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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.
Thomas M. Parker, Richard J. Kohrt, Sue I. Dederer, Larry E. Hochreiter, Walter R. Schwarz, Chon-Kwo Tsai, Michael Y. Young
Nuclear Technology | Volume 85 | Number 2 | May 1989 | Pages 227-237
Technical Paper | Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow | doi.org/10.13182/NT89-A34243
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Calculations were performed using a best-estimate computer code that determined the estimates of the 50th percentile peak cladding temperature (PCT) (1006 K) and the 95th percentile PCT (1263 K). These calculations included realistic WCOBRA/TRAC predictions of thermal-hydraulic phenomena occurring inside the vessel during upper plenum injection (UPI). The work done in applying realistic thermal-hydraulic methods for pressurized water reactors (PWRs) with UPI represents an important step in the maturation of advanced best-estimate computer codes like WCOBRA/ TRAC because their effect is finally being used in the licensing of operating plants, and their benefits are being used to make those PWRs more flexible and economic to operate.
