The Nuclear Power Thread

[Astronuc]

COVERT TOWNSHIP — Thanks to federal funding announced Wednesday, the Palisades nuclear facility in Michigan is poised to be the first shuttered plant to resume nuclear energy generation. Officials say Palisades, and the energy it produces, will be key to meeting goals for lowering carbon emissions.

The company that owns Palisades Energy LLC, Holtec International, will receive up to a $1.52 billion conditional loan from the U.S. Department of Energy. The funding will allow the 800-megawatt-capacity plant to resume energy production, company officials and U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said Wednesday morning.

https://www.freep.com/story/news/lo...clear-plant-nuclear-power-energy/73115767007/

Palisades is a unique PWR that uses cruciform control rods and consequently a unique fuel design to accommodate the control rods which are function between fuel assemblies rather than in particular fuel assemblies.

 

[Astronuc]

From ASTM E531.

Neutron Spectrum Calculations – neutron spectrum calculations involve two tasks: (1) determination of the neutron source distribution in the reactor, and (2) transport of the neutron source through the reactor environment to determine the neutron fluence rate distribution at the surveillance location of interest. The specific computational method applied must be validated by comparing results with measurements made on one or more representative benchmark experiments.

 

[gmax137]

Palisades is a unique PWR that uses cruciform control rods and consequently a unique fuel design to accommodate the control rods which are function between fuel assemblies rather than in particular fuel assemblies

Palisades was the first commercial NSSS provided by Combustion Engineering. The CE Nuclear brain trust in those days included a number of Argonne labs luminaries. So I always saw their fingerprints in the almost BWR like aspects of the reactor design.

In any event, it will be interesting to see how the re-licensing process goes. I'm thinking a couple of well-heeled intervenors could really throw a wrench into the works.

 

[Astronuc]

The CE Nuclear brain trust in those days included a number of Argonne labs luminaries.

I met some of those folks during projects with utilities and CE.

In Europe, more than 70 nuclear reactors have already closed down and it is estimated that dozens more will follow in the coming years. It therefore won't be long before they fall due for dismantling. Recycling and re-using the maximum quantity of materials makes it possible to reduce the ecological footprint of dismantling. And that is what this project is all about: a desire to create a circular economy in dismantling.

https://www.sckcen.be/en/news/nuclear-melting-furnace-also-receives-green-light-europe-0

Not what I expect when I read the title.

 

[Vanadium 50]

included a number of Argonne labs luminaries.

Including Marius Stan, who plated Bogdan in Breaking Bad? Can't get more famous than that.

 

[gmax137]

No, the guys I'm talking about were much earlier. Walter Zinn, Harold Lichtenberger. That era.