Planning Commission to consider rezoning for nuclear fuel fabrication


The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission on Thursday, July 21, 2022, will consider rezoning 110 acres at Horizon Center for a nuclear fuel fabrication company. (Image by City of Oak Ridge)

The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission on Thursday, July 21, 2022, will consider rezoning 110 acres at Horizon Center for a nuclear fuel fabrication company.

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The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission on Thursday, July 21, 2022, will consider rezoning 110 acres at Horizon Center for a nuclear fuel fabrication company. (Image by City of Oak Ridge)

The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission on Thursday will consider rezoning 110 acres at Horizon Center for a nuclear fuel fabrication company.

The property (Lot 6a) has been purchased from the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board by TRISO-X LLC, a nuclear fuel company that announced expansion plans in Oak Ridge in April 2022, the city staff said. The company said it hopes to bring hundreds of highly skilled, high-paying jobs to the Oak Ridge area and further “Oak Ridge’s well-earned reputation as the center of U.S. nuclear innovation and excellence.”


The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission on Thursday, July 21, 2022, will consider rezoning 110 acres at Horizon Center for a nuclear fuel fabrication company. (Image by City of Oak Ridge)

The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission on Thursday, July 21, 2022, will consider rezoning 110 acres at Horizon Center for a nuclear fuel fabrication company.

The rest of this story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today. Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here. Not a member? No problem! Subscribe here: Basic

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If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to: Oak Ridge Today P.O. Box 6064 Oak Ridge, TN 37831 We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here. We also accept donations. You can donate here. A donation of $50 or more will make you eligible for a subscription. Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support!

TVA has virtual open house for Clinch River Nuclear Site

Clinch-River-Site-Bear-Creek-Road-Entrance-March-27-2016
The small nuclear reactors that could be built along the Clinch River could provide enough electricity to power several cities the size of Oak Ridge. The Bear Creek Road entrance to the Clinch River Site, where the reactors could be built by the Tennessee Valley Authority, is pictured above on Sunday, March 27, 2016. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The Tennessee Valley Authority will have a virtual open house for the Clinch River Nuclear Site in west Oak Ridge this evening (Thursday, March 10).

The open house follows the release of a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the 935-acre site in the Roane County portion of Oak Ridge, south of Heritage Center (the former K-25 site) near the Clinch River.

The draft EIS assesses the potential environmental effects associated with possibly having nuclear reactors at the site, a press release said.

“The proposed facility aligns with TVA’s 2050 target of achieving net-zero carbon emissions and drive to a carbon-free future,” the press release said.

[Read more…]

DOE makes upgrades to Molten Salt Reactor Experiment

An aerial view of the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment. The facility was shut down in 1973, and the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management is responsible for keeping it in a safe mode until its demolition is scheduled. (Photo courtesy DOE EM)

The U.S. Department of Energy is upgrading a historic reactor in Oak Ridge to keep the facility safe until it can be demolished.

The reactor, the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment, is at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and it was shut down nearly 50 years ago. At some point, the MSRE will be deactivated, and that will save about $5 million in annual operating costs, a press release said.

The work is being overseen by the DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management.

“We have the important responsibility of keeping it safe until major cleanup operations begin,” said Nathan Felosi, EM’s ORNL portfolio federal project director. “The latest round of projects is making sure that’s the case and achieving considerable cost savings to taxpayers.”

[Read more…]

For members: TVA could test new nuclear reactors in Oak Ridge

 

TVA Clinch River Site

The Tennessee Valley Authority could use the potential nuclear reactor site in west Oak Ridge to test new reactors and nuclear technologies.

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Oak Ridge, TN 37831

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TVA Clinch River Site
The Clinch River Site in west Oak Ridge is pictured above. The road running from bottom to top on the right (east) side of the Clinch River connects to Bear Creek Road in southwest Oak Ridge. Highway 58 is off to the top left of the photo and the Heritage Center is to the north. (Photo courtesy TVA)

The Tennessee Valley Authority could use the potential nuclear reactor site in west Oak Ridge to test new reactors and nuclear technologies.

Oak Ridge Today has previously reported that small modular nuclear reactors could be built at the Clinch River site, although no specific design has been approved or selected. There are additional actions that would have to be completed before any reactors would be built in Oak Ridge, including selection of a design, approval by the TVA board of directors, and issuance of a construction or operating permit by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

 

TVA Clinch River Site

The Tennessee Valley Authority could use the potential nuclear reactor site in west Oak Ridge to test new reactors and nuclear technologies.

