A new regulation framework has been established for the Brazilian electric energy market by a law put into effect on March 15,2004. The main overall goals of this new regulation are: to allow the lowest possible tariffs for end users, while providing the necessary economic incentives for the...

This paper describes the development of standards for emergency operations computer systems for the US Department of Energy (DOE). The proposed DOE computer standards prescribe the necessary power and simplicity to meet the expanding needs of emergency managers. Standards include networked UNIX...

Commercial nuclear industry practices regarding the integration of technical specification (TS) surveillance and maintenance activities are identified in this report. A questionnaire was developed and used to obtain current industry practices from NRC Regional personnel and INEL engineers with...

This paper examines the evolution of innovation in nuclear power reactors between 1974 and 2008 in twelve OECD countries and assesses to what extent nuclear innovation has been driven by economic incentives, political decisions and safety regulation considerations. We use priority patent...

The application NUREG/CR-6850 EPRI/NRC fire PRA methodology to DOE facility presented several challenges. This paper documents the process and discusses several insights gained during development of the fire PRA. A brief review of the tasks performed is provided with particular focus on the...

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s standardized plant analysis risk (SPAR) models are used to support a number of risk-informed initiatives. The fidelity and realism of these models are ensured through a number of processes including cross-comparison with industry models, review and use...

The development of voluntary nuclear standards in the United States is an active and necessary endeavor of the technical community concerned with the safe, orderly, and economic development of the nuclear potential. There are almost 8000 people presently involved either in writing voluntary...

Abstract: The NRC SPAR models currently employ the alpha factor common cause failure (CCF) methodology and model CCF for a group of redundant components as a single “rolled-up” basic event. These SPAR models will be updated to employ a more computationally intensive and accurate approach by...

The reasons for the renewed interest in fast reactors and an overview of the progress in sodium cooled fast reactor operation in the last ten years are given. The excellent operational performance of sodium cooled fast reactors in this period is highlighted as a sound basis for the development...