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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.
Paul McConnell, Richard Salzbrenner, Gerald W. Wellman, Ken B. Sorenson
Nuclear Technology | Volume 104 | Number 2 | November 1993 | Pages 171-181
Technical Paper | Special Issue on Waste Management / Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT93-A34881
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Depleted uranium (DU) alloys are currently used for gamma-ray shielding in casks and as shielding blocks. For the transport cask application, a significant weight and dimensional penalty exists when using the DU solely for shielding. If credit could be taken for the structural use of the DU for containment in a transport cask, greater payloads may be realized. Mechanical property measurements of several uranium alloys and finite element analyses of prototype transport casks assumed to be constructed, in part, from selected uranium materials were performed to evaluate the potential for the use of DU alloys for cask containment. These data and analyses support the concept of the use of DU alloys for the containment function even under hypothetical accident conditions. A conclusion is that the properties of certain DU alloys are therefore sufficient to warrant further consideration of the material for this purpose.