The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has directed its staff to issue a final rule and associated regulatory guide that applies risk-informed, performance-based emergency preparedness requirements to small modular reactors and other new technologies, the agency announced on August 14. The technologies include non–light water reactors, research and test reactors, and medical radioisotope facilities.

The new standard ANSI/ANS-30.3-2022, Light Water Reactor Risk-Informed, Performance-Based Design, has just been issued by the American Nuclear Society. Approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) on July 21, 2022, the standard provides requirements for the incorporation of risk-informed, performance-based (RIPB) principles and methods into the nuclear safety design of commercial light water reactors. The process described in this standard establishes a minimum set of process requirements the designer must follow in order to meet the intent of this standard and appropriately combine deterministic, probabilistic, and performance-based methods during design development.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers/American Nuclear Society Joint Committee on Nuclear Risk Management (JCNRM) has issued a new edition of its flagship standard, ANSI/ASME/ANS RA-­S-­1.1-­2022, Standard for Level 1/Large Early Release Frequency Probabilistic Risk Assessment for Nuclear Power Plant Applications. This standard was approved by the JCNRM, the ANS Standards Board, and the ASME Board on Nuclear Codes and Standards before being approved on May 11 by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), earning the title of an American National Standard. With most of the text stable for the past year, the production process was started early, allowing the 400-­page standard to be published on May 31, 2022.