June 24, 2022 – Framatome congratulates Constellation and Energy Harbor who recently won Top Innovative Practice (TIP) Awards from the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and Bruce Power who won the Framatome Vendor Award for the company’s work in nuclear medicine. The three companies were recognized during NEI’s Nuclear Energy Assembly on June 21. The accolades highlight the shared commitment to innovation and excellence through strategic industry partnerships in the United States and Canada.
“The promise and realization of low-carbon nuclear energy is further expanded through the innovative projects we share with our customers and partners around the world,” said Gary Mignogna, president and CEO of Framatome in North America. “The Framatome North America team is proud to partner with Constellation, Energy Harbor and Bruce Power to introduce new technologies that utilize the wide-reaching benefits of nuclear energy to deliver low-carbon electricity and lifesaving medical treatment.”
NEI recognized Constellation with a TIP Award for the deployment of a full lead test assembly of accident tolerant fuel at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant. The plant’s lead test assembly set a first-of-its-kind milestone in enabling all fuel rods to contain accident tolerant fuel pellets and accident tolerant fuel rod cladding, leading to increased safety and reactor sustainability. The assembly was fabricated at Framatome’s Richland, Washington fuel facility under the PROtect program, as part of the DOE funded Accident Tolerant Fuel Program and supports the industry goal to deploy reload quantities of accident tolerant fuel by the mid-2020s.
Additionally, Energy Harbor earned an NEI TIP Award for the use of nano technology for aqueous system filtration at the Beaver Valley Power Station. As part of the site’s program to reduce radioactive material and dose, Energy Harbor implemented the cutting-edge technology to provide submicron filtration for the reactor coolant system, which removes energy from the reactor core and transfers it to the steam turbine. The technology uses electroadsorption to remove very fine contamination such as radioactive colloidal material. Framatome designed and manufactured the reactor coolant system filters for both Beaver Valley units.
Bruce Power received the Framatome Vendor Award in recognition of the company’s innovation in commercial medical isotope production. Earlier this year, Bruce Power joined Isogen, a joint venture between Framatome and Kinectrics, to install a first-of-a-kind isotope production system (IPS). The project will provide a steady supply of Lutetium-177, a medical isotope used in the treatment of various cancers. The innovative IPS allows for injecting and harvesting targets for the isotope production while the reactor is operating.