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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.
Ahmet Bozkurt, Nicholas Tsoulfanidis
Nuclear Technology | Volume 116 | Number 2 | November 1996 | Pages 257-260
Technical Note | Radiation Protection | doi.org/10.13182/NT96-A35305
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
When the gamma dose rate around an irradiated nuclear reactor fuel element is calculated, it is important to know the attenuating characteristics of the fuel element itself one of them being the buildup factor. Exposure buildup factors of uranium dioxide (UO2) for ten gamma-ray energies (0.050 to 10.0 MeV) have been computed for ten material thicknesses (0.5 to 10.0 mean free paths) using the MCNP code. The accuracy of the MCNP model was checked by computing the buildup factors of oxygen and uranium and comparing these results with the data given in the literature for these elements. The results indicate that the UO2 exposure buildup factors, for the energies and distances studied, are close to those of uranium.
