The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will let the Tennessee Valley Authority produce more tritium for U.S. nuclear weapons using the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Tennessee, according to a Tuesday regulatory filing.
The NRC on April 15 approved a license amendment request the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) submitted in March 2023. The commission posted the amendment online Tuesday.
As requested, TVA will be able to increase the number of tritium producing burnable absorber rods (TPBAR) it irradiates in Watts Bar Units 1 and 2 during every 18-month power-generating cycle to 2,496 from 1,792.
TVA planned to start irradiating larger loads in fall 2024 at Unit 1 and in the spring of 2025 at Unit 2, the quasi-governmental corporation has said.
Watts Bar Unit 1 has produced tritium for National Nuclear Security Administration nuclear weapons programs since 2003. Watts Bar Unit 2 started loading TPBAR in 2020, though initially at a lower rate than the 1,792 rods allowed prior to last week’s license amendment.
According to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s 2025 budget request, the first Watts Bar power cycle under the amended license would not max out on TPBAR.
Cycle 20 of Watts Bar 1, scheduled to begin after a November refueling outage, and cycle seven of Watts Bar 2, to begin after an April 2025 outage, would irradiate between 1,792 and 1,920 TPBAR, the nuclear-weapons agency wrote in its budget request.
TVA notionally planned to max out TPBAR in Unit 1 during cycle 22 of the reactor, according to a regulatory filing.
