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New fuel switches US nuclear reactor from Regular to Premium that contains uranium enriched above 5% – a US commercial first.
A US nuclear reactor has switched from Regular to Premium fuel with Southern Nuclear inserting four Lead Test Assemblies (LTAs) into the Vogtle Unit 2 reactor in Waynesboro, Georgia that contains uranium enriched above 5% – a US commercial first.
The general assumption is that filling a reactor with uranium and plutonium is like shoveling coal into a boiler furnace – a straightforward operation that, in the case of nuclear, is just a bit more involved. According to Westinghouse a variant called LEU+ ADOPT fuel can handle enrichments of up to 8%, greatly improving conventional reactor performance with reduced needs for refueling. After being fabricated into four fuel rod assemblies, these were inserted into the Vogtle Unit 2 power plant where they will be monitored on how they respond to intense radiation exposure through multiple reactor cycles.
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