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NRC issues draft EA/FONSI for Duane Arnold restart
Efforts by NextEra Energy to restart the Duane Arnold nuclear power plant as early as 2029 continue to move forward with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's preliminary environmental assessment and determination that the restart would have no significant environmental impacts.
On Thursday, the NRC posted a draft environmental assessment and a finding of no significant impact for the Palo, Iowa, facility; the Federal Register notice was published on Monday. The Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing is a cooperating agency on the draft EA, as the DOE is considering providing financial assistance to the restart project.
Dale Hitchcock, Tim Krentz, Jay Gaillard, Steve Serkiz, Mark Kranjc, Brent Peters, Josef Velten, Timothy DeVol
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 76 | Number 7 | October 2020 | Pages 861-868
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2020.1817704
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
By incorporating carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene nanomaterials with aromatic sp2 carbon structures, we have specifically tuned filled ethylene propylene diene monomer elastomer (EPDM) seal and gasket composite materials for radiation resistance. Our results show that CNTs and graphene have an increased ability to stabilize the EPDM matrix compared to standard carbon black (CB) as a radiation-resistant filler. Graphene outperforms both CNT and CB fillers when considering surface damage under conditions where beta exposure is an issue. Both graphene and CNT fillers offer significantly reduced changes in glass transition temperature under prolonged exposure to tritium compared to CB-filled standards, with a 2.5-fold and almost 5-fold reduction, respectively. Thus, CNT- and graphene-filled O-ring materials could be designed that would maintain acceptable seals significantly longer than currently used composites.