accident tolerant fuel
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Nuclear
First-Ever Additively Manufactured Debris-Filtering Bottom Nozzles Installed at Farley Nuclear Plant
Southern Nuclear, a subsidiary of Southern Company and operator of more than 8.2 GW of nuclear power capacity, said it has completed the installation of lead test assemblies with additively manufactured debris-filtering bottom nozzles (AMBN) at Alabama Power’s Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant. The AMBN assemblies are a new technology manufactured by Westinghouse Electric Co. […]
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Nuclear
INL Achieves Fabrication of Commercial-Grade Specialized Nuclear Fuel Pellets
Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has fabricated roughly two dozen commercial-grade fuel pellets of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) uranium dioxide (UO2), the Department of Energy (DOE) revealed on Nov. 20. The milestone demonstrates the national laboratory’s “unique ability” to provide customized nuclear fuel for industry and government partners, the DOE said. INL said researchers at the […]
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Nuclear
Framatome’s Accident-Tolerant Fuel Completes First Cycle at U.S. Nuclear Plant
Framatome, the France-based nuclear power company, said its Enhanced Accident Tolerant Fuel (EATF) assembly reached a milestone, with the group on July 25 announcing the EATF successfully completed its first cycle of operation at a U.S. nuclear power plant. The assembly was installed at Unit 2 of the Calvert Cliffs plant in Maryland during a […]
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Nuclear
Russians Achieve Milestone with New Nuclear Fuel
Rosatom announced that it has started the fourth irradiation cycle of fuel assemblies with VVER-type fuel rods in the MIR research reactor (Figure 1) at the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors in Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Region. The reactor tests have been ongoing since early 2019. The rods have four combinations of cladding and fuel matrix materials. […]
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Press Releases
Framatome, US Department of Energy secure $150 million cooperative agreement to advance accident tolerant fuel
December 16, 2021 – Framatome and the U.S. Department of Energy secure a new 4-year cooperative agreement valued at more than $150 million to continue the development of its PROtect enhanced accident tolerant fuel (EATF) technology. These technologies increase the safety performance of commercial nuclear reactors while providing operators more flexibility during normal operating conditions. […]
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Nuclear
Experimental Advanced Fuel Rods Loaded in Russian Nuclear Reactor
The first Russian-made nuclear reactor fuel bundles with experimental ATF (Advanced Technology Fuel) rods have been loaded into Unit 2 at the Rostov nuclear power plant (NPP) in southwest Russia. The reactor resumed operations earlier this month after a scheduled maintenance and refueling outage. The Rostov site is home to four VVER-1000 reactor units (Figure […]
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Nuclear
Nuclear First: 3D-Printed Safety-Related Components Installed at Browns Ferry
Marking a notable milestone for nuclear component additive manufacturing, four 3D-printed fuel assembly channel fasteners have been installed and are now operational at Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Unit 2 in Athens, Alabama. Channel fasteners are a type of bracket that attaches to the top of the nuclear fuel assembly to hold […]
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Nuclear
How the Department of Energy Is Helping Keep Nuclear Power Relevant
In the decade following World War II, the U.S. government took a keen interest in helping to create a commercial nuclear power industry. Although there were military leaders and members of Congress who
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Nuclear
Big Boost for Framatome’s Accident-Tolerant Nuclear Fuel
In another significant boost to commercial deployment of accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) at existing nuclear reactors, the first 18-month fuel cycle test of Framatome’s GAIA Enhanced Accident Tolerant Fuel (EATF) at Southern Co.’s Vogtle 2 has “demonstrated expected results and excellent performance,” Framatome said on Feb. 2. Southern Nuclear installed four GAIA lead fuel assemblies (LFAs) […]
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Nuclear
DOE Rolls Out Nuclear Innovation ‘Blueprint’ Ahead of Biden Administration Takeover
As it readies for a leadership shuffle, the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) has rolled out an ambitious “blueprint” that urges continued technology innovation for existing nuclear, advanced nuclear, nuclear waste, and fuel cycles by the incoming Biden administration. At its core, the NE’s “Strategic Vision” released on Jan. 8 posits […]