Plant Performance Working Groups

Cooperation in Reactor Design Evaluation and Licensing (CORDEL)

Chair: Nawal Prinja (Jacobs, 2021/2022) 
Vice Chair: Tom Bergman (NuScale Power, elected Chair 2022/2023); Ki-Hoon Jung (KEPCO E&C)
Staff Directors: Allan Carson, Ronan Tanguy

CORDEL’s mission is to promote a worldwide nuclear regulatory environment where internationally accepted standardized reactor designs can be widely deployed without major design changes at the national level. In practice, this would mean that generic design certification and safety evaluations approved by a recognized competent authority would be acceptable in other countries. 

CORDEL acts as industry’s voice in the areas of reactor design standardization and regulatory streamlining with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), OECD/Nuclear Energy Agency, European Nuclear Installations Safety Standards Initiative (ENISS), European Utility Requirements for LWR Power Plants (EUR), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and the Standards Development Organization Convergence Board (SDO CB).

In 2019, a new CORDEL Strategic Plan for 2019-2023 was issued, focusing on both new-build and long-term operation aspects of nuclear power plants. 

CORDEL recently published a report in December 2021 on Different Interpretations of Regulatory Requirements, studying several regulatory regimes to determine how varying interpretations of fundamental nuclear safety standards have led to significant differences in versions of the same reactor design built in different countries.

CORDEL held its fourth regional workshop in association with the ENISS and EUR in Lyon, France on 18-20 May 2022 hosted by EDF and Framatome. 

 
Mechanical Codes and Standards Task Force
Chair: Nawal Prinja (Jacobs)  
Deputy Chair: Frédéric Beaud (EDF)

The Mechanical Codes and Standards Task Force (MCSTF) of the CORDEL Working Group was set up in 2010 to collaborate with the Standards Development Organizations Convergence Board (SDO CB) and the Multinational Design Evaluation Program (MDEP) Codes and Standards Working Group (CSWG) on the international convergence of mechanical codes and standards, related to the design of nuclear power plant’s components important to safety. During 2018, the work of MDEP Codes and Standards Working Group (CSWG) was transferred to the Working Group on Codes and Standards Working Group (WGCS) under the Committee of Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) of the OECD/Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). The Task Force maintains close cooperation with the CNRA/WGCS. As of 2022, the MCSTF holds the technical secretary role of the Standards Development Organization Convergence Board (SDO CB) enabling it to better coordinate harmonization work.

Currently, the MCSTF has two pilot projects: advanced manufacturing and fatigue life analysis. The Task Force is finalizing its report on advanced manufacturing, which will present the status of current industry projects and emphasize the need to harmonize the codification of the technologies to enable their global deployment in the nuclear industry. The Task Force is continuing its work on fatigue life analysis following publication of its report “Comparison of Pressure Vessel Fatigue Codified Design Rules Based on S-N Approach” in July 2020. The Task Force completed its project on Non-Linear Analysis with the publication of “Non-Linear Analysis Design Rules Part 3: Recommendations for Industrial Practices”. 
 
Design Change Management Task Force
Co-Chair: Jinxing Yan (SNERDI); Vacant
 
The Task Force revisited its scope and work programme in 2018. The Task Force contributes to work to facilitate the sharing of design change information on common nuclear power plant designs among different utilities, owners groups, and international organizations, and to maintain a dialogue with WANO and the IAEA on the responsibilities of operators on how they manage their fleets and cooperate internationally to keep a high degree of standardization.  
 

Licensing and Permitting Task Force
Chair: Claude Mayoral (Edvance)
Vice Chair: Carrie Fossaen (NuScale Power)

The Task Force has worked on the concept of a reference plant which could be more easily licensed in a given country by taking advantage of an acceptance of the reference plant design by a competent safety authority. The report on reference plant concept was published at the end of 2019. The Task Force continues to benchmark leading practices regarding licensing and promotes innovation leading to more efficient licensing processes. In June 2021, the task force completed the report ‘Design Maturity and Regulatory expectations for Small Modular Reactors’ jointly with SMRTF, which identified country specific approaches to licensing and the required design maturity to engage regulators in the licensing processes. In December 2021 the Task Force published a report on the different interpretations of regulatory requirements, setting out the challenge posed to the nuclear industry by the current national approach to nuclear regulation.

IAEA Nuclear Safety Standards Task Force
Chair: Etienne Courtin (Framatome) 
Vice Chair: Robert Vesecky (CEZ,a.s.)

This Task Force actively contributes to the IAEA Nuclear Safety Standards Committee (NUSSC), providing consolidated industry inputs and feedback. In 2020, the focus was on Chemistry Programme for Water Cooled Nuclear Power Plants, Equipment Qualification for Nuclear Installations, and Development and Application of Level 2 Probabilistic Safety Assessment for Nuclear Power Plants . The Task Force took part of the NUSSC’s working group on Safety Guide on Assessment of the Application of General Requirements for Design of Nuclear Power Plants and the consultancy meetings of the IAEA SMR Safety Working Group on applicability reviews of current safety standards, and provided the IAEA with industry inputs to the safety guide update and comments on safety standards applicability. The Task Force closely collaborate with ENISS and EUR to avoid duplication.

