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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.
James T. Cronin, Kord S. Smith
Nuclear Technology | Volume 100 | Number 2 | November 1992 | Pages 174-183
Technical Paper | Nuclear Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT92-A34740
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A methodology for homogenization and functionalization of one-dimensional cross sections for RETRAN has been developed and encoded into the SIMULATES and SLICK computer programs. The method relies on the SIMULATE-3 nodal reactor analysis code to provide accurate solutions of the three-dimensional neutron diffusion equation in two energy groups. The process of producing the required data involves two distinct problems: (a) the spatial homogenization of the three-dimensional cross sections and diffusion coefficients into one-dimensional variables and (b) the functionalization of the one-dimensional data in terms of the feedback variables of coolant density, fuel temperature, and control fraction. The homogenization method is based on equivalence theory and preserves the eigenvalue and one-dimensional planar reaction rates of the three-dimensional solution. The functionalization of the homogenized cross sections is accomplished by performing analogous one-dimensional state calculations with the RETRAN thermal-hydraulic models and then fitting to the RETRAN feedback variables. The methodology has been verified by comparing the results of one-dimensional calculations performed with the one-dimensional cross sections to three-dimensional calculations. Close agreement between the one- and three-dimensional results has been demonstrated.