Full Title: Advanced Nuclear Reactors Justify Modernized Emergency Preparedness Requirements
Author(s): U.S. Nuclear Industry Council, ClearPath, and Third Way
Publisher(s): U.S. Nuclear Industry Council, ClearPath, and Third Way
Publication Date: November 19, 2019
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Description (excerpt):
A viable future U.S. advanced nuclear industry needs Emergency Planning Zones (EPZs) based on the specific safety characteristics of a reactor design. EPZs for advanced reactors should be appropriately based on the new generation of advanced reactor technologies. For example, advanced reactors should be regulated like industrial facilities that have similar levels of risk. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) correctly recognized the contradiction between the existing Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) EPZ regulations and the improved risk profiles of advanced reactors. TVA proposed an approach in their recent Early Site Permit (ESP) Application that is informed by enhanced design features and safety margins of light-water cooled small modular reactors (SMRs). This proposal establishes an important precedent for future advanced reactor emergency planning activities.
The U.S. Nuclear Industry Council (USNIC), ClearPath, and Third Way strongly support the NRC approval of the TVA plume exposure pathway EPZ sizing methodology for both the Clinch River ESP and for future advanced non-light water cooled advanced reactors. This methodology was initially presented in the TVA Clinch River ESP Application, which was reviewed and approved by the NRC staff. The TVA approach can result in an EPZ at the site boundary or at two miles, depending on the specific safety and design characteristics of the reactor selected within the envelope of the ESP.