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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.
Horst Roepenack, Fritz U. Schlemmer, Gerhard J. Schlosser
Nuclear Technology | Volume 77 | Number 2 | May 1987 | Pages 175-186
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT87-A33982
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Thermal plutonium recycling has been demonstrated by Kraftwerk Union AG/Alkem on a large scale since 1972 in power plants at Obrigheim and Gundremmingen, Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). An improved mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication technology has been available since 1981. Such improved MOX fuel is currently being used at Obrigheim, Neckarwestheim, Unterweser, Grafenrheinfeld, FRG, and Beznau 2, Switzerland. The MOX fuel assemblies currently inserted exhibit an operating performance that is comparable to that of uranium fuel assemblies. Postirradiation investigations on MOX fuel show high mechanical stability, low shrinkage and swelling, and good behavior during power transients. On the basis of this experience, large-scale use of MOX fuel is technically feasible.