Multinational Design Evaluation
Programme
MDEP accomplishments
Gary Holahan, NRC, former STC Chair
Sophie Mourlon, ASN, new STC Chair
MDEP Steering Technical Committee
MDEP 3rd Conference – May 2014 – Opening1

MDEP Basics
What is MDEP?
A multinational initiative undertaken by national regulatory
authorities of 14 countries to:
Co-operate and share information on safety design reviews ofspecific designs in order to ensure a greater safety focus on thereviews in each country andShare information about national and international regulatory
requirements and practices in order to explore opportunities forpossible harmonisation or convergence of such requirements whensafety enhancements may be realised
A stated objective in the MDEP Terms of Reference is to enable
and encourage safer global standardised reactor designs
Important aspect is that MDEP co-operation is being undertaken under currently
existing regulatory frameworks and each national regulator maintains its sovereign
rights and responsibilities to regulate nuclear safety in accordance with its existing
national laws.
MDEP 3rd Conference – May 2014 – Opening2

MDEP Basics

Who is involved in MDEP activities?
Regulators fromCanada
Republic of Korea
China
Russian FederationFinland
South Africa
FranceU.K.
JapanU.S.A

Since MDEP
inception in2006

India - Joined in 2012
United Arab Emirates - Joined in 2012 as an associate member
Sweden – Joined in 2013
Turkey - Joined in 2013 as an associate member
NEA: technical secretariat
IAEA: takes part in generic activities

National technical support organisations
participate if requested by the national
regulatory authority.

MDEP 3rd Conference – May 2014 – Opening

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Review ofOrganisational
Structure

Policy Group (PG)
Steering TechnicalCommittee (STC)

EPR Working Group
Digital I&C Working Group
AP1000 Working GroupCodes and Standards
Working Group
APR1400 Working Group
Vendor Inspection
Cooperation WorkingGroup

VVER Working Group(new)ABWR Working Group(new)
DESIGN SPECIFIC WORKING GROUPS:
COCO-OPERATIONISSUE SPECIFIC WORKING GROUPS:CONVERGENCEMDEP Library

MDEP 3rd Conference – May 2014 – Opening4

Design-Specific
Working Groups
Goal: to share information and cooperate on specific design
evaluations and design-related construction oversight
EPR Working Group
FinlandChair, FranceVice-Chair, China, India, Sweden, U.K., U.S.
AP1000 Working Group
U.S.Chair, ChinaVice-Chair, Canada, Sweden, U.K.
APR1400 Working GroupKoreaChair, U.A.E.Vice-Chair, U.S., Finland
ABWR Working Group
U.K.Chair, U.S.Vice-Chair, Japan, Sweden, Finland
VVER Working Group
Russian FederationChair, TurkeyVice-Chair, Finland, India
MDEP 3rd Conference – May 2014 – Opening5

Issue Specific
Working Groups
Goal: to benefit from other regulators’ experiences and toencourage harmonisation in regulatory practices andrequirements and in industry codes and standards.
All MDEP countries are invited to participate as well as the IAEA.
Mechanical Codes and Standards Working Group(CSWG)• Canada – Chair• Japan – Vice-Chair
Digital Instrumentation andGroup(DICWG)• U.S. – Chair

ControlWorkingVendor Inspection Cooperation Working Group(VICWG)• U.S. – Chair (temporary)• U.K. – Vice-Chair
MDEP 3rd Conference – May 2014 – Opening6

Accomplishments (overall)Multinational cooperation• Share information and design review results to be usedwithin existing regulatory frameworks• Communication protocol to keep members informed before
regulatory decisions are official (latest: EPR digital I&C
decision from STUK)• Facilitate contact among regulators• Shifting successfully toward cooperation on construction
and commissioning activities
In-depth discussions on Fukushima related issues andimpact on new reactors• EPRWG common position (revised in April 2014)
MDEP 3rd Conference – May 2014 – Opening7

Accomplishments (overall)Harmonisation – standardisation – convergence ofcodes and standards• CSWG triggered exhaustive code comparison from SDOs
• Industry (CORDEL) mirrored CSWG to work towardharmonisation• 4 CSWG technical reports• VICWG encouraged discussions among SDOs on QA/QM
standards harmonisation• VICWG technical report on common QA/QM criteria
Coordination of more than 50 vendor inspections(witnessed and joint)• Supported by all members and an inspection protocol
MDEP 3rd Conference – May 2014 – Opening8

Accomplishments (overall)

Database of 6+ years of information regarding safety
reviews and technical issues related to new reactors
Coordination of member regulators views to propose acommon view and facilitate adoption of IAEA revision ofsafety standards• MDEP position paper on safety goals• MDEP common view on IAEA DS-367 “Safety Classificationof SSCs”
12 common positions to reach a common understandingand give a single regulatory view on digital I&C issues

MDEP 3rd Conference – May 2014 – Opening9

Accomplishments (overall)
Digital Instrumentation and Controls Working Group

MDEP 3rd Conference – May 2014 – Opening10

Accomplishments (2013-2014)
Following PG guidance to form a pilot project oncommissioning activities
held commissioning workshops
within the EPR and AP1000 working groups to begin
considering how to cooperate on pre-operational testing andcommissioning oversight;[EPRWG] Issued a Common Position addressing Fukushima
related issues related to the EPR design
Established VVER and ABWR design-specific working groups
which held their first meetings in January 2014;[AP1000WG] Held video seminars between US NRC and CNSC
on selected topics of CNSC’s Phase 2 review to learn from thealready completed NRC design certification review;[AP1000WG] Exchanged letters between US NRC and NNSA
containing questions and responses related to design andconstruction issues for the AP1000 in each country;
MDEP 3rd Conference – May 2014 – Opening11

