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New laws offer nuclear industry incentives for existing power plant uprates
This year, the U.S. nuclear industry received a much-needed economic boost that could help preserve operating nuclear power plants and incentivize upgrades that extend their lifespan and power output.
Signed into law in 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act offers production tax credits (PTCs) for existing nuclear power plants and either PTCs or investment tax credits (ITCs) for new carbon-free generation. These credits could make power uprates—increasing the maximum power level at which a commercial plant may operate—a much more appealing option for utilities.
L. W. Weston, J. H. Todd
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 63 | Number 2 | June 1977 | Pages 143-148
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE77-A27017
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The average 240Pu capture cross section was measured from 200 eV to 350 keV. The cross section was normalized at thermal-neutron energies (0.02 to 0.03 eV), and this normalization was confirmed at the 1.06-eV resonance by the black resonance technique. The source of pulsed neutrons was the Oak Ridge Electron Linear Accelerator. The capture gamma-ray detector used was the “total energy detector,” which is a modification of the Moxon-Rae detector. The shape of the neutron flux was measured relative to the 10B(n, α) cross section up to 2 keV and the 6Li(n, α) cross section at higher neutron energies. The results of the measurement define the average capture cross section of 240Pu over a wide neutron energy range to an accuracy of ∼8%, which is significantly better than previously known. The results indicate that the ENDF/B-IV evaluation is ∼25% low above 30-keV neutron energy. The cross section is important in fast plutonium-fueled reactors.