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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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DOE on track to deliver high-burnup SNF to Idaho by 2027
The Department of Energy said it anticipated delivering a research cask of high-burnup spent nuclear fuel from Dominion Energy’s North Anna nuclear power plant in Virginia to Idaho National Laboratory by fall 2027. The planned shipment is part of the High Burnup Dry Storage Research Project being conducted by the DOE with the Electric Power Research Institute.
As preparations continue, the DOE said it is working closely with federal agencies as well as tribal and state governments along potential transportation routes to ensure safety, transparency, and readiness every step of the way.
Watch the DOE’s latest video outlining the project here.
F. Baque
Nuclear Technology | Volume 150 | Number 1 | April 2005 | Pages 67-78
Technical Paper | Sodium Technology | doi.org/10.13182/NT05-A3606
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In-service monitoring of nuclear plants is indispensable for both the Operator and the Regulator. The notion of in-service monitoring ranges from the continuous monitoring of the reactor in operation to the thorough in-service reactor inspection during programmed shutdowns. However, the highly specific environment found in French liquid metal fast reactor plants - Phénix and Superphénix - makes monitoring and inspection complicated because of the use of a sodium coolant that is hot, opaque, and difficult to drain.The Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, in collaboration with its traditional French partners, Electricité de France utilities and FRAMATOME/Novatome Engineering, decided to conduct a 6-yr research and development program (1994-2000) to explore this problem vis-à-vis Superphénix, as well as the possibilities of intervening within the reactor block or on components in a sodium environment. Furthermore, the safety reevaluation of Phénix, conducted between 1994 and 2003, represented an excellent "test bench" during which the limits of inspection processes - applied to an integrated reactor concept - were surpassed using techniques such as fuel subassembly head scanning, ultrasonic examination of the core support, and visual inspection of the cover-gas plenum following a partial sodium draining. Repair techniques were investigated for cleaning of sodium wet structure surfaces, cutting of damaged parts, and welding in sodium aerosol atmosphere. Both conventional and laser processes were tested.