GE Vernova’s Nuclear Fuel business receives regulatory approval to manufacture higher enrichment fuel

WILMINGTON — GE Vernova’s Nuclear Fuel business, Global Nuclear Fuel (GNF), today announced that it has received approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to manufacture, ship and analyze the performance of nuclear fuel with Uranium-235 enrichments of up to 8 weight percent.

“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.”

With the latest NRC approval of GNF’s fuel fabrication license amendment, the company’s manufacturing facility in Wilmington, NC is the first commercial facility in the U.S. to hold a license to fabricate fuel enrichments up to 8 weight percent. The NRC has issued a Certificate of Compliance allowing GNF to ship nuclear fuel bundles up to 8 weight percent utilizing the company’s RAJ-II shipping container. The NRC has also approved licensing topical reports for advanced nuclear methods that enable GNF to analyze fuel with enrichments greater than 5 weight percent.

These approvals were made possible in part by work GNF and GE Vernova’s Advanced Research business have conducted for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) Program. GNF is developing and deploying fuel technologies with enhanced accident tolerance and operational flexibility while enabling sustained economic performance by improving bundle efficiency.

Higher enrichment fuels are anticipated to improve nuclear fuel cycle economics including through power uprates for existing boiling water reactors and also for the next generation of reactor technology including advanced and small modular reactors.