The first accident tolerant fuel assemblies containing both modified cladding and pellets have been loaded into until 2 of the Vogtle nuclear plant in Georgia, Southern Nuclear and Framatome announced 5 April.
The world’s first complete advanced nuclear fuel test assemblies containing accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) have been installed at Southern Co.’s Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant’s Unit 2 in Georgia.
Unit 2 of the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia, USA, has returned to service loaded with Framatome’s GAIA fuel assemblies containing the first complete Enhanced Accident Tolerant Fuel (EATF) concept. Unit 2 resumed operations on 3 April, following its spring refuelling and maintenance outage that began on 10 March.
An important milestone for the nuclear industry is taking place in Georgia and it’s not the one you might think. When it comes to innovation, it’s easy to think of new plant construction or advanced reactor technology, but the industry also is on the path to beating its own timeline for developing accident tolerant fuel (ATF)—one of several new technologies that will help our current fleet achieve more efficiency.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) has awarded $111.2 million to three industry partners to develop Accident Tolerant Fuels (ATF). General Electric (GE), Westinghouse (WEC), and Framatome received the financial assistance awards in late 2018 with FY18 and FY19 funding.