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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.
Steven A. Wright, Gustav Schumacher, Peter R. Henkel
Nuclear Technology | Volume 71 | Number 1 | October 1985 | Pages 187-216
Technical Paper | Nuclear Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT85-A33719
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The reactivity effects of the initial fuel and clad motion during unprotected loss-of-flow accidents (ULOFs) strongly influence the accident progression in liquid-metal fast breeder reactors. To study these phenomena, a series of in-pile experiments (the STAR experiments) is being performed in which clad motion and fuel dispersal are observed in small pin bundles with high-speed cinematography. The major parameters varied in the series are power level, fuel type (fresh versus preirradiated), and number of pins. The results of the first four experiments are presented. Overall, the observations made in these experiments show that ULOFs tend to have early fuel disruption caused by fission products, followed almost immediately by fuel sweepout occurring simultaneously with axial clad relocation.