Digital Instrumentation & Control Task Force
Chair: Johannes Pickelmann (Framatome)  
Vice Chair: Alan Poole (Jacobs)  

The Task Force continues to work on defence-in-depth and diversity aspects as well as on safety classification related questions. A revision of the report on the comparison of key concepts following comments by the OECD/NEA CNRA-Working Group on Digital I&C (WGDIC) and changes in national definitions was published in 2019. Similarly, the report on safety classification for I&C Systems in Nuclear Power Plants - Current Status & Difficulties was revised taking into account comments from CNRA-WGDIC and published in March 2020. The Task Force published another document on International Nuclear I&C and Electrical System Standards Tables with URLs in May 2020, which brings together the related standards used by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) communities.

Following a workshop on I&C modernization held in Erlangen, Germany in October 2019, the Task Force published a report on I&C modernization in September 2020. Other topics being currently discussed for future activities are related to cybersecurity and FPGAs. The Task Force will maintain its efforts to increase the visibility of its work within relevant SDOs and international organizations (IEEE, NEA CNRA, etc), and continue to interact with IAEA in the development of relevant TECDOCs.

In May 2022, the DICTF published a report on Hardware Description Language (HDL) Programmed Device (HPD) Technology in Nuclear Power Plants, outlining the lack of consistency in both industry standards and regulatory approaches for these technologies.  
  

Small Modular Reactor Task Force 
Chair: Peter Hastings (Kairos Power) 

The Group promotes application of the CORDEL model to global SMR deployment, presenting and discussing it at relevant international fora, such as the IAEA SMR regulators’ forum and INPRO. The task force provided industry’s common comments on the Phase 2 interim reports of the IAEA SMR regulators’ forum in June 2020. In June 2021, the task force completed the report ‘Design Maturity and Regulatory expectations for Small Modular Reactors’ jointly with LPTF, which identified country specific approaches to licensing and the required design maturity to engage regulators in the licensing processes.

The Task Force continues to develop proposals for more innovative and efficient licensing of SMRs, through looking at topics, such as in-factory certification of modules; inherent safety features and passive safety system capability justification; changes needed in the regulatory/licensing framework for non-LWR/advanced reactors; security approaches and non-proliferation issues; and emergency planning zones (EPZ). 

Supply Chain

Chair: Laurent-Olivier Coudeyre (EDF)  
Staff Director: Nathan Paterson

The Group’s mission is to enable a robust, competitive and adaptive supply chain in support of all phases of a nuclear power plant’s life cycle: design, construction, commissioning, operation and decommissioning.

Activities include: monitoring and identifying market trends; sharing of best practice for supply chain strategies; developing industry guidance through analysing methodologies for cost-competitive, consistent and efficient plant construction; and  encourages the development of supportive mechanisms for product quality assurance and continuous performance improvement.

The group supports the development of the biennial Supply Chain Outlook Report which consolidates key data, analysis and recommendations in specific and cross-cutting areas where supply chain considerations should be factored. It provides a market-oriented review of the opportunities and challenges for nuclear power plants and their supply chain. Synergies with other Association groups and international stakeholders are promoted through subgroup activities on a wide range of supply chain topics, from nuclear plant and major supply chain programme deployments, localization and value chain, to small modular reactor industrialization, quality culture and industrial innovation.

The Group exchanges regularly with international stakeholders on industrial developments including with the Multinational Design Evaluation Programme’s (MDEP’s) Vendor Inspection Coordination Working Group (VICWG), IAEA Supply Chain Management activities, World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), FORATOM’s Supply Chain Optimisation group and Nuclear Quality Standard Association (NQSA) activities including ISO19443 roll-out and efforts towards an industry controlled certification scheme.

In recent years, additional reports have included Lesson-learning in Nuclear Construction Projects and Countering Counterfeit, Fraudulent and Suspect Items in the Nuclear Supply Chain. 

Capacity Optimization

Co-Chairs: Mike Baron (Global Nuclear Associates) and Abderrahim Al Mazouzi (EDF)  
Staff Director: Ronan Tanguy

The Group was set up as a forum for discussing means by which nuclear power plant operators worldwide can improve the performance of their plants in areas such as maintenance and availability. Its recent focus, prompted by the average age of the global fleet reaching over 30 years, has been in the area of long-term operations (LTO). The LTO Task Force monitors existing work performed by WANO, NEA and IAEA in this field, and has produced a technical position paper to support outreach to policy makers regarding the feasibility and importance of continued operation of the existing fleet. The Task Force will also be a forum for industry, including vendors and utilities, to share leading practice in this field. 

Waste Management and Decommissioning 

Chair: Mike Pieraccini (EDF)  
Staff Director: Aaron Erim

The Group monitors trends in waste management strategies on both the international and local level, and seeks to establish a consensus for a more effective system of nuclear waste management and decommissioning. The Group promotes resource efficiency through the appropriate re-use and recycling of material, and the safe long-term disposal of radioactive wastes from nuclear sites as prescribed in national regulation. Additionally, it cooperates with other Working Groups on topics of mutual interest, such as the radiological protection of workers during decommissioning, or with regard to multinational repositories.

In 2019, the Working Group published a methodological guide for managing waste from decommissioning. The guide covers various strategic, technical and economic aspects of nuclear waste management. The conclusions of this report are actively promoted internationally through conferences and technical papers to which the WM&D group members are involved with. 

The Group is regularly represented and actively contributes to various international organisations and technical committee such as the IAEA’s International Radioactive Waste Technical Committee (WATEC), The IAEA’s Status and Trends in Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste Management report, the NEA’s Working Party on Deep Geological Repositories and Nuclear Liability (WPDGR) or the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) report.