THE USE OF COMPREHENSIVE IN-PROCESS PEER REVIEWS IN SUPPORT OF THE UK ABWR PSA GENERIC DESIGN ASSESSMENT PROCESS

摘要

Over the course of an approximately 12-month period, a series of over a dozen peer reviews were conducted on initial PSA models and reports prepared to support the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) application to the United Kingdom's Office of Nuclear Regulation (ONR) for Hitachi General Electric Nuclear Energy's (HGNE 's) UK Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (UK ABWR) design. The overall PSA evaluated all internal and external hazards risks for both at-power and low power/shutdown modes conditions, as well as spent fuel pool and fuel route hazards. The scope of the PSA included Level 1 through Level 3 risk assessments, As many portions of these PSAs were under active development throughout this period, in-process peer reviews were conducted. These reviews initially assessed each draft model/report and assigned Facts and Observations (F&Os) based on the review findings. Follow-on reviews were then conducted on the near-final documents to determine if the initial peer review's findings were fully addressed and to identify any further F&Os that pertained to the final models and reports. Through this innovative process, the HGNE PSA team was able to resolve the vast majority of technical adequacy issues through the course of this project. The submittal of the enhanced final PSA models and documentation, along with the detailed series of peer review reports, helped to demonstrate to ONR that these PSAs met the industry's technical adequacy requirements.