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So, here's what you do when you hear news about new reactors in the US. You head to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) website and check out the status of
by credit_guy 3y ago
So, here's what you do when you hear news about new reactors in the US. You head to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) website and check out the status of the application (or, more often, pre-application). In this case you google NRC and Terrapower, and end up here [1]. There you get some general information, and also a link to the "docket". You can go there and there's some searches you can perform, for example you can find the documents filed this month.
The document that was filed today (20-March-2024) is [2] and has an impossibly long name that starts with "Readiness Assessment" and ends with "Construction Permit Draft Application". The gist of it is that TerraPower submitted the said draft application in January this year, and the NRC has reviewed this draft. Their observations can fall in 3 categories: A, B and C. A means you have a serious gap. B means you need to add some more info, and C is milder than B, it's something like, you are allowed to not add more info if you are really tired and exhausted, but if you do, we don't promise not to be upset.
The great news is that there were no category A findings. There were 30 category B, and about 100 category C findings.
Overall, it does look like TerraPower is making nice progress with the NRC. I did not expect things to be so rosy.
[1] https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/advanced/who-were-working-with/licensing-activities/pre-application-activities/natrium.html https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/advanced/who-were-...
[2] https://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSearch2/main.jsp?AccessionNumber=ML24060A227 https://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSearch2/main.jsp?Accessio...