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Home > Nuclear Reactors > Advanced Reactors
Advanced Reactors
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has developed its current regulations
on the basis of experience
gained over the past 40 years from the design and operation of light water reactor (LWR) facilities.
Now, to facilitate the licensing of new reactor designs that differ substantially from the current generation of LWR facilities, the NRC staff seeks to resolve key safety
and licensing issues.
Toward that end, NRC policy encourages early discussion (prior to submission of a license application)
between agency staff and potential applicants (such as utilities and reactor designers). Such discussions enable the NRC staff
to offer licensing guidance and identify and resolve potential licensing
issues early in the licensing process. During this pre-application period
for design certification, the NRC holds public meetings with potential
applicants to discuss advanced reactor designs and identify (1) major safety
issues that could require Commission policy guidance to the staff, (2)
major technical issues that the staff could resolve under existing NRC regulations
and policy, and (3) research needed to resolve identified issues. See the following pages for specific information regarding ongoing pre-application reviews:
See Policy Issues Associated with Licensing Non-LWR Designs for related
Commission documents, policy statements, and public workshop slides and summaries. In addition, see Advanced Reactor Research for a discussion of the nine key areas of anticipatory and confirmatory research, which the NRC's Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research has conducted in support of design certification reviews for advanced reactors.
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