Year
2025
Abstract
To develop a plant design which has the capability to accommodate safeguards equipment, organizational learning and education must take place to ensure each functional area involved in plant design and deployment understands the requirements and implications of safeguards implementation. Although Westinghouse has successfully deployed the AP1000 design in recent years, all of these sites were located in weapon states and therefore were not required to implement safeguards systems.
Although safeguards systems themselves are designed externally by regional or international regulatory bodies, they must be fully integrated into the reactor design. It is pertinent that engineers involved in more than just the safeguards design and licensing process are educated to understand the design criteria and objectives to fully implement infrastructure to support a verification system, which is what Westinghouse defines as Safeguards by Design (SBD). For educational purposes and awareness, Westinghouse has taken multiple steps to engage the wider engineering disciplines such that full implementation of safeguards requirements is embraced across the organization.
Utilizing the guidance documents developed by the IAEA, which are general in nature, Westinghouse has taken the initiative to educate the wider engineering departments on the detailed design criteria. Internal training materials and presentations have focused on how safeguards equipment and systems integrate with the overall reactor design. Westinghouse has also engaged with the IAEA directly regarding the current gaps in industry guidance based upon feedback from initial implementation. This collaboration has been positively received and has encouraged further collaboration between reactor designers and organizations whose mission is nuclear non proliferation. These efforts and lessons learned from initial collaboration is expected to lead to a more streamlined safeguards by design process and true integration with the full plant design.