Regulatory Update

NRC Provides Updated Draft Pre-application Guidance to Advanced Reactor Developers

May 2021

The NRC staff has published an updated paper to provide information to advanced reactor developers on the benefits of a robust pre-application engagement to optimize application reviews. Pre-application interactions benefit both advanced reactor developers and NRC by improving the stability and predictability of the licensing process through the early identification and resolution of technical and policy issues.

The NRC’s paper addresses industry questions and inputs on the October 2020 version, and proposes a set of pre-application activities that would enable more predictable and shorter schedules during the review of an advanced reactor license application. This guidance for pre-application activities is essentially a staged licensing approach, where some key elements of an advanced reactor design are reviewed, and the evaluation is documented before the license application is submitted.