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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.
Kotaro Tonoike, Takemi Nakamura, Yuichi Yamane, Yoshinori Miyoshi
Nuclear Technology | Volume 143 | Number 3 | September 2003 | Pages 364-372
Technical Note | Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT03-A3424
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The gamma-ray monitor installed at Processing Facility 1 in the JCO Tokai-works recorded the gamma dose rate change over time in proportion to power (nuclear fission rate) in the precipitation vessel from the beginning of the criticality accident to the end of the critical condition. The shape of the gamma dose rate record from 25 min after occurrence to the point of termination ("plateau" part) was normalized using the fission number 2.2 × 1018, and the absolute value of the power was evaluated.