NRC proposes assessing aircraft impact on new reactor designs

Washington (Platts)--24Apr2007

NRC has proposed assessing aircraft crash resistance in new reactor
designs. The agency is considering requiring new design applicants to "assess
how the design, to the extent practicable, can have greater built-in
protections to avoid or mitigate the effects of a large commercial aircraft
impact," NRC said April 24.
If adopted, the proposed rule would affect new applicants for reactor
design certification and applicants for a combined construction and operating
license that do not reference a certified design, NRC said. The proposed
approach "allows the designers to evaluate potential competing technical
factors, such as the response to earthquakes and passive safety systems, while
at the same time addressing aircraft impacts," and "should look at areas such
as core cooling capability, containment integrity and spent fuel pool
integrity," NRC said.
Text of a proposed rule will be available for public comment later this
year. Representative Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a
statement that NRC is not even committing to evaluate the information and that
he would introduce legislation "to require that new nuclear reactors are
designed to withstand the impact of a large commercial aircraft."