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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.
Akira Yamaguchi, Takashi Takata, Yasushi Okano
Nuclear Technology | Volume 136 | Number 3 | December 2001 | Pages 315-330
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT01-A3248
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the present study, a numerical methodology for sodium combustion has been developed for the safety evaluation of a liquid-metal-cooled fast reactor. The methodology includes a fast-running zone model computer program for safety evaluation, a field model program for multidimensional thermal hydraulics, and a chemical reaction analysis program based on chemical equilibrium theory. Two recently performed experiments have been analyzed using the computer programs, and the numerical results are in good agreement with the experiments. Although sodium combustion is a complex phenomenon, use of these computer programs gives better understanding of the coupled thermal hydraulics and chemical reaction.