Fuel Cycle Sub-Arena

Objective

For fuel cycle facilities, make continuous improvement in licensing and oversight, and risk inform new regulations as needed, while performing existing risk-informed functions.

Basis

SECY-99-100 and SECY-04-0182, as well as the related staff requirements memorandum (SRM), provide the conceptual framework for risk-informing the NRC's fuel cycle activities. Guidance on how to apply this framework is provided in "Risk-Informed Decision-Making for Material and Waste Applications, Rev. 1," which is available in the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), under Accession No.ML080720238. In particular, individual risk-informed applications must meet the established screening criteria.

The screening criteria applied to the goals (below) of implementing the NRC's revised regulatory requirements, as specified in Title 10, Part 70, of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR Part 70), would indicate that the given activity was undertaken to increase confidence in the margin of safety of fuel cycle facilities by requiring the use of a risk-informed approach to identify and manage items that are relied on for safety. Cost/benefit was not a consideration, and technical feasibility was known because two licensees had already implemented such systems. The revision of 10 CFR Part 70 is expected to reduce staff effort, while improving regulatory effectiveness, by providing more frequent updates of licensee design information and related risk information.

Goals

The staff has established the following goals for risk-informed and performance-based activities in this sub-arena:

• Revise the existing licensing guidance to reflect lessons learned from implementation of 10 CFR 70 Subpart H.
• Complete revision of inspection guidance to make use of the resulting risk information to focus inspections.
• Revise the Fuel Cycle Oversight Program to make it more risk-informed and performance-based consistent with Commission direction.

Summary Description

On January 15, 2019, the Director of the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) issued a memorandum to the NMSS staff on key principles for NMSS reviews. The memorandum states that the scope of staff reviews should be adjusted in the following ways:

• focus staff resources and expertise on the most safety-significant portions of a licensing decision;
• focus staff effort on reaching "adequate protection" or other regulatory conclusions based on reasonable assurance with respect to system performance, rather than an individual component; and
• enable the staff to acknowledge that a new technology may be safer than an existing technology, although operating experience with that new technology may be lacking and the new technology may not meet the regulatory review standards developed for the existing technology.

The memorandum goes on to encourage "continued innovation and transformation in our work, including enhancing our use of risk insights in making a finding of reasonable assurance." The enclosure to the memorandum includes additional information on "reasonable assurance of adequate protection" and describes various principles the staff and management should consider in establishing the scope of licensing reviews, as well as performing and documenting the results of these reviews.

As an example of how risk insights are being considered, operating experience, inspection data, insights from accident analysis, lessons learned from previous events, etc. were used to rank inspection technical areas into risk tiers.  The risk tiers were used to scope the various areas of inspection and the results were used to increase or decrease the hours and frequency of the specific types of inspection.

For more information see this public website

Previous Fiscal Years

FY 2019

On April 26, 2019, the Division Director for the Fuel Cycle Safety, Safeguards, and Environmental Review (FCSE) issued two memorandums chartering working groups to conduct holistic assessments of the Fuel Cycle Licensing Program and the Fuel Cycle Inspection Program. These working groups were charged with developing recommendations on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the programs while integrating risk-informed insights. The tasking memorandum specifically states the working groups are to identify potential areas of transformation and innovation in these programs while adhering to the key principles that guide the manner in which we conduct our work and make decisions; particularly with respect to the concept of "reasonable assurance of adequate protection."

In FY 2019, the working groups have solicited input and feedback from both internal and external stakeholders on proposed changes to these programs. The working groups considered recommendations included in a Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) letter dated April 12, 2019, a licensee letter dated April 24, 2019, and inputs gained through multiple public meetings. A number of public meetings have been held and the next public meeting is scheduled for November 15, 2019. The working groups also reviewed licensing review procedures and guidance from different offices and divisions within the agency and the fuel cycle inspection manuals and procedures. Additionally, the working groups leveraged operating experience and performance review information, as appropriate.

Based on these activities, the working groups will be providing recommendations to management that would enhance decision making and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of these programs. Development of revised guidance and procedures to address accepted recommendations are expected to commence in early CY 2020 with full implementation of recommendations during CY 2021.

