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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.
Hiroshi Takahashi
Nuclear Technology | Volume 111 | Number 1 | July 1995 | Pages 149-162
Technical Paper | Enrichment and Reprocessing System | doi.org/10.13182/NT95-A35153
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Transmutation of minor actinides and long-lived fission products using a proton accelerator has many advantages over a transmutor operated in a critical condition. The energy required for this transmutation can be reduced by multiplying the spallation neutrons in a subcritical assembly surrounding the spallation target. Study was done on the relation between the energy requirements and the multiplication factor k of the subcritical assembly, while varying the range of several parameters in the spallation target. A slightly subcritical reactor is superior to a reactor with large subcriticality in the context of the energy requirement of a small proton accelerator, the extent of radiation damage, and other safety problems. To transmute the longlived fission products without consuming much fissile material, the transmutor reactor must have a good neutron economy, which can be obtained by using a transmutor operated by a proton accelerator. Consideration is given to the use of minor actinides to improve neutronic characteristics, such as achieving a long fuel burnup rather than simply transmuting this valuable material.