Framatome delivered the industry’s first full-length Enhanced Accident Tolerant Fuel (EATF) concept containing both pellets and claddings to Georgia Power’s Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant. Southern Nuclear, operator of Plant Vogtle, inserted the GAIA lead fuel assemblies containing EATF during the Unit 2 spring refueling outage. Framatome delivered the fuel to the plant in January 2019.
“This is an important milestone for Framatome and the industry,” said Lionel Gaiffe, senior executive vice president, Fuel Business Unit at Framatome. “We applaud Southern Nuclear’s consistent support of EATF initiatives, and we are pleased to deploy an economical advanced fuel technology that offers operators additional response time and greater operational flexibility.”
Under the umbrella of its PROtect program, Framatome’s advanced chromium coating added to the state-of-the-art M5Framatome zirconium alloy cladding improves high-temperature oxidation resistance and reduces hydrogen generation during loss of cooling. The chromium coating also greatly reduces creep to maintain a coolable geometry and has mechanical properties that allow for more operator response time. Further, the innovative coating offers increased resistance to debris fretting during normal operations.