Background Westinghouse developed Advanced Doped Pellet Technology (ADOPT™) fuel to improve fuel cycle economics and enhance the accident tolerance of conventional uranium dioxide (UO2) fuel pellets. ADOPT fuel is an advanced doped pellet, developed in conjunction with Westinghouse’s EnCore® fuel program.

On Dec. 2, 1957, Westinghouse changed the world when Shippingport, the first commercial nuclear power station in the U.S., came online. Today, Westinghouse is changing nuclear energy again, building on our legacy of innovation with our revolutionary new accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) design, EnCore® fuel.

Westinghouse’s PRIME™ advanced fuel features help to improve fuel performance, enhance fuel reliability, enable better fuel cycle economics and provide additional margin at uprated conditions and higher burnup. The package of features includes an optimization of enhancements based on proven Westinghouse fuel reliability and world-class leadership in the design and manufacture of nuclear fuel. PRIME fuel features are available for the 17x17 Robust Fuel Assembly 2 (RFA-2), 17x17 Optimized Fuel Assembly (OFA) and 15x15 Upgrade Westinghouse fuel designs.

In 2012, U.S. Congress issued a directive for the development of Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) in response to the unprecedented tsunami in Japan that led to complications at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. ATF products are designed to enhance performance and increase safety under accident conditions. Westinghouse leads one of three industry teams supporting this directive. Congressional funding awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has enabled progress through Phase 2C (Development).