- Industry appreciates strong and continuing support from Congress for ATF program
- Southern’s Williams: ATF can be a win for safety, the environment, consumers and plant operators
- NRC’s licensing approach generally aligned with industry needs
The U.S. nuclear energy industry is making good progress on its innovative program to develop and install advanced accident tolerant fuel (ATF) in the existing reactor fleet by the early- to mid-2020s. The nuclear industry sees enough potential in the enhanced safety and economic benefits of the ATF program that it is pushing for an accelerated timeline for testing, analysis and licensing, with a goal for final deployment across the existing reactor fleet by the early- to mid-2020s.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s preparations to license ATF on the industry’s accelerated schedule were discussed at a public meeting of NRC staff and industry representatives this week and mentioned again at a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee.
“Early research and analysis work on advanced fuels has shown potential for the enhanced robustness and other properties of accident-tolerant fuels to increase safety under [rare] accident conditions while also increasing fuel and system efficiency, performance and therefore profitability under normal operating conditions,” Southern Nuclear Operating Co. Nuclear Fuel and Analysis Director John Williams said in testimony at the EPW hearing. Williams also serves as utility lead on NEI’s ATF Safety Benefits Task Force.
“The industry’s rationale for an accelerated timeline is that utilities will be making second license renewal decisions by the early 2020s. Those decisions will be informed by whatever enhanced safety and economic benefits are evident from the results of the development program,” Williams added.
The industry is currently working with the Department of Energy on different fuel designs from three major teams of vendors—Framatome, General Electric/GNF, and Westinghouse/General Atomics. The first lead test assemblies (LTAs) with two types of ATF cladding designs from the GE/GNF team were loaded into Southern Nuclear Co.’s Hatch Nuclear Power Plant in February 2018.
Between now and 2022, several different types of ATF fuel and cladding from all three of the aforementioned vendors will be inserted into U.S. commercial reactors operated by Southern and Exelon. The results of this testing (and of other tests conducted at DOE research reactors and labs) will provide fuel performance data that will inform NRC licensing activities.
The NRC’s preparations to license ATF on the industry’s accelerated schedule were discussed at a Sept. 12 public meeting on agency staff plans to publish its final ATF licensing project plan by the end of September.
Key to the project plan is the NRC’s proposed “new paradigm” for licensing the potentially transformational fuel technologies that ATF represents. The plan’s development is part of the agency’s larger “transformation initiative” that seeks more efficient ways to license new and novel nuclear technologies, including ATF and other new materials, small and advanced reactors, digital upgrades and Big Data.
The project plan was developed after extensive engagements over the past year with stakeholders including nuclear utilities, fuel vendors, industry groups, the Department of Energy and international counterparts.
The plan envisages a more efficient parallel process of refining the regulatory infrastructure needed for each ATF concept, while the fuel vendors continue to develop the technical bases for licensing their concepts via testing and analyses.
The goal of this parallel licensing process is to add “regulatory stability and efficiency” to the licensing timelines, NRC ATF Project Manager Andrew Proffitt noted. Significant communication, data sharing and continuing close engagement with the fuel vendors is crucial to gaining the promised licensing efficiencies, he added.
“The NRC’s independence as a regulator doesn’t mean we’re working in a vacuum,” he said.
For licensing purposes, ATF concepts are broadly categorized as near-term and longer-term. Near-term concepts are modifications of existing uranium oxide fuel and metallic cladding, using coatings on the cladding or enhanced fuel. These concepts can largely rely on existing data, models and methods for safety evaluations. Longer-term concepts—such as uranium silicide or metallic fuels, and silicon carbide cladding—will need substantially more data.
NEI Senior Project Manager of Fuel Programs Ben Holtzman congratulated the NRC on its efforts to finalize the licensing plan.
“The project plan represents a comprehensive outline of upcoming activities, and the nuclear industry is in general agreement with the outline of the plan,” Holtzman said. “We are encouraged with the NRC’s transformative approach to licensing these innovative fuels.”
Williams told the EPW Committee that the benefits of ATF will be widely applicable.
ATF has the potential to provide a win-win-win for everyone—safety, the environment, consumers and plant operators—by making light water reactors even safer as well as more efficient and reliable. To make this work we all must continue to work together, without delay.
Williams added that the industry is grateful for the close attention and support that Congress has provided to the ATF program, and for its recognition that this program represents the cutting edge of innovation that will help preserve America’s technological and strategic leadership.
NRC and NEI slide presentations from the 9/12 meeting are available on the NRC website. Witness presentations at the Senate hearing are available on the EPW Committee website.