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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.
W. J. Mills, Bernard Mastel
Nuclear Technology | Volume 73 | Number 1 | April 1986 | Pages 102-108
Technical Paper | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT86-A16206
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Fast neutron irradiation to total fluences ranging from 7.7 × 1021 to 5.7 × 1022 n/cm2 (3 to 16 dpa) resulted in a 65% increase in yield strength and a fourfold reduction in ductility. Intergranular fracture was the dominant failure mode for the irradiated material, whereas equal amounts of intergranular and trans-granular cracking were found in the unirradiated condition. This fracture mechanism transition resulted from intense heterogeneous deformation in a matrix strengthened by an irradiation-produced dislocation substructure. Planar slip bands impinged on the grain boundaries causing very high local stresses. Intergranular cracking resulted because the hardened matrix prevented relaxation of the stress concentrations.