PWROG SAMG validation: lessons learned

In February 2016 the Pressurized Water Reactor Owners Group (PWROG) issued a new set of Severe Accident Management Guidelines (SAMGs) that were applicable to the three United States (US) Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) Nuclear Steam Supply System (NSSS) designs and included post-Fukushima lessons learned as well as insights from the updated Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Technical Basis Report (TBR). As part of that publication of the 2016 PWROG SAMGs, the PWROG performed validations at each of the three US PWR NSSS designs. Following the publication, the US PWRs made a commitment to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to implement the PWROG SAMG (ML16032A029). This implementation includes a plant-specific validation of the plant-specific SAMG based on the new US PWROG SAMG. Specifically, this paper will discuss the lessons learned from the plant-specific PWROG SAMG validations that have been performed at the time of publication. In addition, this paper will also discuss the PWROG SAMG maintenance program that has been established to incorporate the lessons learned from the plant-specific SAMG validation into the generic US PWROG SAMG. (author)