Design Challenges With Licensing SMRs – a Perspective From a Nuclear Industry Service Provider

Abstract

Small modular reactors (SMRs) employ some novel features to achieve their design objectives. This paper presents a perspective from a nuclear industry service provider on a design approach to systematically associate the design of the systems, structures and components for SMRs to known codes and standards to ensure the necessary quality is achieved to support the safety case. The design approach utilizes the lessons learned from designing evolutionary Generation III nuclear power plants and the experience gained from a pre-licensing vendor design review of the Enhanced CANDU 6® reactor by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.