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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.
Po Hu, Paul P. H. Wilson
Nuclear Technology | Volume 172 | Number 2 | November 2010 | Pages 143-156
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT10-A10901
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper studies the U.S. reference Supercritical Water Reactor (SCWR) design with the newly extended coupled codes PARCS/RELAP5. Steady-state, burnup, and loss-of-feedwater transients are simulated. A possible flow reversal in moderator channels is found in the simulations, and the impact of this reversal on power peaking and reactivity is observed. The transient results show that the assembly with the maximum cladding surface temperature (MCST) and the assembly with the maximum power are different and that the MCST is within the material limit under the current design.