FY 2020

On January 24, 2020, the Division of Fuel Management (DFM) Division Director issued a memorandum to the staff establishing high-level expectations for processing licensing actions (ADAMS Accession No. ML20010D837).  The memo builds on previous efforts within the office and the Commission's substantial history related to risk-informed decisions to reaffirm and expand previous expectations related to risk-informed decision making for the fuel cycle and spent fuel management activities.  The expectations are similar to, and re-enforce, many of the recommendations identified in the Smarter Fuel Cycle Licensing initiative.

In FY 2020, the Smarter Fuel Cycle Licensing working groups continued to solicit input and feedback from both internal and external stakeholders in identifying areas for improvement.  The culmination of the efforts on this initiative were documented in a letter report entitled "Working Group Recommendations for Building a Smarter Fuel Cycle Licensing Program," dated April 30, 2020 (ADAMS Accession No. ML20099F354).  Through stakeholder correspondence and interactions, NRC staff insights, and input received during multiple public meetings, the working group collected thirty-two suggestions.  Five of these suggestions have aspects that were considered separately, resulting in a total of thirty-seven suggestions being evaluated.  The suggestions were wide-ranging, from relatively simple considerations, such as more frequent communication between the licensee/applicant and the NRC project manager; to relatively extensive actions, such as developing job aids for each aspect of the NRC staff review effort for various types of licensing actions.  Many of the recommendations support gaining information and/or supporting activities to enable more risk-informed decisions regarding licensing actions; such as leveraging risk insights in determining the scope, focus, level of detail, and level of effort for licensing activities (e.g., gained from early site visits and job aids to support risk-informing pre-review assignment and alignment meetings).

On April 30, 2020, the DFM management approved the recommendations of the report and directed the staff to develop an implementation plan (ADAMS Accession No. ML20156A269). An implementation team was formed that developed an integrated action plan that identified actions that would be implemented in the near-term, mid-term, or long-term.  The implementation action plan dated, July 10, 2020, (ADAMS Accession No. ML20184A267), was subsequently approved by DFM management and specific action teams were formed to address the near-term (expected to be completed in early FY 2021) and mid-term actions (expected to be completed in mid to later FY 2021).  Long-term actions are expected to be considered as part of future budgeting considerations considering the level of effort and resources available. In FY 2020, the Smarter Fuel Cycle Inspection working group continued its interactions with internal and external stakeholders on proposed changes to the inspection program; considering a wide range of recommendations.  The working group leveraged operating experience (both domestic and international), risk insights, inspection data, and changes to the program from previous lessons learned activities in assessing whether the inspection program applied the appropriate focus on specific inspection areas that provide the greatest safety benefit.  The culmination of the efforts on this initiative were documented in a report entitled "Proposed Recommendations for Building a Smarter Fuel Cycle Inspection Program," dated March 18, 2020 (ADAMS Accession No. ML20073G659).  The changes proposed in this report will result in refocusing some inspection activities on areas that provide the greatest safety benefit while maintaining an effective fuel cycle oversight program. The proposed changes to the inspection program include: (1) modifications to inspection frequencies and resource estimates associated with completion of inspection procedures, (2) modifications to inspection procedures to reduce overlaps in inspection areas, and (3) modifications to inspection frequencies to inspection procedures for facilities with an NRC-approved corrective action program.

On March 18, 2020, the Division of Fuel Management (DFM) management approved the recommendations of the report (ADAMS Accession No. ML20077L247).  The full implementation of the recommendations from this effort in the revised inspection program guidance is expected by January 2022.

FY 2021

No Update.

FY 2022

The NRC staff incorporated the near- and mid-term Smarter Licensing Recommendations into its Division Instructions to enhance the review process by providing more opportunities to interact with the applicant, improve the efficiency of reviews, and provide more transparency for stakeholders to understand the review timeline and process. Implementation of the Smarter Inspection Program began in January 2021. Since most inspections are on a 3-year frequency, the Fuel Cycle Smarter Inspection Program Self-Assessment will be completed once a comprehensive set of data is available.

FY 2023

At the start of FY 2023, the staff completed the last of the procedural updates and process improvements needed to fully implement the recommendations. The staff is also leveraging lessons learned from other major projects like the consolidated interim storage facility reviews and new and advanced reactor reviews. FY 2023 was the first year of fully implementing the Smarter Fuel Facility Licensing Program.