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August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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Two steps forward for U.K. advanced nuclear
This week, two significant announcements have emerged from the United Kingdom’s advanced reactor sector.
On June 14, Rolls-Royce, the United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory, and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency announced that they had signed two trilateral memorandums of cooperation to collaborate on “advanced modular reactor (AMR) technology, specifically high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGR), and the coated particle fuel these reactors will use.”
Separately, on June 16, Bellevue, Wash.–based TerraPower announced that its Natrium reactor design has been formally submitted for U.K. regulatory review. The company also announced the formation of a new subsidiary, TerraPower UK Ltd.
John K. Long
Nuclear Technology | Volume 10 | Number 1 | January 1971 | Pages 17-21
Technical Paper and Note | Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT71-A30943
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Except for irradiation experiments, EBR-II is fueled with a metal alloy of uranium and fission products called fissium. At room temperature and up to 550°C the metallurgical phase of the fuel corresponds to the phase designated as alpha uranium. Recent operations with EBR-II up to 62.5 MW have raised some fuel temperatures to levels at which the metal fuel undergoes a phase change from the alpha phase to the gamma phase. The gamma phase of fissium has a significantly lower density, which is reflected in the calculated power coefficient of the reactor. A calculation of the internal fuel temperature, taking into account the variation of thermal conductivity with irradiation-induced swelling, has led to a calculated effect of the gamma phase on the power coefficient. This calculated effect agrees with observations during reactor operation.