Categorical Exclusion Determination
Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance
October 3, 2016
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Westinghouse Electric Company, in collaboration, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory and several universities, companies, utilities and foreign entities, proposes to develop and deploy Lead Test Rods (LTRs) by 2019 and Lead Test Assemblies (LTAs) by 2022 of Westinghouse’s Enhanced Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF). In order to achieve significant benefits from fuel cost savings and from the reduction or elimination of currently required safety requirements/systems, two options from the Westinghouse ATF program are proposed. The first option utilizes SiC composites/SiC monoliths ceramic matrix composite (CMC) for cladding containing high density and thermal conductivity U3Si2 pellets. The second option utilizes a coated zirconium (Zr) cladding containing high density and high thermal conductivity U3Si2 pellets. The coated cladding consists of a coated zirconium alloy (CZA). The CZA option will first be used in the LTRs in 2019 to first introduce U3Si2 into commercial reactors in preparation for the combination of CMC cladding and U3Si2 pellets in lead test rods in CZA LTAs in 2022. This program is aimed at performing the design and licensing tasks with the required experimental backup to obtain Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approval for insertion of LTRs in 2019 and LTAs in 2022.