Fast Flux Test Facility, Redux

[David B. Benson]

The US had an FFTF, built on the Hanford reservation. Rumor has it that it was wrecked by drilling a hole in it to drain it. So now an alternative is to be constructed at the Idaho National Laboratory site:

Energy Department wants to build nuclear test 'fast' reactor
Keith Rider
2019 Aug 05
Phys.org
m.techxplore.com/news/2019-08-energy-department-nuclear-fast-reactor.html

I refrained from entitling this thread "Lyman lies". After all, maybe he actually believes his utterances.

[engineerpoet]

What I hear is that the NRC has a rule which prevents the FFTF from simply being repaired by welding a plug over the drain hole.  So instead we have to spend several $billion to build a whole new one.

The NRC is THE biggest problem with nuclear energy in the USA.

[David B. Benson]

Aug 7, 2019 4:44:11 GMT 9.5 engineerpoet said:

What I hear is that the NRC has a rule ...

The NRC is THE biggest problem with nuclear energy in the USA.

The FFTF is on the Hanford federal reservation and wasn't designed to generate for the grid, so not subject to NRC oversight.

I do agree with your second paragraph.