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Technology Selected for DOE’s Versatile Test Reactor Program

November 20, 2018

Battelle Energy Alliance—the management and operating contractor for the Idaho National Laboratory (INL)—selected GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s (GEH’s) PRISM technology to support the U.S. Department of Energy’s Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) program.

The VTR program is expected to accelerate the development of fuels and materials for U.S. advanced reactors, utilizing fast neutron spectrum technology. Rather than producing electricity, the VTR will conduct irradiation testing for fuels, materials, and equipment to be used in rapidly evolving designs for advanced reactors brought forward by U.S. companies, as well as public and private research institutions.

In October, the INL awarded nearly $ 3.9 million in funding through the VTR program for 13 university-led projects to develop instrumentation and tools needed to monitor and conduct experiments in the fast spectrum reactor.

The university-led projects selected for funding were:

University of Pittsburgh	Disruptive Nuclear Technology: Resonance Sensors and Inductive Signal Transmission through Hermetic Walls	$ 450,000
University of Wisconsin – Madison	Miniature Scale Liquid Metal Oxygen Purification and Measurement System	$ 350,000
University of Utah	Development of Experiment Vehicle for Analyzing the Chemistry of Irradiated Molten Salt	$ 450,400
Texas A&M University	Development of Innovative Measurement Techniques for Fission Product Transport Quantification	$ 250,000
Oregon State University	In Situ Mechanical and Corrosion Testing	$ 440,000
University of New Mexico	Preparatory Out-of-pile Lead Loop Experiments to Support Design of Irradiation Test Loop in VTR	$ 450,000
North Carolina State University	VIM for VTR: Holistic Approach to Design and Construction	$ 319,000
Texas A&M University	Rabbit System Design and Demonstration	$ 400,000
Abilene Christian University	Investigation of Instrumentation, Data Analytics, and Simulation Synergies for the Versatile Test Reactor	$ 150,000
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Advanced Data Acquisition and Simulation with Live Data Supporting VTR Experiments	$ 150,000
University of Idaho	Advanced Molten Salt Flow Sensor	$ 100,000
Colorado School of Mines	Big, Deep, and Smart Data to Support VTR Experiment Design and Validation	$ 169,000
Georgia Tech	IBD Power Monitor for the VTR Experimental Program	$ 196,000

“The VTR is a vital and strategic project for the U.S.…

AP1000 Reactor Set for Commercial Operation in China

September 20, 2018

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An AP1000 nuclear reactor at the Sanmen power plant in China will likely be the first of its kind to begin commercial operation, with reports saying the reactor could come online as early as September 21.

A statement from China National Nuclear Power Company, issued to the stock exchange in Shanghai on September 20, said the reactor is expected to be ready for operation Friday after a 168-hour test run. The Sanmen plant is in east China’s Zhejiang province.

Snowy Yao, an analyst in Hong Kong with China Securities International Finance Holding Company, told Bloomberg: “It’s a landmark event for China’s nuclear power industry. It’s safe to say China is now one of the leaders in the world’s civil nuclear power industry.”

The AP1000, a pressurized water reactor designed by Westinghouse, is the same reactor being built for Units 3 and 4 at the Vogtle plant in Georgia, the long-delayed project that continues to be beset by cost overruns and legal squabbling over its construction.…

‪The Curious Case of a Two-Billion-Year-Old Nuclear Reactor

September 10, 2018

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A rock sample from Oklo in Gabon, the world’s oldest and only natural reactor. Courtesy: IAEA Bulletin

Scientists appear to have unraveled the mystery of uranium ore found at a mine in Oklo region of the Central African state of Gabon that exhibits a lower proportion of uranium-235 (U-235)—the fissile sort.

According to an August 10 bulletin from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the first response that physicists had when they first found the high-grade ore in 1972 was that it wasn’t natural: “At first, all the physicists could think of was that the uranium ore had gone through artificial fission, i.e. that some of the U-235 isotopes had been forced to split in a nuclear chain reaction. This could explain why the ratio was lower than normal,” the bulletin says.

All natural uranium today contains 0.720% of U-235. “If you were to extract it from the Earth’s crust, or from rocks from the moon or in meteorites, that’s what you would find.…

EDF Announces More Delays, Cost Overruns for Flamanville 3 Reactor

July 25, 2018

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French utility Électricité de France (EDF)on July 25 said it has pushed fuel loading at its 1.6-GW Flamanville 3 nuclear project to the fourth quarter of 2019 and increased cost estimates for the project by another €400 million (USD $ 467.1 million).

EDF said its current cost for the project has ballooned to €10.9 billion (USD $ 12.75 billion), triple the original budget. The utility today said start-up for the troubled EPR reactor will not occur until at least the second quarter of 2020. Fuel loading and commercial operation start dates at the Normandy plant have now been revised twice in the past year; in October 2017, EDF said fuel loading was set for late 2018, with full production in 2019.

EDF said the latest delay is due to faulty welding of joints, which the utility had previously discussed in April and May of this year. The utility said it has inspected 148 of 150 welds in the main secondary system at Flamanville 3 and found 33 needed repairs.…

Chinese Reactor Is Ahead of Schedule as U.S. Nuclear Projects Flounder

May 28, 2017

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China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) completed the dome lift at Fuqing Unit 5—the world’s first power plant being constructed utilizing the HPR 1000 (also known as the Hualong One) reactor design—15 days ahead of schedule on May 25.

The feat was no small accomplishment. The dome weighs about 340 metric tons and has a diameter of 46.8 meters (more than half the length of a U.S. football field). It was said to be the world’s largest and highest dome lift ever undertaken at a nuclear construction site (Figure 1). The dome—composed of 153 prefabricated components divided into five layers—ensures the integrity of the unit’s reactor building.

1. Up, up, and away. The hemispheroid dome was lifted into place on Fuqing Unit 5’s reactor building on May 25. Courtesy: CNNC

“That the dome was lifted 15 days in advance proves that CNNC can construct the HPR 1000 which is a national key project in the field of nuclear power,” Wang Shoujun, chairman of CNNC, said in a press release.…

GE-Hitachi and Southern Nuclear to Pair on Fast Reactor Design Advancement

November 6, 2016

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GE-HItachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) and Southern Nuclear Energy will collaborate to study the development and licensing of GEH’s PRISM sodium-cooled fast reactor design.

Southern Nuclear Development, a subsidiary of Southern Co. company Southern Nuclear Operating Co. signed a memorandum of understanding to study the high-energy neutron reactor design, as well as to work together toward participating in future U.S. Department of Energy advanced reactor licensing projects.

The companies said in a joint press release on October 31 that the PRISM design has benefited from the operating experience of EBR-II. Developed under the U.S. Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) program, the EBR-II was a 62-MWe prototype that began operations in 1961 at a Argonne National Laboratory site in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and operated for more than 30 years. The prototype was used for testing materials and design concepts and later used to generate power for other site facilities.

The reactor was shut down in 1994. In mid-2015, crews completed work to entomb the reactor, removing and treating the last of the sodium coolant from the reactor’s nine heat exchangers.…