26 Mar (NucNet): Reviewing applications to build and operate new nuclear power plants, including small modular reactors (SMRs), will be one of the major evolving challenges facing the US nuclear regulator over the next several years.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) says in the Sixth US National Report for the Convention on Nuclear Safety that the reviews will have to be done while continuing to ensure the safe and secure operation of existing licensed facilities and addressing any national policy decisions related to the management of radioactive waste.
In the next two years, the NRC expects to receive additional applications for new uses of radioactive material and applications for building and operating both small and large new nuclear power plants. In addition, the NRC will need to develop the regulatory infrastructure to support the review of anticipated applications for SMRs.
Another major task facing the NRC is to make additional improvements to the regulatory system based on lessons learned from the nuclear accident at Fukushima-Daiichi, the report says.
The report also addresses the status of safety issues raised in the Fifth US National Report, including reactor materials degradation, cyber security, digital upgrades to instrumentation and control, moisture effects on underground cables, using accident pressure buildup to maintain emergency core cooling functions, gas bubbles in light-water reactor coolant systems, and improvements to emergency preparedness regulations.
On cyber security, the report says a new regulation introduced after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 required operating power reactor licensees to submit a cyber security plan, including an implementation schedule, to the NRC for review no later than November 23, 2009.
All operating nuclear power plant licensees met the submission deadline, the report says.
NRC chairman Allison Macfarlane presented the report to member countries of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria, yesterday.
The Sixth US National Report for the Convention on Nuclear Safety is online:
http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1330/ML13303B021.pdf
