The U. S. Eighth National Report for the Convention on Nuclear Safety

Nuclear Power Industry

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has prepared Revision 7 to Report NUREG-1650, “The United States of America Eighth National Report for the Convention on Nuclear Safety,” for submission for peer review at the eighth review meeting of the Convention on Nuclear Safety, to be convened at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria, in March 2020. This report addresses the safety of land-based commercial nuclear power plants in the United States (U.S.). It demonstrates how the U.S. Government achieves and maintains a high level of nuclear safety worldwide by enhancing national measures and international cooperation and by meeting the obligations of all the articles established by the Convention. These articles address the safety of existing nuclear installations, the legislative and regulatory framework, the regulatory body, responsibility of the licensee, the priority given to safety, financial and human resources, human factors, quality assurance, assessment and verification of safety, radiation protection, emergency preparedness, siting, design and construction, and operation. This report also addresses the principles of the Vienna Declaration adopted by the contracting parties in February 2015.

Similar to the U.S. National Report issued in 2016, this revised document includes a section developed by the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations describing work that the U.S. nuclear industry has done to ensure safety. The primary responsibility for the safety of a nuclear installation rests with the license holder; therefore, Part 3 explains how the nuclear industry maintains and improves nuclear safety.

This report addresses the issues identified through the peer review conducted during the seventh review meeting in March 2017 and discusses challenges and issues that have arisen since that time. The seventh review meeting identified the following four U.S. challenges:

(1) establishment of the acceptance criteria for operation beyond 60 years
(2) clarifying the back-fitting guidance and implementation criteria
(3) changes in the demographics, experience, and knowledge of the staff
(4) ensuring continuity during the oversight transition from plant construction to operation

This report discusses the status of safety issues raised in the seventh U.S. National Report, including baffle-former bolts, digital instrumentation and control systems, open phase conditions in electric power system, Project Aim, risk-informing regulations and processes, spent fuel pool neutron-absorbing materials, staff readiness to transition plants from construction to operations, staff readiness to transition plants from operation to decommissioning, and subsequent license renewal. The report also addresses the following safety and regulatory issues that have needed significant attention since 2016:

• accident-tolerant fuel
• changes to the Reactor Oversight Process
• clarifying the back-fit process
• digital instrumentation and control systems
• proposed rule making on emergency preparedness for small modular reactors and other new technologies
• risk-informed decision making
• subsequent license renewal challenges
• transformation at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission