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Nuclear power plants in Canada are subject to the ongoing regulatory oversight of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to ensure their operation does not pose unreasonable risk to health, safety, security or the environment, and conforms to Canada’s international obligations regarding the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
Regulatory document RD-360 version 2, Life Management of Nuclear Power Plants describes the regulatory requirements for the long-term operation of a nuclear power plant (NPP) and for the end of its operation. The associated guidance document GD-360 Guidance for Life Management of Nuclear Power Plants (draft) [1] provides information as to how these requirements may be met.
Long-term operation of an NPP denotes operation beyond the assumed design life of the plant. The licensee may decide to maintain continued operation of the facility up to its refurbishment or permanent shutdown, or may initiate refurbishment activities to support the period of long-term operation. The licensee must provide assurances that the safety case is maintained for all activities authorized under the power reactor operating licence throughout the period of long-term operation. Specifically, the licensee must demonstrate that the NPP will continue to meet the licensing basis and seek opportunities to improve safety. This is accomplished through the completion of an Integrated Safety Review (ISR) which is a comprehensive evaluation of the design, condition, and operation of the NPP. The licensee addresses the results of the ISR through an integrated implementation plan (IIP).
The licensee may decide to end operation of the NPP. The end of operation is the final, permanent shutdown of an NPP’s reactor operation (or a unit of a multi-unit NPP facility); the NPP facility remains subject to its power reactor operating licence that authorizes activities during the transition period from reactor unit shutdown and safe state of storage until it enters the decommissioning phase. The licensee must then implement an end of operation plan, including a sustainable operations plan for the safe operation of the NPP until the final permanent shutdown of each reactor. Depending upon the strategy chosen, the end of operation plan must also include either a detailed decommissioning plan or a safe state of storage plan for the transition period until decommissioning the NPP.
Other health, safety and environmental considerations may dictate adherence to additional requirements. It is the responsibility of the licensee to identify any other applicable legislation or standards.
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Purpose
1.2 Scope
1.3 Relevant regulations
1.4 National and international standards
2.0 General Requirements
2.1 Long-term operation
2.2 End of operation
3.0 Long-term Operation
3.1 Integrated Safety Review
3.2 Integrated safety review basis document
3.2.1 Scope
3.2.2 Statement of the licensing basis at the time of initiating the ISR
3.2.3 Safety and control area reviews
3.2.4 Statement of modern codes, standards and practices
3.2.5 Identification and disposition of findings
3.2.6 Risk management decision-making process
3.2.7 Global assessment methodology
3.2.8 Quality management program
3.2.9 Change control
3.3 Safety and control area reports
3.4 Integrated safety review final report
3.5 Integrated implementation plan
3.6 Continued operation plan
3.7 Refurbishment and project execution plan
4.0 End of Operation Plan
4.1 Sustainable operations plan
4.2 Safe state of storage plan
4.2.1 Stabilization activity plan
4.2.2 Storage and surveillance plan
4.3 Decommissioning plan
Glossary
Appendix A: Approach to the End of Assumed Design life
Appendix B: CNSC Safety and Control Areas
References
Additional Information
This regulatory document explains the requirements of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) regarding activities a licensee must undertake in support of a project for long-term operation (LTO) or to prepare for the end of operation of a nuclear power plant (NPP) leading up to its decommissioning.
This regulatory document describes the steps and measures to be implemented by the licensee in support of a project for LTO, or for the end of operation of an NPP. LTO is the operation beyond the assumed design life of the NPP and may involve either continued operation of the NPP up to its refurbishment or permanent shutdown, or its refurbishment followed by the period of long-term operation. The end of operation is the final, permanent shutdown of reactor operation of an NPP (or unit of a multi-unit NPP facility); the NPP facility remains subject to a power reactor operating licence that authorizes activities during the transition period from reactor unit shutdown and safe state of storage until it enters the decommissioning phase.
This document covers activities to be completed during the operating phase of the NPP, under the authorization of a power reactor operating licence (PROL) issued by the Commission, and excludes activities that are to be undertaken under the decommissioning licence.
Requirements and activities pertaining to the conduct of an environmental assessment (EA) and/or application for a decommissioning licence are outside the scope of this regulatory document.
The associated guidance document GD-360 Guidance for Life Management of Nuclear Power Plants (draft) [1] provides information as to how these requirements may be met.
The provisions and regulations of the Nuclear Safety and Control Act (NSCA, the Act) that are relevant to this document are as follows:
1. Sections 3 and 6 of the Class I Nuclear Facilities Regulations state the general licence application requirements specific to nuclear facilities and the information required to apply for a nuclear facility operating licence.
Other acts, regulations, and codes are also applicable to projects to support LTO, including the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) [2] and associated regulations [3, 4, 5, 6, 7], and the Canada Labour Code, Part II, Occupational Health and Safety [7]. See also Additional Information.
Key principles and elements used in developing this regulatory document are consistent with national and international standards, guides and practices.
In addition, this regulatory document is consistent with:
As the NPP approaches the end of its assumed design life, the licensee shall implement the steps and measures for either LTO or end of operation, as depicted in Appendix A. The licensee shall initiate this process at least five years before the NPP reaches the end of its assumed design life.
The licensee shall notify the CNSC regarding its intent to continue operation beyond the end of assumed design life. The strategy for LTO involves two options:
In support of LTO, the licensee shall:
Depending upon the option chosen, the licensee shall either submit a continued operation plan or a detailed refurbishment project execution plan, as described in sections 3.6 and 3.7 respectively.
Measures to implement LTO may constitute a project under the CEAA and may be subject to an EA. If this is the case, an EA will be conducted in accordance with the requirements established in the CEAA. The conduct of the EA is a separate process from the ISR and it is outside the scope of this regulatory document.
The licensee shall notify the CNSC regarding its intent to cease operation. The licensee shall submit an end of operation plan including a sustainable operations plan and a safe state of storage plan, or a detailed decommissioning plan, as described in section 4.
If the decision is made to continue operation of the NPP beyond the assumed design life, the licensee shall complete the ISR and shall proceed in all cases with the execution of the IIP.
The ISR is a comprehensive evaluation of the design, condition and operation of the NPP. The objectives of the ISR are to determine:
The licensee shall conduct the ISR assuming a minimum operating period of 10 years. The licensee shall include the following:
The licensee shall include the following documents in the ISR:
The licensee shall conduct the safety reviews and prepare the SCA reports and ISR final report in accordance with the ISR basis document. Based on the current state of the NPP, the licensee shall identify and assess any non-conformance with the applicable requirements and expectations of modern codes, standards, and practices.
The ISR basis document describes the scope and methodology of the ISR. The licensee shall establish a process to update the ISR basis document to include changes, for example, in project scope. The licensee shall submit updates or changes to the ISR basis document to the CNSC for review. The required elements of the ISR basis are described in sections 3.2.1 to 3.2.9.
In the ISR basis document the licensee shall describe the scope of the ISR. The licensee shall:
The licensee shall document the licensing basis at the time of initiation of the ISR. The licensee shall use the licensing basis for conformity reviews and serve as a baseline in the review against modern codes, standards, and practices. Therefore, the licensee shall ensure that the current or modified licensing basis will remain valid over the proposed period of LTO.
The licensee shall identify the scope, review elements and methodologies applied to each SCA. The scope of the review of SCA may be adapted to ensure the focus of the review is appropriate to the period and the feasibility of LTO – see Appendix B for the SCA performance objectives.
The licensee shall state all codes, standards and practices that will be used in the review of each SCA, including the criteria for their selection. The licensee shall state the “code effective date” for codes, standards and practices to be considered in the ISR. For each code, standard or practice listed, the licensee shall indicate the type of review to be performed.
The licensee shall describe the processes for identifying, recording, categorizing, prioritizing and dispositioning findings. The licensee shall provide justifications for unresolved findings. The licensee shall confirm that any non-compliance with the current licensing basis or design basis will be immediately addressed. The licensee shall resolve non-conformance to modern codes, standards and practices to the extent practicable.
The licensee shall submit the proposed risk management decision-making process to evaluate and decide on the various alternatives to address findings identified in the ISR process.
The licensee shall develop a methodology to carry out the global assessment that will be incorporated in the ISR final report. The licensee shall use this methodology to evaluate the safety case of the NPP. This includes:
The results from the global assessment are incorporated into the ISR final report.
The licensee shall establish, and describe in the ISR basis document, the quality management program for the conduct of the ISR.
The licensee shall establish a process to update the ISR basis document to include emerging issues and changes, for example, in project scope. The licensee shall submit updates or changes to the ISR basis document to the CNSC for review.
The licensee shall conduct reviews for each SCA in accordance with the requirements of section 3.1. The licensee shall prepare ISR safety and control area reports for submission to CNSC. Based on the current state of the NPP, the licensee shall identify and assess any non-conformance with the applicable requirements and expectations of modern codes, standards and practices.
The licensee shall prepare an ISR final report that includes:
The licensee shall submit the ISR final report to the CNSC for review.
The licensee shall develop an integrated implementation plan (IIP) that addresses the results of the ISR to support the period of LTO. If an environmental assessment (EA) has been performed, the licensee shall ensure that the IIP integrates any action or follow-up program identified in the EA. In developing the IIP, the licensee shall confirm that assumptions for the project remain valid. This includes:
The licensee shall assess the impact of any changes to the commitments or assumptions that were credited in the ISR documentation, including the impact of the changes on the IIP and provide justification.
In the IIP the licensee shall:
The licensee shall submit the IIP to the CNSC for review and acceptance and proceed with its implementation depending upon the strategy chosen for LTO.
If the decision is made to operate the NPP for a limited period beyond the assumed design life (less than 10 years) the licensee shall develop a continued operation plan to confirm that assumptions for the project remain valid, to specify the schedule for implementation of implement corrective actions and safety improvements identified in the IIP, and resolve ongoing action items that are necessary to support the LTO period up to the decision to either refurbish or end operation. The licensee shall ensure that the plan addresses all elements of SCAs authorized by the PROL.
