Lightbridge said in a statement that the demonstration included the production of several surrogate coextruded rods using a coextrusion process developed by the company.
Lightbridge said the fuel rod design is expected to increase core performance, extend core life, reduce the number of refueling outages, and offer lower levelised cost of electricity.
The Lightbridge fuel rods are 6-feet (about 183 cm) long and were coextruded from billets contained in a zirconium canister which resulted in a bonded cladding surrounding the surrogate fuel material core.
The surrogate materials were designed to simulate the flow stresses, including temperatures and extrusion pressures, expected in the actual manufacturing of the rods using a uranium-zirconium alloy.
According to Lightbridge, the demonstration of the coextrusion manufacturing process follows a May 2019 agreement between NuScale and Enfission on cooperation in the development of Lightbridge fuel technology for use in NuScale’s SMR design.
NuScale’s technology is the first and only SMR to undergo design certification review by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The NRC is scheduled to complete its review of NuScale’s design in September 2020.
NuScale’s SMR is a modular light-water reactor nuclear power plant with a fully factory-fabricated module capable of generating 60 MW of electricity. The scalable design – a power plant can house up to 12 individual power modules – reduces the financial commitments associated with gigawatt-sized nuclear facilities.
