Activities for 4S USNRC licensing

4S (Super-Safe, Small and Simple) is a small sized sodium-cooled fast reactor being developed for the electricity supply in remote areas, high-temperature steam supply more than 400 °C, seawater desalination, and hydrogen production. The system design of power output of 10 MWe (30 MWt) has been completed. The main feature is that it does not have to be refueled for a long period (i.e. 30 years for 10 MWe version), and enable the reactor closure sealed during plant operation. Furthermore, the small size of the reactor makes the reactor building suitable for below grade installing. These two features can provide resolutions for the issues relevant to safety, security, and safeguard, which become much more serious matter internationally these days.4S is a pool-type reactor which contains the whole primary cooling system in a vessel. For the purpose of reducing the maintenance requirements with the reactor, (1) reflectors to compensate for fuel burn-up instead of control rods, (2) electromagnetic pump (EMP) which has no rotating parts, and (3) residual heat removal system by natural circulation and natural air draft are adopted. Therefore, exchange of the reactor components is not required during plant operation, in addition to no needs for refueling.Toshiba has initiated the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) pre-application review of 10 MWe version for the purpose of applying for design approval (DA). A series of public meetings with NRC has been held four times, and five technical reports have been submitted to NRC in preparation for DA application. Topics discussed in these meetings included, plant design, metallic fuel, safety design philosophy, safety analysis, measures against severe accident, phenomena identification and ranking table (PIRT), etc. Some useful comments and questions on the issues regarding the specific feature of 4S as well as sodium-cooled fast reactor were raised by NRC at the public meetings. Among them, those items which are applicable to general sodium-cooled fast reactors, e.g. principal design criteria, guideline for safety analysis, validation and verification for safety analysis code, quality requirements, severe accident, and emergency planning are presented in this paper.

► Toshiba initiated the USNRC pre-application review of 4S design approval application.
► A series of public meetings with NRC has been held four times.
► Topics discussed in these meetings included, plant design, safety analysis, etc.
► The issues regarding the specific feature of 4S as well as SFR were discussed.
► In this paper, those items which are applicable to general SFRs are presented.