PSAM 16 - Session T12 Overview

PSAM 16 Conference Session T12 Overview

Session Chair: Kurt Vedros (kurt.vedros@inl.gov)

Paper 1 SV67

Lead Author: Lana Lawrence Co-author(s): Curtis L. Smith, Curtis.Smith@inl.gov Diego Mandelli, Diego.Mandelli@inl.gov Ronald L. Boring, Ronald.Boring@inl.gov

OVERVIEW OF RISA PROJECTS VALUE TO THE INDUSTRY
The United States nuclear industry is facing a strong challenge to maintain regulatory required levels of safety while ensuring economic competitiveness to stay in business. Safety remains a key parameter for all aspects related to operation of light water reactor (LWR) nuclear power plants (NPPs) and can be achieved more economically by using a risk informed ecosystem such as that being developed by the Risk-Informed Systems Analysis (RISA) Pathway under Department of Energy (DOE) Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program. The LWRS Program is promoting a wide range of research and development (R&D) activities with the goal to maximize the safety, economics, and performance of NPPs through improved scientific understanding, especially given that many plants are considering second license renewal. Within the RISA Pathway, the application of risk is somewhat unconventional: the R&D that is applied through the Pathway is not just centered on traditional safety margin; instead, we take a broader view of risk that encompasses integrated models that can better represent plant margins in terms of operational efficiencies, safety, and economics. The RISA Pathway has two main goals: 1) deployment of technologies that enable better representation of safety margins and the factors that contribute to cost and safety, and 2) development of advanced applications that enable cost-effective plant operation. The U.S. federal government understands the vital importance of the LWR fleet for the country’s energy, environmental, and economic needs and, through the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, sponsors R&D activities targeting fleet sustainability. As such, R&D activities resulting from the DOE sponsorship provide tremendous benefits to the industry – modern advanced technologies become readily available for implementation by any LWR NPP in the country. Many of these technologies are also transferrable to advanced reactor designs. This paper presents accomplishments of the RISA Pathway, current R&D activities, and benefits for NPPs to employ these technologies.

OVERVIEW OF RISA PROJECTS VALUE TO THE INDUSTRY

The United States nuclear industry is facing a strong challenge to maintain regulatory required levels of safety while ensuring economic competitiveness to stay in business. Safety remains a key parameter for all aspects related to operation of light water reactor (LWR) nuclear power plants (NPPs) and can be achieved more economically by using a risk informed ecosystem such as that being developed by the Risk-Informed Systems Analysis (RISA) Pathway under Department of Energy (DOE) Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program. The LWRS Program is promoting a wide range of research and development (R&D) activities with the goal to maximize the safety, economics, and performance of NPPs through improved scientific understanding, especially given that many plants are considering second license renewal. Within the RISA Pathway, the application of risk is somewhat unconventional: the R&D that is applied through the Pathway is not just centered on traditional safety margin; instead, we take a broader view of risk that encompasses integrated models that can better represent plant margins in terms of operational efficiencies, safety, and economics. The RISA Pathway has two main goals: 1) deployment of technologies that enable better representation of safety margins and the factors that contribute to cost and safety, and 2) development of advanced applications that enable cost-effective plant operation. The U.S. federal government understands the vital importance of the LWR fleet for the country’s energy, environmental, and economic needs and, through the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, sponsors R&D activities targeting fleet sustainability. As such, R&D activities resulting from the DOE sponsorship provide tremendous benefits to the industry – modern advanced technologies become readily available for implementation by any LWR NPP in the country. Many of these technologies are also transferrable to advanced reactor designs. This paper presents accomplishments of the RISA Pathway, current R&D activities, and benefits for NPPs to employ these technologies.

Paper SV67 | | Download the presentation PowerPoint file.

Name: Lana Lawrence (svetlana.lawrence@inl.gov)

Bio: Lana Lawrence is the lead of the Risk-Informed Systems Analysis (RISA) pathway. In this role she oversees multiple research activities related to risk-informed approaches with the goal to enhance sustainability of existing NPPs via improved safety margins, gained economic efficiencies, and greater flexibility in operations and management. Ms. Lawrence is a PRA engineer who worked with multiple nuclear power plants on various risk-informed applications. She earned a B.S. in Civil (structural) Engineering from a Ukrainian university and a M.S. in Reliability Engineering from the University of Maryland. She is currently working towards her Ph.D. in Systems Engineering.

