NRC 2.0: Adapting regulation to a changing nuclear industry

A series of sweeping changes at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission would alter the agency's mission to adapt to an evolving US nuclear industry, which is in the grips of a struggle for its economic survival.

Ten years ago, what some called a nuclear power "renaissance" was anticipated in the US, and the agency expected to be reviewing dozens of applications to license new nuclear units.

In fact, 18 such applications were submitted to NRC beginning in September 2007.

However, the 2008 economic crisis and low prices for power and natural gas doomed almost all those projects, with most of the applications withdrawn or reviews suspended indefinitely.

A handful of combined construction permit-operating licenses have been issued beyond those issued in 2012 for four new units in Georgia and South Carolina -- but none of the utilities receiving those licenses have definite plans to build reactors.

Earlier this year, South Carolina Electric & Gas and project partners said they would not complete construction of two new units at the Summer plant in South Carolina, citing uncertainty created by the bankruptcy filing in March of Westinghouse, the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the project.

NRC had in 2006 created an Office of New Reactors and hired hundreds of new staffers to review those applications. The agency now plans to fold the functions of that office back into its Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, which oversees operating units, by late 2020.

NRC is also revamping its oversight of power reactor decommissioning, as a number of nuclear units have been shut, and several more are slated to be shut, due to the economic pressures before the expiration of their operating licenses.

A rulemaking underway would revise NRC regulations to smooth the transition of permanently shut units from the oversight process for operating reactors to that for those undergoing decommissioning.

Currently, licensees must request a series of exemptions from operating reactor regulations dealing with security, emergency preparedness and other matters, a burdensome process for both utilities and NRC staff.

A draft proposed rule is scheduled to be sent to commissioners for their consideration in May.

The agency has also undertaken in the last few years its Project Aim initiative to adjust the size of the agency and its staff to the missions that face it in the coming years.

The agency's $952 million budget request for fiscal 2018, which began October 1, represents a decrease of over $100 million and more than 500 "full-time equivalents" compared with the fiscal 2014 budget, with a full-time equivalent representing the amount of work performed by one agency employee in a year.

Nuclear industry officials have expressed hope that the reduction in NRC's new reactor workload will lead to lower user fees, which are required by law to pay for 90% of the agency's budget.

However, they -- and some influential Republican members of Congress -- have expressed concern that per-unit fees could in fact increase as reactors continue to shut prematurely because there will be fewer in service to share the collective costs of the agency's work.

NRC and industry have cooperatively developed a process to assess the "cumulative effects of regulation," and there has been greater effort in recent years to account for such effects when considering the imposition of new regulations or other requirements.

The industry is also pursuing its own initiative, known as Delivering the Nuclear Promise, with the goal of reducing operating costs at existing nuclear units in the US by roughly one-third over the next several years.

Among the few bright spots on the horizon for the US nuclear industry are prospects for construction of small modular reactors, or SMRs.

NRC staff began this year a safety and environmental review of NuScale Power's SMR design.

Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems is making plans to build a 12-module NuScale SMR station, with a total capacity of 600 MW, at a site at Idaho National Laboratory that would be operated by Energy Northwest.

If it decides to proceed with construction, UAMPS has said it hopes to begin commercial operation of the plant in 2026.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is also considering building one or more SMRs at its Clinch River site in that state, but it has not selected a reactor design or vendor.

NRC is collaborating with industry on several initiatives to prepare the agency to review applications to build and operate advanced reactors with designs radically different from the light-water-cooled units now in operation.

Industry officials have said the first such applications are expected by 2030, but some advanced reactor vendors have said they hope to have design and licensing reviews underway earlier, perhaps by the mid-2020s.

Agency and industry officials alike have expressed hope that despite the challenges, these changes will result in what NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki recently called a "unique opportunity" to create a "more efficient and effective" agency that she has referred to as "NRC 2.0."