The rest of this story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today.

Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here.

Not a member? No problem! Subscribe here:

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If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to:

Oak Ridge Today
P.O. Box 6064
Oak Ridge, TN 37831

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We also accept donations. You can donate here. A donation of $50 or more will make you eligible for a subscription.

Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support!

TVA asks for public comments about proposed nuclear reactor site

TVA Clinch River Site
The Clinch River Site in west Oak Ridge is pictured above. The road running from bottom to top on the right (east) side of the Clinch River connects to Bear Creek Road in southwest Oak Ridge. Highway 58 is off to the top left of the photo and the Heritage Center is to the north. (Photo courtesy TVA)

The Tennessee Valley Authority is asking for public comment about a proposal to build one or more small or advanced nuclear reactors in west Oak Ridge.

The reactors would be on the Clinch River Nuclear Site, near the Clinch River and south of Heritage Center (the former K-25 site) in Roane County.

The reactors could be advanced or small modular nuclear reactors. They would have a maximum total electrical output of 800 megawatts. They would be smaller than traditional nuclear power plants, and they would produce less power.

Oak Ridge Today has previously reported that the reactors could provide enough electricity to power several cities the size of Oak Ridge

[Read more…]

NRC could finish design review of small reactor by 2020

Cross-sectional view of the NuScale Power small modular reactor building. (Image courtesy NuScale Power)

NuScale Power of Portland, Oregon, said Monday that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has completed the second and third phases of its review of NuScale’s design for a small modular nuclear reactor, and the NRC is on track to complete the design review by September 2020.

This could be important to Oak Ridge because small modular reactors are possible at the Clinch River Nuclear Site in west Oak Ridge, although there are additional approvals that would be required.

The completion of the second and third phases of the NuScale design review is six weeks ahead of schedule, the company said in a press release on Monday.

“Completing phases 2 and 3 of the NRC’s design review certification process is a critical milestone for our company and the advanced nuclear industry,” said NuScale Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Hopkins.

[Read more…]

Small reactors can be safely located on Clinch River site, NRC says

Two or more small modular nuclear reactors could be built on a 935-acre area of the Clinch River Nuclear Site in west Oak Ridge, south of Heritage Center near Highway 58. (Image from the “Final Safety Evaluation Report for the Early Site Permit Application for the Clinch River Nuclear Site” published by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in June 2019.)

Two or more small nuclear reactors could be safely located on a site in west Oak Ridge, a federal agency said this month.

The reactors could be built on the Clinch River Nuclear Site. That’s a 935-acre site south of Heritage Center (the former K-25 site) in the Roane County portion of Oak Ridge. The plant would be off Bear Creek Road near Highway 58 on a peninsula surrounded by the Clinch River on the east, south, and west.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has completed a final safety evaluation report for an early site permit application for the site.

“The report concludes there are no safety aspects that would preclude issuing the permit for the site,” the NRC said in a press release Tuesday. The report, which is about 600 pages, had been expected this month.

The Tennessee Valley Authority applied for the early site permit in May 2016. The NRC’s final safety evaluation report for the site was published Friday, June 14.

[Read more…]

Y-12 reactor core could be used for power on Moon, Mars

NASA fission power system concept (Image credit: NASA Glenn Research Center)

NASA fission power system concept (Image credit: NASA Glenn Research Center)

 

A reactor core that includes highly enriched uranium alloy components produced at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge could power future space exploration, including on the Moon and Mars, federal officials said.

The reactor core fabricated at Y-12 has been delivered to the Nevada National Security Site, where it is being used in a experiment called Kilopower. That’s a new power source that could provide safe, efficient energy for future robotic and human space exploration missions, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA. The power source could help provide lighting, water, and oxygen on those missions.

NASA said the pioneering space power system, which would use nuclear fission, could provide up to 10 kilowatts of continuous electrical power for at least 10 years. That’s enough power to run two average households.

Four Kilopower units would provide enough power to establish an outpost, NASA said. The system could enable long-term stays on planetary surfaces.

Testing, which started in November, is being performed through this spring at the National Critical Experiments Research Center in the Device Assembly Facility at the Nevada National Security Site. [Read more…]