European Utility Requirements for Advanced LWR Issue of EUR Revision E and Ongoing Assessments

Abstract

The purpose of the European Utility Requirements (EUR) Organisation is to actively develop and promote harmonised requirements for new mid- and large-size LWR NPPs that are proposed for construction in Europe. The harmonisation which is sought by the fourteen member utilities of the EUR Organisation, aims at delivering the safest and most competitive designs based on common requirements shared across Europe. The harmonised requirements are presented in the EUR document. This consists of an extensive set of requirements covering all aspects (safety, performance, competitiveness) and all parts of a NPP (Nuclear and Conventional Islands). It can be used by Utilities (e.g. for assessment of the GEN3 designs proposed by vendors, technical reference for call for bids) and by Vendors (e.g. understanding of customer’s expectation of GEN3 NPPs, facilitating the licensing process). The presentation will describe the main outcomes of the last 3 years of EUR Organisation activities (roadmap 2016–2018) and the challenges for the coming near future, in the following three fields. First, completion of Revision E of the EUR Document was achieved in December 2016 and issued in July 2017, followed in October 2017 by a training course that was attended by 90 participants. The presentation will describe the most significant updates including revision of the safety requirements to align to the most recent European and International safety standards issued by WENRA and IAEA, lessons learned from the Fukushima accident, including re-evaluated Seismic and External Natural Hazards approach and updated international standards (e.g. for I&C and for European Grid code). Revision E also includes feedback from previous design assessments of NPPs. Future possible development of the EUR Document (and of the assessment process) will be considered within the EUR Organisation ‘Roadmap’. Assessment of new designs is the second main technical activity. The assessment of the KHNP EU-APR (European version of APR1400) was completed in 2017 and an assessment of the Russian AEP’s VVER-TOI is planned to complete in 2018. These assessments are against EUR Revision D. The first assessment against Revision E (of the CGN HPR1000 “Hualong” design) is planned between 2018 and 2020. The presentation will recall the EUR design assessment objectives and process and the outcomes and progress of the different assessments. The third topic is the interaction between the EUR and other stakeholders, in particular other international organisations (ENISS, WNA/CORDEL, WENRA, EC, IAEA, EPRI/URD) with the aim of promoting Industry Requirements and influencing prospective regulation where appropriate. The presentation will describe how the EUR Organisation is connected to these stakeholders and how it presents Utility requirements to the wider nuclear industry.