The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued new guidance documents to facilitate the licensing of non-light water reactor designs. The guidance is expected to significantly reduce the regulatory uncertainty for new reactor concepts that differ from conventional reactor technologies. The US Department of Energy (DOE) said this was good news for advanced reactor vendors, including two DOE demonstration projects with TerraPower and X-energy. Both companies are applying this guidance to their construction permit applications to be submitted to the NRC within the year.
NRC finalised 10 documents that will help streamline the licensing process for non-light-water reactor applicants. They include endorsement of an industry-led Technology Inclusive Content of Application Project (TICAP) to deliver a more technology-inclusive review of the safety analysis report. The documents also include NRC’s public release of interim staff guidance on the project to give applicants and interested members of the public a transparent look at the licensing process.
The new guidance places added emphasis on the parts of the design and its operation that most directly affect safety and is seen as an important step to establishing an efficient and cost-effective approach to licensing non-light water reactors.
“I’d like to thank our industry partners, led by Southern Company Services, along with DOE, and the NRC for achieving this milestone,” said Jason Andrus, the national technical director of TICAP from Idaho National Laboratory. “Endorsement of this guidance allows for a more efficient and clear licensing application and review process for advanced reactors by focusing on what’s most important – safety.”
The TICAP endorsement is the direct result of a six-year collaboration between industry, NRC, DOE, and the national labs to support the near-term deployment of new reactor technologies. TICAP is part of a larger NRC-led project to provide guidance on all of the topics needed in applications for construction permits, operating licenses, manufacturing licences, standard design approvals, design certifications, and combined licences.
Both projects build on the licensing modernisation project (LMP), supported by DOE and led by industry, to provide a risk-informed, performance-based approach for licensing new reactors that is aligned with the Nuclear Energy Innovation & Modernization Act mandated by Congress.
NRC anticipates several licence applications from non-light water designs over the next five years – including TerraPower’s sodium-cooled fast reactor that will be built near a retiring coal plant in Kemmerer, Wyoming and X-energy's high-temperature gas reactor that will provide process heat in the form of steam for a Dow-owned chemical plant in Seadrift, Texas. Both projects are being managed through DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations and plan to implement the LMP framework and new TICAP guidance endorsed by the NRC.
Image: Artist’s impression of an Xe-100 power plant (courtesy of X-energy)
