First US nuclear plant to use higher-enriched fuel
S. Himmelstein | November 29, 2023Vogtle Unit 2 in Georgia is the first U.S. commercial nuclear reactor authorized to use fuel with over 5% uranium-235 enrichment. Southern Nuclear expects that increased use of advanced accident tolerant fuel will benefit fuel efficiency and long-term affordability for nuclear power plants.
With regulatory authorization from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the manufacture of four first-of-a-kind lead test assemblies designed to accommodate advanced fuel can proceed. These systems incorporate key components from Westinghouse’s High Energy Fuel initiative and the EnCore Fuel program and include Advanced Doped Pellet Technology (ADOPT) uranium dioxide pellets. This fuel offers enhanced thermal stability and enables higher burnup by means of an enlarged grain structure and reduced transient fission gas release. The system also includes AXIOM fuel rod cladding and chromium-coated cladding combined with Westinghouse’s advanced PRIME fuel assembly design.
ATFs enhance the tolerance of light-water reactor fuel under severe accident conditions and offer improvements to reactor performance and economics during normal operations as well as in transient conditions and accident scenarios. Fuel with higher enrichment lasts longer, extending the time between refueling outages and potentially reducing fuel costs as less fuel assemblies are needed.
Southern Nuclear plans to begin loading the fuel into the Vogtle Unit 2 reactor in 2025.