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Quality is key: Investing in advanced nuclear research for tomorrow’s grid
As the energy sector faces mounting pressure to grow at an unprecedented pace while maintaining reliability and affordability, nuclear technology remains an essential component of the long-term solution. Southern Company stands out among U.S. utilities for its proactive role in shaping these next-generation systems—not just as a future customer, but as a hands-on innovator.
Thomas Holschuh, Nicolas Woolstenhulme, Benjamin Baker, John Bess, Cliff Davis, James Parry
Nuclear Technology | Volume 205 | Number 10 | October 2019 | Pages 1346-1353
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1559712
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Transient Reactor Test (TREAT) facility restarted transient operations in 2018 and has met or exceeded expectations for reactor experiments. TREAT’s flexibility in power shaping provides the ability to prescribe a variety of operating conditions for test specimens, including shaped transients, steady-state irradiations, natural pulses, and clipped pulses, to deliver the necessary energy deposition and energy deposition rate. The initial operations following the TREAT restart were designed to mimic historical operations to confirm TREAT’s capability. Then, studies were performed to evaluate the minimum pulse width possible in the facility as well as reactor power profiles characteristic of a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA); both were achieved with excellent results.
This paper highlights the following:
1. The TREAT facility has been restarted to resume nuclear fuel safety research.
2. Initial reactor operations have mimicked historical operations.
3. A minimum pulse width has been achieved by control rod reinsertion during pulse.
4. Power profiles characteristic of a LOCA accident were performed.