Accomplishments (2013-2014)[VICWG] Cooperated on twelve witnessed vendor inspections
and one joint inspection;
Issued Technical Reports on[VICWG] Common QA/QM Criteria for Multinational Vendor
Inspection;[CSWG] Regulatory Framework for the Use of Nuclear PressureBoundary Codes and Standards in MDEP Countries;[CSWG] Lessons Learnt on Achieving Harmonisation of Codes andStandards for Pressure Boundary Components in Nuclear PowerPlants;[CSWG] Issued a common position on “Findings from CodeComparisons and Establishment of a Global Framework
towards Pressure-Boundary Code Harmonisation”;

MDEP 3rd Conference – May 2014 – Opening12

Accomplishments (2013-2014)[DICWG] Issued Four common positions on digital
instrumentation and controls for new reactors in the areas of :Treatment of Common Cause Failures Resulting fromSoftware
Treatment of Hardware Description Language (HDL)
Programmed Devices for Use in Nuclear Safety Systems
Digital I&C System Pre-Installation and Initial On-Site
Testing
Use of Automatic Testing in Computer Based Systems as
part of Surveillance Testing[MDEP] Interacted with the Generation IV International
Forum, WENRA, CORDEL, and CNRA/WGRNR on issues ofcommon interest
MDEP 3rd Conference – May 2014 – Opening

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Activities
Design-Specific Working Groups
EPR Working GroupThe working group currently includes four technical experts’subgroups that are addressing specific technical issues: Accidents
and Transients, Digital Instrumentation and Controls, Probabilistic
Safety Assessment, and Severe Accidents
Is developing a common position addressing Fukushima-related
issues for the EPR that identifies common approaches to address
potential safety improvements for EPR plants as related to lessons
learned from the Fukushima Daiichi accident
Is cooperating on oversight of plant “commissioning” (preoperational and start-up testing)

MDEP 3rd Conference – May 2014 – Opening14

Activities
Design-Specific Working Groups
AP1000 Working GroupIs sharing information on construction oversight and preparations
for commissioning
Is discussing technical topics such as:• Squib valves design and factory testing• Containment condensate return to the IRWST design change• Reactor coolant pump testingIs drafting a common position on how the AP1000 design
addresses the findings from the Fukushima accident

MDEP 3rd Conference – May 2014 – Opening15

Activities
Design-Specific Working Groups
APR1400 Working Group
Established one technical expert subgroup on Severe Accidents
Comparing Post-Fukushima Actions and design differences
ABWR Working Group
4 different ABWR designs under consideration by the WG
members: GE-Hitachi, Hitachi-GE, US Toshiba and Finnish
Toshiba
Identified the following topics for immediate action: Fukushima
lessons learned, instrumentation and controls, and severe
accidents
VVER Working GroupThe major areas of technical discussions for this newly formedgroup will be severe accidents, reactor vessel and primary circuitspecificities in VVER designs, and safety systems
MDEP 3rd Conference – May 2014 – Opening16

Activities
Issue-Specific Working Groups
Codes and Standards Working GroupIs finalizing common position on Essential Performance
Guidelines of Pressure-Boundary Components
Coordinate with the standards development organisations andWNA/CORDEL regarding harmonisation efforts

Digital Instrumentation and Controls Working GroupIs working on three remaining common positions from initialprogramme plan
• Qualification of Industrial Digital Devices of Limited Functionality• Safety Design Principles for the Overall I&C Architecture• Configuration management for software

MDEP 3rd Conference – May 2014 – Opening17

Activities
Issue-Specific Working Groups
Vendor Inspection Cooperation Working GroupIs coordinating witnessed and joint inspections to learn about eachothers requirements, procedures, and practices for inspectingvendors minimum 2 joint inspections per year
Is preparing the first multinational vendor inspection for 2014
Is maintaining inspection planning table
Is sharing inspection reports of key reactor component vendors

MDEP 3rd Conference – May 2014 – Opening18

MDEP Programme of Work
Commissioning activities
EPRWG and AP1000WG began cooperating on oversight of plant“commissioning” (pre-operational and start-up testing)Main purpose: to understand vendors’ overall commissioning
programmes and to share regulatory processes in relation tocommissioning
EPRWG Workshop held June 2013 in China with participation ofindustry representatives (EPR Family)
AP1000WG Workshop held July 2013 in China with participationof AP1000 industry representatives
Other groups are considering to engage into commissioningactivities

MDEP 3rd Conference – May 2014 – Opening19

MDEP Programme of Work
Issue-Specific Working Group completion
strategies
Codes and Standards• Products completed by end of 2014
• Continue meeting with CORDEL and SDOs through2015 on harmonisation efforts
Digital I&C• Products completed in 2015
• After 2015, reduce meeting frequency
Vendor Inspection Cooperation• MDEP to continue witnessed and joint inspectionsand begin multinational• Possible transfer of inspection practices work
MDEP 3rd Conference – May 2014 – Opening20

Conclusions
Design-specific working groups are effective forums
for regulatory cooperation and are appropriately
expanding thier scope to reflect the changing statusof the projects.
Issue-specific working groups are making progress
towards completion of their objectives. Working
groups are productively influencing standardsorganisations.
MDEP has successfully incorporated new members
into the existing working groups.
Outreach to other organisations is being expanded.
Issues for the future of the Programme…
MDEP 3rd Conference – May 2014 – Opening

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