COVER STORY | MICROREACTOR MOVEMENT
Right: The NRC recently approved the Qualification Methodology for the fuel design to be used in the NANO Nuclear Energy KRONOS microreactor
One aspect of the licensing process potentially in
question is a requirement under the Atomic Energy Act for an opportunity for a ‘contested hearing’ with regard to a new nuclear plant. The staff “currently have procedures and requirements to address contested hearings, but understand there may be implications related to the rapid deployment concepts,” and actions are TBD (to be determined) based on additional discussion for “a potential path forward”. The NRC staff will continue to assess further potential
enhancements to the regulatory framework for microreactors as technologies and deployment models evolve. The staff said it “continues to be receptive to feedback from stakeholders and other interested parties regarding the licensing and deployment topics listed in the integrated microreactor activities plan”.
On the dashboard The NRC staff have produced an Integrated Microreactor Activities Plan, which is intended to be a comprehensive view of microreactor licensing and regulatory topics. It includes actions to enhance the flexibility of the regulatory framework to support the variety of technologies and deployment models under consideration by the industry. The staff’s plan aligns with Section 208 of the ADVANCE Act, which directs the NRC to develop and implement risk- informed and performance-based strategies and guidance to license and regulate microreactors in eight areas: staffing and operations; oversight and inspections; security and safeguards; emergency preparedness; risk analysis methods; decommissioning funding assurance; transportation of fuelled microreactors; and siting. The NRC staff created a dashboard to show the status of these activities. The plan has been producing deliverables since the start
of 2024, such as a risk-informed methodology to be used in developing the safety basis for 10 CFR Part 71 applications for transportable microreactors. NRC says stakeholders have indicated that additional
regulatory clarity is needed in the near term to proceed with deployment models for large numbers of microreactors of standard designs. Among the activities due for completion in spring 2025 were activities in several of the areas covered by the dashboard.
Licensing: The staff response will include a paper on nth-of-a-kind microreactor licensing and deployment that includes options for Commission considerations for review and
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approval of standardised operational programmes at the design stage. Among the issues addressed will be a paper on options for aircraft impact assessment for microreactors, including potential criteria for excluding microreactors from the aircraft impact assessment requirements . The NRC staff ultimately plans to develop an online portal for microreactor licensing that would allow applicants to submit electronic applications for nth-of-a-kind microreactors and the NRC staff to conduct their reviews and issue licence documents. This portal is timetabled for action in 2027.
Siting: The NRC staff is considering a white paper on strategies for siting considerations for licensing mobile microreactors, timetabled for summer 2025. The paper will also include information on alternatives for environmental reviews, maximal design standardisation, grading the level of site characterisation, security, emergency preparedness, streamlined processing of licence applications and construction inspection. It also includes a paper on nth- of-a-kind microreactor licensing that includes information on alternative approaches for environmental reviews and a separate paper on population density-related siting criteria, both specifically for microreactors.
Inspection: Microreactor developers have indicated that applications for licences for microreactors may be submitted “in the next several years” and information on operational programmes may affect development of their deployment models. In response, the NRC staff will be working on an inspection manual, due to be completed in 2026, and an inspection framework for the operational phase, due to be completed the following year. Further new rulemaking would address security, with “alternative approaches for physical security that would be better suited to microreactor designs”.
Operation: The microreactor model generally assumes that plant will be operated remotely. In order to review proposed remote and autonomous operational approaches the NRC staff plans to develop draft guidance in the near-term which adapts the “self-reliant-mitigation facility” screening methodology of the 10 CFR Part 53 proposed rule. This will support NRC staff review of licence applications that might be submitted in the next several years. The staff will
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