The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking comments on its proposed agenda for the Nuclear Safety Research Conference,
which will be held on October 22-24 at the Marriott at Metro Center, located at 775 12 Street, N.W. in Washington, D.C. Formerly
known as "The Water Reactor Safety Meeting," the conference is designed to promote dialogue with stakeholders on research
matters and gather feedback for future agency regulatory decisions.
The complete proposed agenda is attached. Comments should be forwarded by June
15 via e-mail to Sandra Nesmith, at srn@nrc.gov .
D R A F T - May 30, 2001
Nuclear Safety Research Conference (NSRC)
(formerly known as the Water Reactor Safety Meeting (WRSM)
October 22-24, 2001
Marriott at Metro Center
(775 12th St. NW, Washington DC) |
Monday, October 22, 2001 |
8:00-8:15am |
Opening Remarks - Ashok Thadani |
8:15-9:00am |
Keynote Speech - Chairman |
9:00-9:30am |
Recent Accomplishments - Roy Zimmerman |
9:30-12:00pm |
Advanced Reactors - Panel Discussion
(Coordinator: Tom King)
Objective: The panel will give an overview of ongoing programs and discuss the following: safety
attributes of advanced designs, key issues with respect to licensing, key issues with respect to
development, research needs/priorities, and the outlook for the future.
Potential Panel Makeup to Include:
NRC (RES and NRR); Industry (e.g., NEI, EPRI, Westinghouse, Exelon); International; Public Interest;
State; Congressional; and DOE |
12:00-1:30pm |
LUNCH |
1:30-2:00pm |
Plenary - Commissioner Speech |
2:00-5:00pm |
Advanced Reactors Session
(Coordinator: T. King)
Objective: To communicate specific research activities
related to preparing the Agency to license an advanced
design.
Potential Topics for Presentation Include:
- Pre-application activities (e.g., PBMR, GT-MHR,
IRIS)
- New technologies for advanced reactors
- Development of a Regulatory Framework for
advanced reactors
- Research needs for advanced reactors
- Use of prototype testing to validate analytical
tools |
Materials/Waste Session
(Coordinator: C. Trottier)
Objective: To provide a forum to discuss
current research initiatives in addressing issues
in human and environmental heath risk
assessment.
Potential Topics for Presentation Include:
- NRC tools available and under development to
support decommissioning decisions on sites of
varying complexity
- Work underway to develop a probabilistic
version of RESRAD-Build for release of
buildings
- Inter-agency efforts to seek a common
technological base for multi-media
environmental modeling
- Long-term performance of engineered barriers
- Efforts underway to revise the basic
methodologies for assessing human risk from
radiation |
Tuesday, October 23, 2001 |
8:30-9:00am |
Plenary - Commissioner Speech |
9:00 -12:00pm |
Dry Cask Research Session
(Coordinator: M. Cunningham)
Objective: To communicate recent accomplishments
and future plans in the Office of Research's work to
assess key safety and risk issues relating to the
licensing of dry cask fuel storage devices.
Potential Topics for Presentation Include:
- Risk analysis of on-site dry cask storage
- Assessment of structural integrity for on-site storage
- Assessment of fuel and cladding for on-site storage
- Assessment of cask performance during transport
|
Aging Panel (Coordinator: N. Chokshi)
Objective: To discuss viewpoints of various
stakeholders on some of the key policy and
technical issues with emphasis on role of
research in addressing them. Some of the key
issues are: (1) recent experiences related to
aging and degradation (e.g., recent experiences
with primary water stress corrosion cracking
(PWSCC); (2) What may be the future
challenges?; (3) How do we account for aging
effects in the risk-informed regulations?; (4)
How do we apply lessons learned to new designs
(e.g., implementation of online monitoring)?;
and (5) What research is needed to address
current and future issues?
Potential Panel Makeup to Include:
US and international experts from
industry, regulatory, research, and public
interest groups |
12:00-1:30pm |
LUNCH |
1:30-2:00pm |
Plenary - Commissioner Speech |
2:00-5:00pm |
Fuel Issues Panel (2:00-4:00)
(Coordinator: R. Meyer)
Objective: What issues should be addressed in an
NRC safety research program, and is the current
spectrum of research projects adequate?
Potential Panel Makeup to Include:
NRC (RES, NRR, NMSS, ACRS) and EPRI
Fuel Research Session (4:00-5:00)
(Coordinator: R. Meyer)
Objective: To communicate recent accomplishments
in NRC's fuel research program and related programs
that are used by NRC through cooperative agreements.
Potential Topics for Presentation Include:
- Japanese results on effects of hydrogen on behavior
of Zircaloy during LOCA
- Russian results on mechanical properties of Zr-1%
Nb cladding alloys (unirradiated and high burnup) |
Age Related Issues and Research Session
(Coordinator: N. Chokshi)
Objective: To concentrate on the current issues
and research, and include representation of both
regulatory and industry activities as
appropriate.
Potential Topics for Presentation Include:
- Recent PWSCC events - Implications for the
NDE and inspections, LBB considerations,
repairs and mitigation, and needed research
- Aging issues and management in other
industries (e.g., discussion of aging of aircrafts
and FAA activities)
- Aging and wire system safety
- Methods to consider aging effects in
probabilistic risk assessments.
- Materials and aging factors considered in the
advanced design and current research
- Aging effects on structures and passive
components |
Wednesday, October 24, 2001 |
8:30-9:00am |
Plenary - Commissioner Speech |
9:00-11:00am |
Communicating the RES Role and Program - Panel Discussion
(Coordinator: Patricia Norry)
Objective: The panel will explore and seek innovative ways to communicate the role and the scope and
content of the RES program, with particular emphasis on objectives, products, and regulatory
applications.
Potential Panel Makeup to Include:
Trade Press, Public Interest, International, Industry, and Government |
11:00-12:30pm |
LUNCH |
12:30-3:00pm |
Fuel Research Session (Cont'd)
(Coordinator: R. Meyer)
- Preliminary results on high-burnup fuel rod testing
at ANL under reactor transient conditions and dry
storage conditions
- Final plans and schedule for S0 test series in Cabri
international program
- First release of NRC's FRAPTRAN fuel rod transient
code by PNNL
- Coupling of STUK (Finland) GENFLO thermal-hydraulics code to NRC's FRAPTRAN code
- Overview of EPRI's Robust Fuel Program and
EPRI's cooperation with NRC |
Risk Informing Regulatory Practices Panel
(Coordinator: M. Cunningham)
Objective: To communicate recent
accomplishments and future plans in the
Office's work to risk-inform agency regulatory
practices, showing the breadth and value of such
activities as well as describe key technical issues.
Key issues that will be addressed include: (1)
second-generation importance measures to
improve the realism and efficiency of risk-informed decision making; (2) risk-informing 10
CFR 50 technical requirements - status, issues,
future plans; (3) assessment of uncertainties in
modern risk analyses (e.g., PTS, SGTR); (4)
assessment of human performance in modern
risk analyses; (5) improvements in fire risk
assessment methods and tools;(6) key
perspectives from the review of seventy IPEEEs;
(7) key issues in low power and shutdown risk
analyses; and (8) use of risk analysis in nuclear
material's regulation.
Potential Panel Makeup to Include:
NRC, Universities, EPRI |
3:15-3:30pm |
Closing Remarks - Ashok Thadani |
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