Country: USA
Company: Idaho National Laboratory
Job Title: Risk-Informed Systems Analysis Pathway Lead

Paper 2 YO34

Lead Author: Yong-Joon Choi Co-author(s): Yunyeong Heo (yyheo0207@unist.ac.kr) Eunseo So (eunseo.so@inl.gov) Mohammad Abdo (mohammad.abdo@inl.gov) Cole Blakely (cole.blakely@inl.gov) Carlo Parisi (carlo.parisi@inl.gov) Jarrett Valeri (jarrett.valeri@fpolisolutions.com) Chris Gosdin (cgosdin@fpolisolutions.com) Gabrielle Palamone (gabrielle.palamone@fpolisolutions.com) Cesare Frepoli (frepolc@fpolisolutions.com) Jason Hou (jhou8@ncsu.edu)

Demonstration of the Plant Fuel Reload Process Optimization for an Operating PWR
The US Department of Energy (DOE) Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program, Risk-Informed Systems Analysis (RISA) Pathway plant reload optimization project aims to develop and demonstrate an automatized generic platform that can generate optimized fuel load configurations in the reactor core of a nuclear power plant. The project targets to optimize reactor core thermal limits through the implementation of state-of-the-art computational and modeling techniques. The optimization of core thermal limits allows a smaller fuel batch size to produce the same amount of electricity, which reduces new fuel costs and saves a significant amount of money on the back-end of the fuel cycle by reducing the volume of spent fuel that needs to be processed. The cost of a typical fuel reload for a light water reactor is about $50M and this project that a cost reduction of at least 5% is attainable by consolidating methods and core design procedures and practices. . This equates to a savings in excess of $2M per reactor per reload. There could be additional savings achievable in the back-end cost reduction in spent fuel management. The major research and development area of the project includes the development of an artificial intelligence-based "genetic algorithm" for the platform and demonstration of plant reload optimization with selective design basis accident scenarios for licensing support during fuel reloading. This research is very timely considering that the industry is actively getting ready to transition to accident tolerance fuels, and this platform will be capable to perform all necessary accident tolerance fuel evaluations. An additional benefit of this platform is an integrated workflow that incorporates seamlessly all the steps required for the fuel reload analysis, which traditionally is a labor-intensive and time-consuming process. This paper summarizes the recent research outcomes., This project progressed from the planning and methodology development phase to the early demonstration phase including the development of a multi-objective optimization process using genetic algorithms; development and testing of an approach for acceleration of optimization using artificial intelligence that significantly reduces the computational burden; demonstration of the fuel reload optimization framework for a generic pressurized water reactor; and demonstration of selective scenarios for evaluation of the transition from deterministic to risk-informed approach for fuel analyses. On-going activities and future plans are also summarized.

Demonstration of the Plant Fuel Reload Process Optimization for an Operating PWR

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program, Risk-Informed Systems Analysis (RISA) Pathway plant reload optimization project aims to develop and demonstrate an automatized generic platform that can generate optimized fuel load configurations in the reactor core of a nuclear power plant. The project targets to optimize reactor core thermal limits through the implementation of state-of-the-art computational and modeling techniques. The optimization of core thermal limits allows a smaller fuel batch size to produce the same amount of electricity, which reduces new fuel costs and saves a significant amount of money on the back-end of the fuel cycle by reducing the volume of spent fuel that needs to be processed. The cost of a typical fuel reload for a light water reactor is about $50M and this project that a cost reduction of at least 5% is attainable by consolidating methods and core design procedures and practices. . This equates to a savings in excess of $2M per reactor per reload. There could be additional savings achievable in the back-end cost reduction in spent fuel management. The major research and development area of the project includes the development of an artificial intelligence-based "genetic algorithm" for the platform and demonstration of plant reload optimization with selective design basis accident scenarios for licensing support during fuel reloading. This research is very timely considering that the industry is actively getting ready to transition to accident tolerance fuels, and this platform will be capable to perform all necessary accident tolerance fuel evaluations. An additional benefit of this platform is an integrated workflow that incorporates seamlessly all the steps required for the fuel reload analysis, which traditionally is a labor-intensive and time-consuming process. This paper summarizes the recent research outcomes., This project progressed from the planning and methodology development phase to the early demonstration phase including the development of a multi-objective optimization process using genetic algorithms; development and testing of an approach for acceleration of optimization using artificial intelligence that significantly reduces the computational burden; demonstration of the fuel reload optimization framework for a generic pressurized water reactor; and demonstration of selective scenarios for evaluation of the transition from deterministic to risk-informed approach for fuel analyses. On-going activities and future plans are also summarized.

Paper YO34 | Download the paper file. | Download the presentation PowerPoint file.

