Modernization of LWR Regulatory Framework: Benefits of Adoption of Risk-Informed, Performance-Based Approaches

The nuclear industry in the United States and around the world could be experiencing revitalization from the many advanced nuclear technologies being developed that promise design, demonstration, and construction of new nuclear reactor types as early as the next decade. However, the new technologies brought new challenges and raised questions, many of them related to the existing regulatory framework; for example, are existing regulations applicable, feasible, reasonable, and adequately efficient for licensing and regulating advanced reactors without placing unnecessary burden that could jeopardize deployment of new technologies? In recent years, industry and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission put significant efforts into the expansion and modernization of the U.S. nuclear regulatory framework offering significant advantages by reducing reliance on deterministic and prescriptive approaches and encouraging risk-informed and performance-based approaches. This paper presents the research that investigated opportunities to gain efficiencies and associated economic benefits from modernizing the way regulatory safety assurance is conducted by existing nuclear power plants. The recent advancements in the regulatory framework being developed for advanced nuclear reactors can be successfully leveraged and even expanded to gain such efficiencies for the operating fleet. The investigation conducted as part of this research suggests a regulatory framework that integrates deterministic, risk-informed, and performance-based approaches would allow flexibility for nuclear power plant owners and operators in meeting nuclear safety goals. This flexibility, in turn, is expected to reduce unnecessary burdens associated with the current safety assurance processes resulting in economic benefits.