If the decision is made to refurbish, the licensee shall establish and implement a project execution plan. The implementation of the project execution plan may be preceded by a limited period of time of operation beyond the assumed design life. In such a case, before proceeding with the refurbishment project, the licensee shall update the ISR and IIP as necessary to account for any changes that have occurred between the completion of the IIP and the initiation of the refurbishment project (see Appendix A).
The licensee shall ensure that the refurbishment project execution plan includes the following:
If a decision is made to cease operation of the NPP, the licensee shall establish and implement an end of operation plan at least five years prior to its final, permanent shutdown. The licensee shall describe the strategy, arrangements and activities the licensee will take to provide assurance of the safe of operation of the NPP until the final shutdown of each reactor unit(s) and for the transition period until the NPP begins decommissioning.
The licensee shall specify the following:
The licensee shall also include either:
The licensee shall ensure that the sustainable operations plan describes the arrangements and activities required to demonstrate that safe and reliable operation of the NPP will be maintained and sustained, for each SCA covered under the PROL, for the period of operation up until each reactor unit is permanently shut down.
The licensee shall ensure that the plan addresses all elements of SCAs authorized by the PROL, and provide information on the duration, schedule and milestones for the execution of activities, if applicable.
If the licensee intends to defer decommissioning the NPP, the licensee shall establish and implement a safe state of storage plan.
The licensee shall describe the arrangements and activities required to put the reactor unit(s) in a safe state of storage and ensure their monitoring until its decommissioning. The licensee shall include a stabilization activity plan and a storage and surveillance plan.
The licensee shall describe the arrangements and activities that will be conducted to ensure the safe transition of the NPP reactor unit(s) from a final shutdown state to the safe storage state. The licensee shall include information on the NPP configuration during safe storage phase and the tasks and processes to implement this configuration.
The licensee shall describe the arrangements and activities required to ensure maintenance of the safe storage state and its surveillance during the period of deferment prior to final dismantlement and decommissioning of the NPP.
As these activities will be conducted under the PROL, the licensee shall address, as appropriate, all elements of SCAs authorized by the licence, and provide information on the duration, schedule and milestones for their execution.
If the licensee intends to proceed immediately with decommissioning after the end of operation, the licensee shall prepare a detailed decommissioning plan in support of an application for a decommissioning licence. The licensee shall prepare the application for a licence to decommission in accordance with the NSCA and its regulations, specifically with section 7 of the Class I Nuclear Facilities Regulations, and other applicable requirements. The licence to decommission is required prior to commencing the execution of decommissioning activities.
Functional Area
Safety and Control Areas
Performance Objectives
Management
Management System
Adequate management oversight of the control and implementation of activities defined by the documented series of processes.
Human Performance Management
Continued and consistent safe performance of a nuclear facility through a system of programs, policies, standards and procedures.
Operating Performance
Safe and secure plant operation with adequate regard for health, safety, security, environmental protection and international obligations.
Facility and Equipment
Safety Analysis
Demonstrated acceptability of the consequences of design basis events, the capability of protective systems to adequately control power, cool the fuel and contain any radioactivity that could be released from the plant.
Physical Design
A design basis that remains valid for all systems, structures and components.
Fitness for Service
Structures, systems, and components whose performance may affect safe operations or security remain available, reliable and effective, consistent with the design, quality control measures and analysis documents.
Core Control Processes
Radiation Protection
Adequate protection of the health and safety of persons inside the facility with respect to ionizing radiation.
Conventional Health and Safety
Conventional health and safety work practices and conditions achieve a high degree of personnel safety.
Environmental Protection
Protection of the environment and the health and safety of persons by taking all reasonable precautions, including identifying, controlling, and monitoring the release of radioactive substances and hazardous substances to the environment.
Emergency Management and Fire Protection
Adequate provisions for preparedness and response capability that would mitigate the effects of accidental releases of nuclear substances and hazardous substances on the environment, the health and safety of persons and the maintenance of national security.
Waste Management
An acceptable waste management program would be facility and waste stream specific. However, it would be CNSC staff’s expectation that licensees develop, implement and audit their internal waste management programs and include waste management as a key component of their corporate and safety culture.
Security
Provisions for a physical protection program to provide the required security for the facility and its operations.
Safeguards
Conformity with measures required by the facility to meet Canada’s international safeguards obligations through:
timely and accurate provision of reports on nuclear materials
provision of access and assistance to IAEA inspectors for verification activities
submission of annual operational information and accurate design information of plant structures, processes and procedures
development and satisfactory implementation of appropriate facility safeguards procedures
Packaging and Transport
Adherence to the CNSC Packaging and Transport of Nuclear Substances Regulations and Transport Canada Transportation of Dangerous Goods Regulations for all shipments leaving the site. Shipments of nuclear substances within the nuclear facility where access to the property is controlled are exempted from the application of the Packaging and Transport of Nuclear Substances Regulations.
1 IAEA, INSAG 12, Basic Safety Principles for Nuclear Power Plants 75-INSAG-3 Rev. 1, Vienna, 1999.
The following documents contain additional information that may be of interest to persons involved in long-term or end of operation activities of a nuclear power plant:
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