High burnup fuel rods manufactured by Global Nuclear Fuel (GNF) have been delivered to the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for examination after commercial operation.

The shipment contained rods from GNF2 assemblies that were initially loaded into a US nuclear power plant for two cycles of operation.

In close coordination with the plant operator, the assemblies were redesignated as high burnup lead use assemblies through GNF’s US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing process and then reloaded for an additional cycle to achieve operation in the reactor beyond current NRC licensing limits.