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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.
Shane Park, Hyun Sun Park, Gyoodong Jeun, Bum Jin Cho
Nuclear Technology | Volume 181 | Number 1 | January 2013 | Pages 227-239
Technical Paper | Special Issue on the 14th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-14) / Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-A15770
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Particle mixing and sedimentation, related to corium debris bed formation and coolability in severe accidents, is investigated using a new computational fluid dynamics tool: the Analysis of Debris Dynamics and Agglomeration (ADDA) code. ADDA was developed based on an enhanced numerical method combining the moving particle semi-implicit algorithm with a rigid body dynamic model. The analysis successively simulates the entire process of debris bed formation, including corium jet breakup, mixing, and sedimentation. The methodology allows identification of key characteristics in the formation of the corium debris bed. Two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) simulations were utilized to model the detailed flow structures and mixing phenomena, along with the final sedimentation process, and were compared to the Q21 QUEOS test performed at Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany. For the analysis of debris bed formation, it is recommended that full 3-D simulations be utilized to provide enhanced accuracy related to corium debris field prediction. The 2-D simulations were found to be insufficient because of the debris field dependence on particle agglomeration and mixing, prior to debris settling.