US-based nuclear company Westinghouse is nearing completion of a conceptual design for a lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) with eight “state-of-the-art” testing facilities being established in the UK to demonstrate the plant’s features, a conference was told.
Rita Baranwal, chief technology officer at Westinghouse, told the Nuclear Innovation Conference in Amsterdam that LFR tests rigs are being erected at locations including Westinghouse’s own Springfields facility near Preston, reactor technology and engineering company Jacobs’ facility in Warrington and the University of Bangor in Wales. Fuel development is taking place at the National Nuclear Laboratory and the University of Manchester.
Ms Baranwal, a former assistant secretary for nuclear energy at US Department of Energy, said testing is scheduled to begin this summer and the company is engaged in pre-licensing discussions about the LFR with the UK nuclear regulator.
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