GE Vernova Receives Approval to Produce High Enrichment Nuclear Fuel

GE Vernova’s Nuclear Fuel business, Global Nuclear Fuel (GNF), has received an approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to manufacture, ship, and analyze the performance of nuclear fuel enriched with uranium-235 by up to 8 weight percent.

With the NRC’s approval of GNF’s fuel fabrication license amendment, the company’s manufacturing facility in Wilmington, NC is the first commercial location in the United States to obtain a license for fuel fabrication enrichments of up to 8 weight percent. The NRC issued a Certificate of Compliance, which allows GNF to ship nuclear fuel bundles with the company’s RAJ-II shipping container. It also approved licensing topical reports for advanced nuclear methods that allow GNF to analyze fuel with enrichments greater than 5 weight percent.

Fuel manufacturing facility, Wilmington, NC; Image Credits: GE Vernova

“These regulatory milestones build on our long history of designing and fabricating fuel for the nuclear industry,” said Mike Chilton, Executive Vice President, GNF. “We will continue to innovate to help our customers run their plants even more efficiently and be ready to support the next generation of reactor technology with reliable, flexible fuel products as the industry progresses to the use of higher enrichments.”

The NRC approvals were made possible due to the work GNF and GE Vernova’s Advanced Research business have conducted for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) program. GNF is developing and deploying fuel technologies with enhanced accident tolerance and operational flexibility, while also allowing sustained economic performance through improved bundle efficiency. Higher enrichment uranium-based fuels are expected to improve nuclear fuel cycle economics by way of power uprates for current boiling water reactors and advanced/small modular reactors.