By Jeff Reed, AREVA EATF Program Manager We recognize that the nuclear fuel business is not a fast-moving business. Design, development and testing of nuclear fuel assemblies and components can take years before concept becomes reality, and a new fuel innovation is placed inside a nuclear reactor. The long lead times are a direct result…
Following innovations brought about the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Fuels Campaign, the nuclear industry is pushing to advance the program’s schedule and continue developing accident tolerant nuclear fuels. DOE, in partnership with industry groups, National Labs and research universities, plans to demonstrate prototype advanced technology fuel (ATF) in U.S. commercial light water reactors by…
The nuclear energy industry has long supported and implemented improvements in the nuclear fuel used in its reactor fleet. These improvements have traditionally been incremental. Six months after the March 2011 Fukushima accident in Japan, the U.S. Senate gave the Department of Energy renewed funding for research into a project that already had been underway…
AREVA NP has remained steadfast in its commitment to deliver high-quality fuel and fuel-related products to our customers and utilities throughout the world. That mission started more than 50 years ago and continues today. AREVA NP recently introduced the next generation of fuel designs to the U.S. market – GAIA for pressurized water reactors and…
Following the damage to the Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Station in 2011, the U.S. Congress directed the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to initiate a program to investigate accident-tolerant fuel for nuclear reactors. The goal of this initiative is to find a fuel rod design that is more tolerant to accident conditions than the fuel…