This report describes the regulatory perspectives on safety aspects related to the calculation and justification of neutronic characteristics and criticality safety assessment of advanced sodium fast reactors (SFR). It identifies topics that should be investigated within the framework of SFR safety regulation, potentially involving additional research and development needs.
The present report is based on the answers to the questionnaire developed by the NEA Working Group on the Safety of Advanced Reactors (WGSAR) in 2016. Eight countries contributed to this report by answering the questionnaire, thanks to their experience in licensing or their ongoing work on future SFR projects.
The following technical topics for neutronics and criticality safety were addressed: general questions, regulatory requirements and guidance related to neutronics calculations for SFRs, requirements and guidance related to criticality safety calculations for SFRs, and phenomena to be taken into account in SFR analyses.
NEA (2021), Regulatory Perspectives on Safety Aspects Related to Advanced Sodium Fast Reactors - Part 2. Neutronics and Criticality Safety of Sodium Fast Reactors, OECD Publishing, Paris