W14 Innovations in Advanced Reactor Construction Oversight

This panel session will focus on the framework the staff is developing for new and advanced reactor construction oversight. This framework applies construction oversight experience and leverages lessons from past construction projects such as Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, Units 3 and 4, and the SHINE Technologies, LLC, facility, as well as current NRC inspection programs. The staff will discuss major components of the current construction reactor oversight process and nonpower production and utilization facility construction oversight programs, lessons learned from the application of these programs, and how the NRC proposes to structure the Advanced Reactor Construction Oversight Program (ARCOP) in response to these lessons. External panelists will share perspectives on the need for construction oversight to be flexible and risk informed so that it is commensurate with advanced reactor safety profiles, research in digital monitoring technologies aimed at optimizing oversight by owners and regulators, and international collaboration to enhance advanced reactor and SMR construction oversight.


SESSION CHAIR(S):
 

• Opening Remarks
  Robert Taylor, Deputy Director for New Reactors, NRR/NRC

SPEAKER(S):
 

• The Future of Advanced Reactor Construction Oversight
  Nicole Coovert, Chief, Construction Inspection Branch 1, Division of Construction Oversight, RII/NRC
• Jonathan Greives, Chief, Projects Branch 4, Division of Operating Reactor Safety, R1/NRC
• An Industry Perspective on Advanced Reactor Construction Oversight
  Benjamin Holtzman, Director, New Reactors, Nuclear Energy Institute
• The Pathway to Complete Digital Twins in Construction: Where Are We Now and Where Are We Going?
  Robert Cox, Associate Director, Energy Production and Infrastructure Center, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
• Innovation in New Nuclear Construction Oversight
  Sarah Eaton, Director General, Directorate of Advanced Reactor Technologies, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission

SESSION COORDINATOR(S):
 

• Ossy Font, Project Manager (Non-Power), Advanced Reactor Policy Branch, Division of Advanced Reactors and Non-power Production and Utilization Facilities, NRR/NRC e-mail: Ossy.Font@nrc.gov