NRC INVITES COMMENT ON
ADVANCED REACTOR DESIGN POLICY

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is updating its policy on advanced nuclear power plant designs, and has published a draft policy statement for public comment.

The policy revision aims to provide expectations and guidance on security and preparedness-related issues so, as a matter of prudence, designers can address them early in the development of advanced reactors. Issuance of the policy, last updated in 1994, is intended to encourage the earliest possible interactions between the NRC and reactor vendors, potential applicants, the public, and other government agencies.

“We want everyone involved, including the public, to understand the Commission’s views on what’s desirable in an advanced reactor design,” said NRC Chairman Dale Klein. “We want the widest possible range of comments to ensure the Commission has all the relevant information as we finalize our policy.”

The Commission believes designers should consider several reactor characteristics, including:

• Highly reliable, less complex safe shutdown systems, particularly ones with inherent or passive safety features;
• Simplified safety systems that allow more straightforward engineering analysis, operate with fewer operator actions and increase operator comprehension of reactor conditions;
• Concurrent resolution of safety and security requirements, resulting in an overall security system that requires fewer human actions;
• Features that prevent a simultaneous breach of containment and loss of core cooling from an aircraft impact, or that inherently delay any radiological release, and;
• Features that maintain spent fuel pool integrity following an aircraft impact.

The draft policy appeared in the Federal Register May 9, and interested parties should submit their comments by July 9. The NRC will consider comments received after that date where practical. Parties can submit comments in several ways:

• Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for documents under Docket ID NRC-2008-0237;
• E-mail comments to Rulemaking.Comments@nrc.gov and include NRC-2008-0237 in the subject line;
• Fax comments to Secretary, Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 301-415-1101 and include NRC-2008-0237 in the subject line;
• Mail comments to Secretary, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff, and;
• Hand-deliver comments to 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. on federal workdays.

The draft policy is available electronically at http://www.regulations.gov and on the NRC Web site by entering ML081070069 at http://adamswebsearch.nrc.gov/dologin.htm. For more information regarding the draft policy, contact Wesley Held at 301-415-1583 or via e-mail at Wesley.Held@nrc.gov.

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Monday, May 12, 2008