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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.
Eric V. Brown, Leonard W. Gray, D. William Tedder
Nuclear Technology | Volume 89 | Number 3 | March 1990 | Pages 328-340
Technical Paper | Chemical Processing | doi.org/10.13182/NT90-A34370
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A computer model of an air-lift dissolver was developed to predict the dissolution rates for plutonium oxide (PuO2), dysprosium oxide (Dy2O3), and incinerator ash. This model combines surface kinetics with mass transfer effects to obtain overall rate expressions. The mass transfer coefficients are related to several major process variables. These predictions were compared with experimental tests at Savannah River Laboratory using simulated ash and Dy2O3 as a surrogate for refractory PuO2. The present version of the model overestimates the residual fluoride concentrations in dissolver effluents by ∼50% for several reasons, which are discussed. The minimum air sparge rates to achieve liquid circulation in the dissolver are predicted quite well, within ± 6%. The nonvolatile dissolved solids are estimated to within ±5 to 20%. Dysprosium dissolution is predicted to within ±10%. Dysprosium oxide is a poor surrogate for refractory PuO2.