Nuclear Energy Standards Group Targets Power Plant Operation, Licensing
July 16, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS
Participants decided that NESCC will provide a forum to facilitate and coordinate the identification, development and revision of standards for the design, operation, development, licensing and deployment of nuclear power plants.
Standards for other nuclear technologies, including advanced reactor concepts, will also be addressed, according to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), which formed the group.
Meeting participants also reviewed the group's charter and agreed on revisions to the document. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the American Nuclear Society (ANS) indicated they would need to seek their respective board approvals at upcoming meetings.
Attendees discussed the working methods, organizational structure and task groups planned for NESCC. Several participants provided brief overviews of potential technical areas for task groups to explore.
At the highest level, attendees expressed a need to address two technical areas: light-water or "new" reactors and high-temperature or "advanced" reactors.
Within these categories, several specific task groups were suggested, including:
- Fire protection.
- Seismic requirements.
- Concrete building classification and requirements for design and construction.
- Polyethylene pipe.
- Fabrication techniques including welding procedures.
- Metallic pressure components.
- Graphite core support structures.
- Conformity assessment activities including inspection technologies and quality assurance requirements.
- Implementation of risk-informed and performance-based approaches.
- Level 2 probabilistic risk assessment standards.
- Structure systems and components classifications.
- Single-failure criteria standards and quality assurance standards.
Source: American National Standards Institute (ANSI).