Name: Yong-Joon Choi (yong-joon.choi@inl.gov)

Bio: Since 2012, Dr. Choi is a program manager and senior research scientist at Idaho National Laboratory. In his capacity, he leads various programs under DOE's Light Water Reactor Sustainability program. He is also a member of RELAP5-3D nuclear thermal-hydraulics code development team. Prior to INL, he worked at the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency for seven years as program manger for developing advanced nuclear fuel cycles and related strategy and policy. Dr. Choi received his Ph.D. and grand master degree on thermal system energy from the University of Marne-La-Vallee, France, M.S. and B.S in nuclear engineering in Kyunghee University, Korea.

Country: USA
Company: Idaho National Laboratory
Job Title: Program Manager / Senior Researcher

Paper 3 BR12

Lead Author: Bruce Hallbert

Sustaining the Existing Fleet of Light Water Reactor
Sustaining the value of the US nuclear power fleet can be achieved through cost-effective, reliable operation to deliver diversity, robustness, environmental benefits, and national leadership. Many owners plan to operate nuclear plants for 60 years and more to capture this value. Doing so requires ensuring the integrity of key materials and the economic viability of these plants in current and future energy markets. This paper presents a summary of research activities conducted by the DOE-sponsored Light Water Reactor Sustainability program to address key issues pertaining to the continued operation of the existing fleet of operating light water reactors.

Sustaining the Existing Fleet of Light Water Reactor

Sustaining the value of the US nuclear power fleet can be achieved through cost-effective, reliable operation to deliver diversity, robustness, environmental benefits, and national leadership. Many owners plan to operate nuclear plants for 60 years and more to capture this value. Doing so requires ensuring the integrity of key materials and the economic viability of these plants in current and future energy markets. This paper presents a summary of research activities conducted by the DOE-sponsored Light Water Reactor Sustainability program to address key issues pertaining to the continued operation of the existing fleet of operating light water reactors.

Paper BR12 | |

Name: Bruce Hallbert (bruce.hallbert@inl.gov)

Bio: Dr. Hallbert has over 30 years of experience in the international nuclear power industry serving in a variety of positions of organizational responsibility, in engineering and safety analysis, research & development concerning the safety and efficiency of current and future nuclear energy and fuel cycle systems and technologies.

Country: USA
Company: Idaho National Laboratory
Job Title: Director, Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program

Paper 4 RI307

Lead Author: Richard Boardman Co-author(s): Richard Boardman

U.S. H2@Scale Vision and Hydrogen Earthshot Goal
The motive for hydrogen markets is driven by several factors. Hydrogen is required for ammonia-based fertilizers and petroleum refining. Future uses include steel production, transportation, and production of biofuels and synthetic jet and diesel fuel. Hydrogen is a leading energy storage option and can be used to arbitrage the energy produced by nuclear power plants. This can help firm variable renewable power generation. The U.S. Department of Energy establish the H2@Scale Initiative and is sponsoring R&D to help accelerated technology development and demonstration projects. Nuclear energy is considered a leading option for large-scale hydrogen production. The joint efforts of the LWRS and Hydrogen/Fuel Cell Programs can help achieve the U.S. Earthshot goal of producing a kilogram of hydrogen for 1.00USD by the end of the decade (1-1-1).

U.S. H2@Scale Vision and Hydrogen Earthshot Goal

The motive for hydrogen markets is driven by several factors. Hydrogen is required for ammonia-based fertilizers and petroleum refining. Future uses include steel production, transportation, and production of biofuels and synthetic jet and diesel fuel. Hydrogen is a leading energy storage option and can be used to arbitrage the energy produced by nuclear power plants. This can help firm variable renewable power generation. The U.S. Department of Energy establish the H2@Scale Initiative and is sponsoring R&D to help accelerated technology development and demonstration projects. Nuclear energy is considered a leading option for large-scale hydrogen production. The joint efforts of the LWRS and Hydrogen/Fuel Cell Programs can help achieve the U.S. Earthshot goal of producing a kilogram of hydrogen for 1.00USD by the end of the decade (1-1-1).

Paper RI307 | | Download the presentation pdf file.

Name: Richard Boardman (Richard.Boardman@inl.gov)

Bio: Richard Boardman has a doctorate degree in Chemical Engineering. He currently leads the Light Water Reactor Sustainability pathway for development of Flexible Plant Operation and Generation. He is also the INL Lab Relationship Manger to the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Office. Since joining the Idaho National Laboratory in 1990, Dr. Boardman has led several technology and process development projects related to hydrogen production, nuclear heat integration with chemical processes, coal and biomass gasification, biopower, and pollutant control.

Country: USA
Company: Idaho National Laboratory
Job Title: Directorate Fellow