© 2018 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Neil Wilmshurst
VP, Nuclear & Chief Nuclear Officer
Electric Power Research Institute
NRC Commission BriefApril 12, 2018
EPRI R&D Activities Accident Tolerant Fuel
2© 2018 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
ATF Valuation 1.0: Benefit Analyses
Costs Benefits
Increased Fuel Reliability
Operational Flexibility
Fuel Cycle Economics
Utility Implementation
ATF Licensing
ATF Research & Development
Potential Concomitant Safety and Economic Benefits of ATF
Industry ATF Business Case
Conversion
EPRI ATF Safety Benefits Scoping Study
Improved Fuel
Characteristics
& Performance
System Safety
Modeling & Simulation
Risk Analyses
3© 2018 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
ATF Valuation 1.0: Enabling Capability & Path Forward
BDBA cases, ATF delays core damage, but,
core cooling needed to prevent core damage
DBA/AOO cases, improved safety margins
support additional operational enhancements
ATF as an enabling capability to potentially
offer greater benefits in normal operations
and design basis scenarios
ATF Valuation 2.0 opportunities for
expanding benefits underway:
– ATF combined with mitigation
– Improved fuel reliability
– Additional DBA/AOO cases
ATF Business
Case
Industry Economic
Assessment
Fuel Performance
Analyses
Safety Benefit
Analyses
4© 2018 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Holistic Technical & Regulatory Challenges
Enrichment Fuel Fab Spent Dry CISF/ Safety &
ATF U235 Facility Transport Facility Transport Fuel Cladding Fuel Pool Storage Transport Repository Economic
Concepts Levels Part 70/73/74/76 Part 71 Part 70/73/74 Part 71 Part 50 Part 50 Part 50 Part 72 Part 71 Part 72/60/63 Benefits
Coated Zr / ≤ 5%
UO2 > 5%
≤ 5%
> 5%
≤ 5%
> 5%
Rx Performance
Non-Zr
Clad / UO2
Non Zr /
New Fuels
Technical and regulatory challenges exist across entire fuel cycle
Coatings provide safety and economic benefits sooner for full cores
Transformative benefits with new clad/fuels longer path to full cores
5© 2018 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Longer-Term ATF Implementation Challenge
Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
NRC Review
Design &
Manufacture
Qualification
Test Reactor Irradiations &
Initial R&D Testing on
Non-Irradiated Samples
Cooldown, Transportation to Hot Cell
Facility, & Post Irradation
Examination Testing
Cooldown, Transportation to Hot Cell
Facility, & Post Irradation
Examination Testing
Commercial Reactor Testing
(Lead Test Rods/Assemblies)
Data Assessment & Development of
Models to Test Data Correlations for
NRC Submittals
Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Commercial Reactor Testing
(Lead Test Rods/Assemblies)
Parallel In-line Data Assessment & Development of
Models to Test Data Correlations for NRC Submittals
Advanced M&S & Non-Destructive Examinations with
Limited Post Irradiation Examinations of Test & Commercial
Reactor Irradiated & Non-irradiated Test Samples
NRC Review
Test Reactor Irradiations &
Initial R&D Testing on
Non-Irradiated Samples
Design &
Manufacture
Qualification
Advanced
M&S Aided
Design
Tra
dit
ion
al
Serial to parallel process
Potential opportunities to
accelerate data
collection and model
development with
Advanced M&S & NDE
Pa
ralle
l A
pp
roach
6© 2018 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Gap Analyses: Identify & Prioritize Key ATF R&D
Gap analyses using the Phenomena
Identification & Ranking Table (PIRT):
– Facilitate R&D decisions by leveraging global
resources to identify, prioritize, and target
R&D gaps to accelerate ATF implementation
– Cooperative gap analyses with key ATF
stakeholders to reduce duplication of effort
Issue resolution report:
– Prioritized plan to address gaps from PIRTs
– Identify innovative data collection and/or
advanced M&S approaches to accelerate
ATF implementation timeframes
PIRT
Gap
Analyses
Issue
Resolution
Report
7© 2018 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Summary
ATF Valuation 1.0 completed:
– “…the work completed by the task force does illustrate the potential for
economic benefits to utilities resulting from the deployment of ATF.”
ATF Valuation 2.0 underway:
– Examining additional opportunities for safety and economic benefits
PIRT Gap Analyses:
– Identify technical/regulatory gaps, areas of synergy, and common
opportunities for research collaboration to reduce duplication
Advanced M&S and NDE could be leveraged for longer-term
ATF concepts as tools for both regulators and industry