Regulatory Review Roadmap For Non-Light Water Reactors

Flexible Licensing Processes for Advanced Reactors

The NRC's review and licensing processes are flexible and allow interactions related to a wide variation in design development and deployment strategies. Based on interactions with stakeholders, the NRC determined that guidance would be beneficial to assist non-LWR developers in planning regulatory interactions. To address this need, the NRC developed guidance for its flexible regulatory review processes within the bounds of existing regulations, including the use of conceptual design reviews and staged-review processes in the document, "A Regulatory Review Roadmap for Non-Light Water Reactors." The "roadmap" is also intended to help designers prepare technology- or design-specific regulatory engagement plans. Regulatory engagement plans define desired outcomes from various interactions between the designer and the NRC, considering factors such as the resources available to the designer and the NRC and the coordination of regulatory issues with other aspects of the overall program for developing and deploying non-LWR designs. Regulatory engagement plans also define the timing and scope of regulatory interactions in order to align with stakeholders activities related to plant design, research and development, finance, public policy, and the fuel cycle. The NRC released a draft roadmap document in October of 2016 to support discussions with stakeholders during several public meetings. The staff incorporated stakeholder feedback, and guidance related to standard design approvals and prototype reactors into the final roadmap, which was issued on December 26, 2017.