© 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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Together…Shaping the Future of Electricity