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Fluor to serve as EPC contractor for Centrus’s Piketon plant expansion
The HALEU cascade at the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio. (Photo: Centrus Energy)
American Centrifuge Operating, a subsidiary of Centrus Energy Corp., has formed a multiyear strategic collaboration with Fluor Corporation in which Fluor will serve as the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor for Centrus’s expansion of its uranium enrichment facility in Piketon, Ohio. Fluor will lead the engineering and design aspects of the American Centrifuge Plant’s expansion, manage the supply chain and procurement of key materials and services, oversee construction at the site, and support the commissioning of new capacity.
A. Kemal Ziver, Jonathan N. Carter, Christopher C. Pain, Cassiano R. E. de Oliveira, Antony J. H. Goddard, Richard S. Overton
Nuclear Technology | Volume 141 | Number 2 | February 2003 | Pages 122-141
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT03-A3355
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A genetic algorithm (GA)-based optimizer (GAOPT) has been developed for in-core fuel management of advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGRs) at HINKLEY B and HARTLEPOOL, which employ on-load and off-load refueling, respectively. The optimizer has been linked to the reactor analysis code PANTHER for the automated evaluation of loading patterns in a two-dimensional geometry, which is collapsed from the three-dimensional reactor model. GAOPT uses a directed stochastic (Monte Carlo) algorithm to generate initial population members, within predetermined constraints, for use in GAs, which apply the standard genetic operators: selection by tournament, crossover, and mutation. The GAOPT is able to generate and optimize loading patterns for successive reactor cycles (multicycle) within acceptable CPU times even on single-processor systems. The algorithm allows radial shuffling of fuel assemblies in a multicycle refueling optimization, which is constructed to aid long-term core management planning decisions. This paper presents the application of the GA-based optimization to two AGR stations, which apply different in-core management operational rules. Results obtained from the testing of GAOPT are discussed.