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Design Certification Application Review -
AP1000 Amendment

On January 27, 2006, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued the final design certification rule (DCR) for the Advanced Passive 1000 (AP1000) design in the Federal Register (71 FR 4464). Applicants or licensees intending to construct and operate a plant based on the AP1000 design may do so by referencing its DCR, as set forth in Appendix D to Title 10, Part 52, of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR Part 52, Appendix D). On March 10, 2006, the NRC issued a revised FDA based on Revision 15 of the Westinghouse design control document (DCD).

In a joint letter dated March 8, 2006, NuStart Energy Development, LLC (NuStart) and Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC (Westinghouse) stated that they would be submitting the AP1000 technical reports to the NRC for review during the preapplication phase for the Bellefonte combined license (COL) application. These reports will provide the following:

• information needed to close all or part of specific generically applicable COL items in the AP1000 certified standard design
  
  
• standard design changes that are a result of the AP1000 detailed design efforts
  
  
• specific standard design information in areas or for topics where the AP1000 DCD focused on design process/methodology and design acceptance criteria (DAC)
  
  
• deferral of COL information items to as-built requirements [e.g., inspection, test, analysis, and acceptance criteria (ITAAC)]

Most of the technical reports relate to the closing or partial closing of the AP1000 DCD COL information items; however, the largest review effort will center on the expected design changes. Those design changes include a redesign of the pressurizer, a revision to the seismic analysis to allow an AP1000 reactor to be constructed on site with rock and soil conditions other than the hard rock conditions certified in the AP1000 DCR, changes to the instrumentation and control (I&C) systems, a redesign of the fuel racks, and a revision of the reactor fuel design. Another area requiring significant resources will be the review of DAC-related items, such as the technical reports on human factors engineering (HFE), the I&C design, and piping. Additionally, Westinghouse submitted one report covering numerous COL information items, which can be completed only after the plant is built. Westinghouse proposes to convert those items to either ITAAC, license conditions, or license commitments.

By letter dated May 26, 2007, Westinghouse submitted an application to amend the AP1000 DCR and Revision 16 of the AP1000 DCD. Revision 16 contains changes proposed in technical reports, some of which have not yet been reviewed by the NRC staff.

On September 22, 2008, Westinghouse updated its application to amend the AP1000 DCD. The update, Revision 17, contains changes from those submitted in Revision 16. The changes are summarized in the September 22nd letter. On October 14, 2008, Westinghouse provided a corrected set of the Revision 17 DCD electronic files, to update portions of the Revision change roadmap and include additional change bars in the margins that had inadvertently been omitted in the initial submittal. The linked public version of Revision 17 is to the corrected files.

For additional detail, see the following topics on this page:

• Project Overview
• Application Review Schedule
• Contacts

Project Overview

In its application dated May 26, 2007, Westinghous noted that the submittal was being made in advance of the effective date of the provisions of 10 CFR Part 52, Appendix D, which establish the design certification amendment process within the regulations. The letter also requested that the NRC establish a schedule for acceptance of the application.

In a letter dated January 18, 2008, the NRC documented the completion of its acceptance review and stated that the application was being docketed. Subsequently, on February 15, 2008, the NRC issued a letter to Westinghouse establishing its review schedule. That schedule supported issuance of a final safety evaluation report FSER for the amendment in March 2010. The posted schedule reflects changes made in an April 3, 2009, letter. Due to revisions and additions to the application, the schedule for completion of the final safety evaluation report will be further extended; a projection is not currently available.

As of February 2008, Westinghouse had submitted 122 technical reports for staff review. Although submitted as part of the Bellefonte COL preapplication phase, these technical reports apply generically to the remaining COL applications that intend to reference the AP1000 design. The staff has held several meetings with Westinghouse and has performed audits of documentation related to leak-before-break analyses, I&C, HFE, and seismic analyses.

Westinghouse submitted Revision 17 to the Design Certification Amendment on September 22, 2008. It is expected to be available for public access thru the NRC's ADAMS (NRC’s online document retrieval system) in the very near future. The Revision 17 contains the changes from Revision 16, the Technical Report 134 series, and new changes.

Application Review Schedule*

* Chapters are currently progressing from Safety Review Phase 2 thru Phase 4 independently.

** Following the NRC receipt of Part 2 of the revised Westinghouse Shield Building Design scheduled for April 30, 2010, the staff will assess the impact on both the AP1000 design certification amendment review and the associated Combined License applications.

Contacts

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Thursday, March 18, 2010