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India’s PFBR attains criticality at last
Prime Minister Narendra Modi proclaimed it “a proud moment for India” when on April 6 the 500-MWe, sodium-cooled Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) achieved initial criticality. This milestone, which comes some 22 years after the continually delayed PFBR project began, marks India’s entrance into the second stage of its three-stage nuclear program, which has the ultimate goal of supporting the country’s nuclear power program with its significant thorium reserves.
David Garrido (ENSA), Steven Ross (PNNL), Paul E. McConnell, Willaim Uncapher (SNL), Philip Jensen, Nicholas Klymyshyn (PNNL), Sylvia Saltzstein, Ken Sorenson (SNL), Brady Hanson, Ralph Best (PNNL), William Shust (Objective Engineers), Jeff L. England (SRNS), Russ Walker, Ruben Pena (Transportation Technology Center, Inc.)
Proceedings | 16th International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conference (IHLRWM 2017) | Charlotte, NC, April 9-13, 2017 | Pages 72-78
The objective of the shock and vibration testing program is to quantify mechanical loads on fuel assembly components that would occur during normal conditions of transportation (NCT) by various modes. This information will guide materials research and establish a technical basis for review organizations such as the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). A significant body of experimental and numerical modeling data exists to quantify loads and failure limits applicable to NCT rail transport, but the data are either out-of-date relative to present day railroad operations and equipment, or are based on assumptions that can only be verified through experimental testing. The summary presented herein represents a collaboration among many stakeholders to define the path for acquiring new data that is needed to validate the assumptions of previous work, validate modelling methods that will be needed to evaluate the mechanical responses of used nuclear fuel that will be transported in the future in large rail casks, and inform material test campaigns on the anticipated range of stresses that will be imposed on nuclear fuel cladding. This work will include full scale testing of a used nuclear fuel cask, cradle, rail car, and surrogate fuel assemblies and will encompass intermodal transloading, heavy-haul truck transport, barge transport, ocean going vessel transport, and rail transport as well as captive track tests. The ultimate goal of this testing will be to close some of the existing knowledge gaps related to the mechanical loads that would be imposed on used nuclear fuel under NCT and inform the experiments and analysis efforts