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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.
Wei-Wu Chao, Jay F. Kunze, Weimin Dai, Sudarshan K. Loyalka
Nuclear Technology | Volume 105 | Number 2 | February 1994 | Pages 261-270
Technical Paper | Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow | doi.org/10.13182/NT94-A34927
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Research reactors present a different set of operating conditions than do light water (power) reactors (LWRs). Thermal-hydraulic transient/safety codes, such as the Reactor Loss of Coolant Analysis Program (RELAP), have been verified against experimental data from several test facilities designed for the operating conditions of LWRs. However, the operating pressures, temperatures, fuel type, and flow direction are quite different in most high-power research reactors. Furthermore, the coolant (water) in these reactors generally is not degasified and hence contains dissolved air. Results are given of benchmark experiments compared with RELAP predictions for the conditions encountered during a loss-of-coolant accident for a typical research reactor.