Considering International Safeguards During the Design of Advanced Reactors and Interfaces with Safety and Security

Advanced reactors promise to bring new approaches to deployment of nuclear power to meet the world's increasing clean energy demands. This includes some that are smaller, more affordable, and compatible within smaller electrical grids; some that offer inherent safety features that greatly simplify licensing and siting; some that use novel closed fuel cycles that burn waste or use thorium; some that take advantage of non-fixed fuel in liquid or pebble form; some that operate at high temperatures that can be used to provide process heat for industrial applications besides electricity; that can operate with little or no staff and can be placed in remote locations; that can be fabricated in factories and shipped to a location; and that are movable and can be deployed at multiple locations during their life cycles. Most advanced reactor designs, if not all, employ some combination of these, and other, attributes. All of these designs have to meet appropriate levels of safety and security, as well as facilitate the efficient and effective application of international safeguards. This paper will review some of these classes of advanced reactors to suggest what safeguards considerations may exist and to highlight the interfaces with safety and security. It is a truism that the best time to consider design features is as early in the design process as possible and the further along the design process progresses, the more difficult and costly it becomes to make changes. However, it is challenging for designers to understand how to consider safeguards early in the design process and how to develop and manage interfaces with safety and security. Consequently, there is currently an opportunity to apply a holistic approach to this new generation of reactors to support their successful deployment, which will not only address the major energy and climate change mitigation concerns, but do so safely, securely, and peacefully.