
LICENSING
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
POWER REACTORS
REACTORS
SAFETY
THERMAL REACTORS
US ORGANIZATIONS
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS
220900* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Reactor Safety
210100 - Power Reactors
Nonbreeding
Light-Water Moderated
Boiling Water Cooled
210200 - Power Reactors
Nonbreeding
Light-Water Moderated
Nonboiling Water Cooled
210700 - Nuclear Power Plants- Regulation & Licensing