I’ve been in the nuclear industry long enough to know that introducing new products or features to the market takes patience. So maybe that’s why, when we have a chance to share some news with our customers and the industry, we get a little excited.
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.
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.
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.
Operators at the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant safely returned Unit 2 to service April 3 following a planned refueling and maintenance outage that began March 10. During the outage, Plant Vogtle installed the world’s first complete, fueled, full-length test assemblies, known as accident tolerant fuel, containing both pellets and claddings.