Is it true the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission will not license a PBMR without a containment structure?
A. PBMR is not aware of any such decision by the NRC. Recent NRC publications indicate, however, that the NRC is intending to set rules relating to building performance that would allow a non-low leakage building if the requirements for public dose are met. Q. What happened with fuel tests at the Petten, Netherlands research reactors in 2008? Why did they fail? A. As part of the European Union development programme, enriched fuel previously produced for the German programme is being irradiated in Petten to establish if fuel burn-ups higher than those used in the past can be achieved without additional fuel failures. Tests were performed with five fuel spheres relevant to the PBMR fuel. The first four tests were completed successfully with exceptional fuel performance observed. In one test, fuel was tested outside the PBMR operational conditions (burn-up and temperature), and as could be predicted, a single particle failed near the end of the test. All test results were evaluated in dep
