TerraPower has announced the submission of its construction permit application to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the Natrium reactor demonstration project. TerraPower believes it is the first company to submit its construction permit application to the NRC for a commercial advanced reactor.
TerraPower has been working closely with the NRC in pre-application meetings and is confident in its application. The non-nuclear construction phase will begin this summer, while nuclear construction will begin after the application is approved. Upon completion, the Natrium plant will be a fully functioning commercial power plant. It is being constructed near a retiring coal facility.
“This submission marks another step toward bringing the Natrium reactor to market and revolutionising how a nuclear reactor functions on the grid,” commented Chris Levesque, president and CEO of TerraPower. “We will continue working closely with local stakeholders, elected officials and regulatory partners as we begin non-nuclear construction this year while working through this application process with the NRC.”
The submission of this construction permit application represents significant advance for the Natrium project. In February TerraPower announced the second round of contracts for long-lead suppliers supporting the development of the reactor.
The Natrium technology is an advanced nuclear design featuring a 345 MWe sodium-cooled fast reactor with a molten salt-based energy storage system. Other advantages of this Generation IV non-light-water reactor are said to be improved fuel utilisation, enhanced safety features and a streamlined plant layout that will require a smaller bulk of construction materials overall. The storage technology chosen can boost the system’s output to 500 MWe for five and a half hours or more when needed. This innovative addition should allow a Natrium plant to integrate with renewable resources and lead to faster and more cost-effective decarbonisation of the electric grid while producing dispatchable carbon-free energy.
Image: Chris Lebeque (front row, 3rd from the right), CEO of TerraPower, stands alongside NRC and TerraPower officials and the official application for an SMR construction permit (courtesy of TerraPower)
