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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.
Michael A. Vest, Gerald K. Johnson, R. Dean Pierce, Eugene J. Wesolowski
Nuclear Technology | Volume 120 | Number 3 | December 1997 | Pages 243-252
Technical Note | Nuclear Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT97-A35415
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The operation and design of an inductively heated, bench-scale distillation furnace (retort) are described. The furnace is used as part of a pyrochemical process for the electrometallurgical treatment of spent light water reactor fuel. The focus is on the components that contain the metal melts and vapors. The forerunner of this paper focuses on the design of the induction power system. The equipment was designed to separate volatile from nonvolative metals; after separation, the nonvolatile metals are consolidated into a stillpot product. Twelve experimental runs were conducted; in seven, we used zinc as the distillate, and in five we used zinc-magnesium. In one of the runs, uranium was the stillpot product, and in two runs, copper was used as a substitute for uranium. After solving problems caused by violent evaporation, reboiling of the collected distillate, and blockage of the vapor path, we were able to evaporate the zinc and magnesium with distillate losses <6%. In some cases, the loss was as low as 0.3%. The stillpot product was successfully consolidated. Complete recovery of the stillpot product was achieved in one run.