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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.
Allen L. Pitner, Brent C. Gneiting, Ronald B. Baker, Samuel L. Hecht
Nuclear Technology | Volume 105 | Number 3 | March 1994 | Pages 355-365
Technical Paper | Nuclear Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT94-A34936
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Four prototype irradiation tests were conducted in the Fast Flux Test Facility to investigate the performance of a 2-yr mixed-oxide fuel system using titaniumstabilized stainless steel cladding and duct material for application in a commercial-scale liquid-metal reactor plant. Three of the tests were irradiated to the point of cladding breach to establish the lifetime capability of this fuel design. Details of the fuel element design, irradiation conditions and exposures, and postirradiation measurements are presented. Comparisons between measured and calculated behavior showed basically good agreement. A conservative failure analysis of the 676-fuel-pin data set from the four test assemblies indicated a 99.9% reliability for a peak burnup capability of 90 MW .d/kg metal.