U.S. NRC Confirmatory Level 1 PRA Success Criteria Activities

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's standardized plant analysis risk (SPAR) models are used to support a number of risk-informed initiatives. The fidelity and realism of these models are ensured through a number of processes including cross-comparison with industry models, review and use by a wide range of technical experts, and confirmatory analysis. This paper will describe a key activity in the latter arena. Specifically, this paper will describe MELCOR analyses performed to augment the technical basis for confirming or modifying specific success criteria of interest. The analyses that will be summarized provide the basis for confirming or changing success criteria in a specific 3-loop pressurized-water reactor and a Mark-I boiling-water reactor. Initiators that have been analyzed include loss-of-coolant accidents, loss of main feedwater, spontaneous steam generator tube rupture, inadvertent opening of a relief valve at power, and station blackout. For each initiator, specific aspects of the accident evolution are investigated via a targeted set of calculations (3 to 22 distinct accident analyses per initiator). Further evaluation is ongoing to extend the analyses conclusions to similar plants (where appropriate), with consideration of design and modeling differences on a scenario-by-scenario basis. This paper will also describe future plans.