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NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, September-October 2015
Life after
60
By Christopher Miller, Nuclear
Regulatory Commission and Sherry
Bernhoft, Electric Power Research
Institute.
Christopher Miller
Christopher Miller is the Director,
Division of License Renewal, in the
NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation. Miller joined the NRC in
1988. In 2004, he
served in the Office
of the Executive
Director for
Operations. In 2007
Mr. Miller graduated
from the NRC’s
Senior Executive
Service Candidate
Development
Program and
served as Deputy
Director, Emergency
Preparedness, in
the Division of
Preparedness and
Response within the
Office of Nuclear
Security and
Incident Response.
In 2011 he served
as Region I’s Director, Division of
Reactor Safety. Prior to his current
position he was Director, Division
of Intergovernmental Liaison and
Rulemaking in the Office of Federal
and State Materials and Environmental
Management Programs. His pre-NRC
experience included serving as a U.S.
Navy officer and as a systems engineer
and maintenance superintendent at the
Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant.
He earned his bachelor’s degree from
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University.
An interview by Newal Agnihotri, Editor
of Nuclear Plant Journal, at the Utility
Working Conference in Amelia Island,
Florida on August 11, 2015.
1.
Are there any plants which have
expressed interest in 60+ years’ life?
Chris Miller:
While we don’t have
any applications from any plant, there
are several utilities that are interested.
Several utilities have expressed interest
but have not committed to submitting an
application for any particular plant. The
NRC is in the position where we just
have to wait until the application comes
in to know specifically what plants are
going to apply for license extension to
80 years. So our job is to make sure that
the guidance is ready when those plants
provide their applications; and we expect
the first of those in the 2018 to 2019 time
frame.
2.
Is the NRC
planning a proposed
rule on 80-year plant
life?
Miller:
The Com-
mission has decided
that we do not need
additional rulemak-
ing on this issue. For
the NRC staff to ap-
prove extension of the
license renewal from
60 to 80 years, there’s
no more rulemaking
that needs to be done.
The
Commission
told the NRC staff to
develop
additional
guidance. The guid-
ance includes what additional aging man-
agement programs or details need to be
considered for these plants to make their
application. So that’s what we’re in the
middle of doing right now, preparing that
guidance. That guidance will be coming
out in draft form in December 2015 and
will be available for public comment.
3.
How are you are going to deal with
a totally new generation of younger
operators, once you go from 60 to 80 year
plant life?
Miller:
Our standards at the NRC
ensure that licensed operators have a
very rigorous training program that’s
maintained. If you take a plant that was
built 40 years ago and you continue to
operate it for another 40 years, there’s
going to be a lot of system design
changes. Analog systems are going to be
changed to digital systems in some cases.
Licensees are responsible for the safety
of those changes and the NRC inspects
the most significant changes that are put
into place. Often those design change
packages include training for operators
on the new system, particularly for any
significant changes. So each one of
those incremental changes will require
operators to understand and know how to
operate and take appropriate emergency
actions using those systems. The NRC
inspects that operator knowledge and
performance through our operator
licensing program and other inspections.
4.
Is there any aging management
research which has been put in place
to address components and equipment
which are a cause of concern for going
from 60 to 80 years?
Sherry Bernhoft
: The short answer
is yes. When we established the program,
we went through a very systematic
process of what would be the prime
components of concern, which are reactor
pressure vessel, the RCS metals, welds,
and piping, the electrical cable systems,
both low- and the medium-voltage, and
the concrete structures, primarily the
biological shield walls. That’s what
came out of the rigorous review that we
did. We do have quite a bit of research
in all of those areas already. When we
put that research together with the long-
term operations program, we specifically
focused on the incremental research
needed to ensure we were closing the gap
on the potential to extend reactor licenses
from 60 to 80 years.
Through our materials programs,
for the PWRs we have what we call the
materials reliability program or the MRP,
and for the BWRs we have the BWR VIP
Vessel Internals Program. We have not
only U.S. nuclear operators participating
in these programs, but also a large
international membership involvement,
as well. And so, through that global
community, we get the operating
experience exchange and research
collaboration to work with.
Miller:
And as far as the operating
experience goes, the NRC works with
the IAEA to get international operating
experience in addition to what we get
from US plants. The US is clearly a
leader internationally in developing aging
