Dealing with Small Reactors

Learning from Fukushima

BY MARTIN ROSENBERG
Editor-in-chief, EnergyBiz

Allison Macfarlane, chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, says work is underway to pave the way for a new era of small modular reactors in America.

ENERGYBIZ: Where does the NRC stand regarding modular nuclear reactors?

MACFARLANE: First of all, we need an application. We haven't gotten one yet. But we have been having lots of discussions with the small modular reactor vendors and the industry in general about them. They understand what they need to do to send in a design certification application. We are expecting a possible design certification application later this year from Babcock & Wilcox for its mPower design. Babcock & Wilcox is working with TVA. We'll see how it goes. We are ready for them.

ENERGYBIZ: The SMRs are really a new animal compared with anything you've licensed before.

MACFARLANE: Yes and no. They are light water reactors.

ENERGYBIZ: What's your expectation of how long it may take for the whole review process until one is actually in construction?

MACFARLANE: I don't want to give you an exact number. It all depends on the quality of the applications that we get and how many questions are generated from the applications. Whether companies actually decide to go forward and build these things - that's not a decision that we make or entertain. It will take some years to work through the design certification application, of course. Then these companies will have to see whether they really want to go forward with them.

ENERGYBIZ: There's been a general retrenchment on nuclear construction in this country. How is the NRC using this lull period?

MACFARLANE: You may view it as a lull period, but we are not in a lull here; quite the opposite. It's a dynamic time. My first and foremost mission here is to maintain and ensure that the operating reactors continue to operate safely and securely. I want to make sure that we continue to make progress on post-Fukishima lessons learned. We are doing that, but it's going to take some attention to continue to ensure that that moves along apace. I'm personally interested in the back end of the fuel cycle. The timing of my arrival at the NRC and developments in the nuclear world are fortunate. We've had a nuclear waste confidence issue that we are tackling here at the NRC. This is something that has been going on for over a year now. The commission will be looking at that later in the spring. The NRC staff is now in the process of dealing with more than 30,000 comments that they received from the public.

This is the second of a two-part series. Last week: "Issues of Nuclear Power."

Read more: "The Nuclear Path".

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