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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.
Steven J. Manson, Dale E. Klein
Nuclear Technology | Volume 108 | Number 3 | December 1994 | Pages 379-386
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT94-A35020
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Transportation of nuclear spent fuel is inevitable over the coming years. However, to ensure the safety of such transport, computational models must be established that are capable of evaluating the thermal characteristics of the containers in which spent fuel is shipped. In an effort to further the development of a satisfactory computational tool, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a numerical algorithm that utilizes a homogeneous equilibrium model to calculate the effects of two-phase water on the thermal performance of the containers. This model has been evaluated in preparation for its incorporation into TEXSAN, the Texas-Sandia thermal-hydraulic analysis program. In this study, a stream function vorticity formulation routine was employed in order to calculate single- and two-phase mass and energy transport in a simple driven cavity configuration. Furthermore, a simulation of boiling heat transfer and natural convection around an idealized hot wire was performed. The temperature, enthalpy, and velocity distributions were determined and compared favorably to experimental and numerical benchmark results. The stream function vorticity formulation of the homogeneous equilibrium model has thus been demonstrated to be a viable predictive tool, capable of analysis of two-phase multimode heat transfer. This establishes the potential for improved spent-fuel transportation analysis, which is required for ensuring the safety of shipping container designs.