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NRC approves TerraPower construction permit
Today, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced that it has approved TerraPower’s construction permit application for Kemmerer Unit 1, the company’s first deployment of Natrium, its flagship sodium fast reactor.
This approval is a significant milestone on three fronts. For TerraPower, it represents another step forward in demonstrating its technology. For the Department of Energy, it reflects progress (despite delays) for the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP). For the NRC, it is the first approval granted to a commercial reactor in nearly a decade—and the first approval of a commercial non–light water reactor in more than 40 years.
Warren F. Witzig, Michael E. Foster
Nuclear Technology | Volume 38 | Number 2 | April 1978 | Pages 258-263
Technical Paper | Low-Temperature Nuclear Heat / Radioactive Waste | doi.org/10.13182/NT78-A32022
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The concept of utilizing processed fission product wastes as a heat source to produce low-pressure steam in a nuclear waste boiler (NWB) has been analyzed. The conceptual NWB design utilizes solidified wastes from spent fuel reprocessing plants in a natural circulation boiler that is sectionalized to permit continuous operation during refueling. Any one of several proposed commercial solidification processes provides wastes in a containerized form suitable, without modification, to be used in this concept. The NWB is analyzed in terms of its fuel cycle, design, safety, and economic potential. It is competitive with fossil plants of similar capacity in limited applications when substantial quantities of waste are available.