- General Electric fuel design to be tested in Georgia Power’s Hatch plant this month
- Results will inform industry cost-benefit decisions on adopting the technology
- NEI urges NRC to expedite ‘transformational’ changes to its ATF licensing approach
Accident tolerant nuclear reactor fuels are a potential game changer for the industry. Originating as an offshoot of the U.S. Department of Energy’s advanced fuels research after the 2011 Fukushima accident, the capabilities of these more robust fuel designs are showing enough promise that the U.S. nuclear industry wants to accelerate their development and possible deployment.
Accident tolerant fuel technology offers superior safety margin to address a beyond design basis event and the potential for more cost-effective operation of the existing boiling water reactor fleet
The industry is working towards a goal of phased deployment in a commercial reactor in the early to mid-2020s.
“This schedule is of key importance in the decisions our members will need to make when evaluating the ATF safety benefits against the costs of adopting this technology,” the Nuclear Energy Institute’s Technical Advisor Andrew Mauer said in a Feb. 5 comment letter to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Three concepts for advanced fuels (including innovative fuel pellet and cladding materials) are currently under development and qualification, with three fuel vendors—Framatome, General Electric’s subsidiary Global Nuclear Fuel (GNF), and Westinghouse—being supported with shared funding from DOE. The designs being considered include modifications to fuel rod cladding materials as well as to the nuclear fuel itself. A fourth vendor, Lightbridge, is developing an advanced metallic fuel concept with potential accident tolerant characteristics, but is not using DOE research funding.
Several U.S. nuclear utilities are actively supporting these efforts, as are several universities, DOE’s national laboratory complex and the Electric Power Research Institute.
Testing in full-scale commercial reactors is an important aspect of the qualification program and this week a significant milestone was reached. Southern Nuclear Co. and GNF announced they will load the first test rods into Georgia Power Co.’s Plant Hatch during the plant’s spring refueling outage early this year. The test rods will use two of GNF’s innovative technologies; one with an iron-chromium-aluminum fuel cladding material, and the other using a ceramic-coated zirconium cladding.
GNF plans to install more of the test assemblies using both types of cladding in reactors owned by Southern Nuclear Co. and Exelon Co. next year. The other ATF technology developers also have plans to load test assemblies in U.S. reactors.
“Accident tolerant fuel technology offers superior safety margin to address a beyond design basis event and the potential for more cost-effective operation of the existing boiling water reactor fleet,” GNF Chief Executive Officer Amir Vexler said. “We are excited to collaborate with our customers and partners on this important program to lead the industry to an even safer, more reliable and more efficient future.”
“We are thrilled to be installing the new test assemblies this spring at Plant Hatch,” Southern Nuclear’s Nuclear Fuel Director John Williams added. “This game-changing technology will make plants even safer, resulting in more flexibility in our operations. This is not a small step, but a leap for our industry.”
NEI Comments on NRC Draft ATF Licensing Plan
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission meanwhile has been engaging with industry stakeholders to prepare itself to license these fuels and to support the industry’s timeline. Last December the agency published for comment a draft project plan outlining the NRC’s preliminary strategy to prepare for license applications.
In its comment letter to the NRC, NEI said that while the industry finds many aspects of the draft plan commendable, “a more transformational shift in the NRC’s fuel licensing approach is needed” in order to license ATF and realize the safety and economic benefits from these advanced technologies.
Key to realizing these benefits are the advanced modeling and simulation capabilities of the U.S. Department of Energy’s national laboratories. The NRC should leverage DOE’s existing advanced modeling and simulation (M&S) capacity which did not exist twenty years ago, instead of developing its own redundant M&S capabilities, NEI said. These newer M&S tools also could support NRC licensing processes, making for a “more efficient and effective independent regulatory review.”