By Jeffrey Reed, Program Director at Framatome

I was preparing a presentation for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently, and I looked back through some of my previous slides, searching for information. In that search, I found a presentation describing Framatome’s enhanced accident tolerant fuel (EATF) program launch in 2012. At that time, the goal of the project was to deliver lead test assemblies with accident tolerant fuel characteristics to a U.S. reactor by 2022.

We said from the start that we were going to maintain an aggressive timeline, pushing our teams to deliver ahead of schedule. When this program started – more than seven years ago – I felt that 2022 seemed like a long way off. There was so much work to do regarding research and development, testing, and regulatory constraints that come with introducing new technologies to the nuclear industry. I knew the industry couldn’t wait that long.

2022 is still not here – it’s still in the distant future. But bringing our technologies to market is not. I am proud to say our EATF technologies are here, and this year – 2019 – we are delivering enhanced EATF technologies from our PROtect program to two U.S. commercial reactors three years ahead of the original target. We have also signed a contract to deliver a complete fuel assembly in 2021.

This accelerated timeline to deliver to the industry has truly been a global team effort. From the DOE to Framatome’s global team of experts and all of our other partners and agencies, who have helped us reach this significant milestone, we could not have succeeded without their unwavering support.

View the full story at LinkedIn.