The rods were recently shipped to the lab from a commercial nuclear power plant after completing six years of irradiation. Results from the experiments will be used to support the commercial deployment of so-called “high burnup fuels” before the end of the decade. ORNL said the results could lead to fewer refueling outages, increased power output for better economics and less spent fuel generated over the lifetime of the reactor.  

Higher burnup fuel is designed to remain in the reactor core for longer periods of time before it is removed for long-term storage.  

The fuel rods were manufactured at GNF’s fabrication facility in Wilmington, North Carolina with support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Accident Tolerant Fuel program and later inserted into a commercial reactor for testing. After six years of successful irradiation, the high burnup fuel rods were shipped to ORNL to examine the fuel and verify its safety and performance. 

“This shipment of these rods is another milestone in the drive to develop the next generation of even safer and more reliable fuel,” said Mike Chilton, Executive Vice President, GNF. “We are proud to be part of this collaboration with ORNL and DOE to benefit the entire industry.”   

ORNL will conduct post-irradiation experiments over the next several years, and the data will be used to support the development, engineering, and licensing efforts of GNF’s high burnup fuel. 

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $2.8 million to a coalition of partners who will research fuel management options for next-gen nuclear reactors.

EPRI will lead the team, which also includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Southern Company and Deep Isolation. The funding comes from DOE’s Advanced Reactor Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E).

Specifically, the two-year project aims to expand the available options of nuclear fuel management by creating a tool to optimize processes for the recovery of uranium from used nuclear fuel. The scope of the project would include an at-scale study for market readiness of some of these techniques.

EPRI will provide project management and expertise in advanced reactor development, ORNL will provide technical expertise in nuclear fuel cycles and system modeling for developing the tool, Southern Company will provide real-world data and their experience in shepherding new technology from the laboratory to full-scale commercial deployment and Deep Isolation will assist with technical expertise in the disposal of used fuel in deep borehole repositories approximately a mile underground.

“This project is at the heart of two of our focus areas at ORNL — advancing the next generation of nuclear technology to meet the nation’s energy needs and climate goals while reducing the demand on waste generation storage and ultimate disposal,” said Andy Worrall, section head of Integrated Fuel Cycle research at ORNL.