Feasibility Study for a Risk-Informed and Performance-Based Regulatory Structure for Future Plant Licensing

The purpose of this NUREG is to establish the feasibility of developing a risk-informed and performance-based regulatory structure for the licensing of future nuclear power plants (NPPs). As such, this NUREG documents a "Framework" that provides an approach, scope and criteria that could be used to develop a set of requirements that would serve as an alternative to 10 CFR 50 for licensing future NPPs; however, this Framework is not the entire process. It is an initial phase in is to demonstrate the feasibility of such a concept, recognizing that for full implementation there will be outstanding programmatic, policy, and technical issues to be resolved. As such, this feasibility study does not represent a staff position, but rather a significant piece of research. The second phase, which involves implementation, is comprised of several, iterative steps: resolution of issues, development of draft requirements and regulations, pilots and tests, and rulemaking.