Tennessee issues licence for fusion plant

[Marlin]

Tennessee issues licence for fusion plant

https://world-nuclear-news.org/articles/tennessee-issues-licence-for-fusion-plant

[Core Content]

(Image: TDEC)

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation granted Type One Energy a byproduct material license for its commercial fusion project at the former Bull Run fossil plant site. This action establishes a state-level regulatory framework for fusion machines, distinct from fission reactor requirements. The developer plans to build a 400 MWe stellarator fusion plant as part of a multi-phase development campus in partnership with local institutions.

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has issued the state's first fusion-specific byproduct material licence to Type One Energy in preparation for its commercial fusion project. Tennessee is the first US state to issue a licence under a new regulatory framework specifically for nuclear fusion machines. ;

In 2023, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced that it would base its regulatory framework for fusion energy systems on its existing process for licensing the use of byproduct materials: such systems would generate electricity from the energy released when hydrogen atoms are combined to form helium, rather than the splitting, or fission, of uranium atoms. This means that such systems fall outside the requirements to be regulated by NRC as nuclear reactors, as they do not involve...

Read the full article at World Nuclear News:
https://world-nuclear-news.org/articles/tennessee-issues-licence-for-fusion-plant