Westinghouse has submitted a pre-application regulatory engagement plan (REP) to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for its eVinci microreactor. The submission details the planning pre-licensing application interactions with the regulator. An REP aids reactor developers’ early interactions with NRC staff. It can reduce regulatory uncertainty and contribute predictability to licensing advanced technologies.
     Michael Corletti is the Westinghouse Senior Director of Licensing and Advanced Reactors Engineering. In a letter dated November 15th to the NRC that accompanied the REP, he said, “This plan is an update to the version submitted in January 2020 and covers the planned pre-application interactions with the NRC in support of future Westinghouse eVinci microreactor license application(s).”
      The letter continued, “The enclosed plan includes information on the basic design of the eVinci microreactor as well as the regulatory strategies envisioned including design, manufacturing, and transportation phases of deployment. The plan includes our proposal of key topic areas that we would like to address through pre-application interactions to allow both Westinghouse and the NRC to determine the most effective means to license the advanced eVinci microeactor design. Through these interactions Westinghouse will continue to update the NRC of our deployment plans as they evolve.”
     REPs have no regulatory requirements. The guidelines note that the topics and appropriate level of detail a perspective applicant would wish to include are entirely voluntary. They should be agreed upon in discussions between the NRC and the applicant. Westinghouse said that “This regulatory milestone also sanctions substantial technology validation progress achieved on the overall development plan of eVinci micro-reactors.”
     Westinghouse describes the eVinci microreactor as a “small battery” for decentralized generation markets and for microgrids. These applications include remote communities, remote industrial mines and critical infrastructure. The nominal five megawatts heat pipe reactor has a heat capacity of fourteen megawatts. It features a design that Westinghouse claims provides competitive and resilient power as well as superior reliability with minimal maintenance. It is small enough to allow for standard modes of transportation. This means that it is suitable for remote locations and rapid, on-site deployment. These features make it a viable option for mines and remote and off-grid communities.
     David Durham is the President of Westinghouse energy systems. He says that “This action brings us closer to commercializing eVinci reactors by the end of this decade.”
     Westing house applied to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) for a pre-licensing vendor design review (VDR) of the eVinci on February 18th. The CNSC offers the pre-licensing VDR as an optional service in order to provide an assessment of nuclear power plant design based on a vendor’s reactor technology. It is not a require part of the licensing process for a new nuclear power plant. However, it aims to verify the acceptability of a design with respect to Canadian nuclear regulatory requirements and expectations.
     Many critics of the small modular reactors such as the eVinci say that the cost of these reactors will exceed the fractional cost of traditional power reactors that they will replace.