ESBWR Design Certification Review
On December 2, 2010, GEH submitted Revision 9 of the ESBWR DCD. Revision 6 of the ESBWR Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) is also publicly available. See NEDO-33201, Revision 6.
On March 9, 2011, the staff issued the final safety evaluation report and final design approval for the ESBWR standard design.
In late 2011, while the NRC staff was preparing the final rule, issues were identified with the ESBWR steam dryer, a non-safety component. These issues called into question certain conclusions in the staff's safety review. The NRC conducted an audit of the steam dryer design methodology supporting Chapter 3 of the ESBWR DCD. The purpose of the on-site audit was to review documentation presented by GEH that addressed key errors in the four ESBWR LTRs. The NRC issued requests for additional information (RAIs). Resolution of these issues required additional analyses by the applicant and review by the NRC staff in order for the NRC staff to conclude the design is acceptable for certification. The DC rulemaking process is delayed pending resolution of these issues.
