POWER July 2011 - 67

ELECTRIC POWER 2011: WHERE THE GENCOS MEET
derstanding the technology (Figure 2).
Probabilistic risk assessment (PRA), Wallace
said, is a key to answering the complex and
intertwined licensing issues. The PRA for the
NuScale project, he said, offers a way to focus
analysis, make sure the right questions are asked
and answered-illuminating the " unknown
unknowns " -and give muscle to the familiar
concept of defense-in-depth. " The real value of
PRA is in the journey, " he said. The PRA, he
said, " adds robustness " to the design.
Regulating Nuclear Power
Wallace noted " a whole lot of emerging issues
growing out of Fukushima. " Stephanie Coffin
of the NRC described some of those issues that
confront regulators. Her fundamental advice to
those planning these new reactor technologies:
" Potential applicants should engage NRC early
with specific proposals " -advice she repeated
throughout her presentation.
One of the issues that arose in Japan, and that
the NRC wants addressed for the SMRs, is the
size of emergency zones around the plants. Most
large, conventional reactors are located away
from population centers, but they also contain
much larger inventories of radiation products
in their cores. SMRs-particularly if they can
be used in cogeneration and district heating applications
along with power generation-are
likely to be located closer to populated areas, but
they're also likely to possess lower concentrations
of poisons in the core.
Another emerging issue is control room
staffing. Current NRC rules limit the number of
reactors an operator can control to two. SMR installations
may consist of arrays of half a dozen
or more units controlled by one operator. This,
too, troubles some at the NRC.
The appropriate NRC licensing process for
small nukes is also on the regulatory table. There
are two paths toward a final operating license.
NuScale plans to submit an application for NRC
certification of its reactor design in 2012 under
the commission's generic program (known as
Part 52 for its location in the Code of Federal
Regulations), hoping for approval in 2019. This
is a " one-stop " process that envisions a preapproved
reactor design. The Tennessee Valley
Authority, on the other hand, is working with
Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) and Bechtel to put
a B&W mPower SMR on TVA's Clinch River
site in Tennessee under the NRC's traditional,
two-step " Part 50 " licensing process.
The NRC is agnostic about which process
should be used. In either case, Coffin assured
the audience that the agency " is preparing
for a high level of advanced reactor licensing
activity " and that the NRC " will review applications
in a timely manner. "
Risk Assessment Wrap-up
Booz & Co. Vice President Christopher Dann
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67
summed up the developmental and regulatory
risks to nuclear power posed by events in Japan.
" The oldest plants and those most believed
to be exposed to natural 'black swan' events "
such as hurricanes, floods, and other improbable
catastrophes, he said, " will face the stiffest
review; new plants should expect more local
opposition if 'greens' and 'fatalists' argue for a
moratorium. " Ultimately, he said, the impacts
of Fukushima " will depend on the state of the
plant, the nature of the technology, the national
stance towards future nuclear power and the options
available as alternative fuel sources. "
Perhaps the greatest risk to the future of
nuclear power in the U.S., said Dann, lies entirely
out of the control of the nuclear industry
and its regulators. " Natural gas prices, " he
said, " drive the fundamental economics " of
new nuclear power. ■
-Kennedy Maize (kmaize@gmail.com)
is a contributing editor to POWER and
executive editor of the online magazine
MANAGING POWER (www.managingpowermag.com).
http://www.managing http://www.powermag.com http://www.powermag.com
POWER July 2011

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