* Reactor clears hurdle toward final NRC certification

* Focus on small modular reactor project

* Recycled nuclear fuel to generate electricity

By Jim Brumm

WILMINGTON, N.C., Oct 28 - GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy has moved its reactor technology forward on two fronts this week.

The joint venture of General Electric Co GE.N and Hitachi Ltd 6501.T said the forward progress included talks that could result in research support for its Generation IV PRISM reactor, as part of a demonstration of small modular reactor technologies at the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site.

Separately, the venture said its 1,520-megawatt Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) reactor had passed a safety review with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, clearing the way for final NRC certification by the fall of 2011.

The technology offers what GE Hitachi says is “the world’s most advanced passive safety features, simplified construction and operation, and the lowest core damage frequency on the market today.”

It said the ESBWR is an evolutionary design based on the venture’s 1,350-megawatt advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR).

The ABWR is the first and only Generation III reactor to be fully certified by the NRC, the venture said.

Since the technology was certified in 1997, GE Hitachi said it has been used to build four reactors now operating in Japan. Four more reactors now under construction -- two in Japan and two in Taiwan.

GE Hitachi said its memorandum of understanding with Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), which operates the Savannah River site for the Energy Department, sets the stage for continued talks on the licensing and deployment of a 299-megawatt PRISM reactor at the federally owned facility.

The Savannah River site is about 25 miles (40 km) southeast of Augusta, Georgia, and SRNS is a partnership owned by Fluor Corp FLR.N Northrup Grumman Corp NOC.N and Honeywell International HON.N.

The PRISM reactor design, which completed Nuclear Regulatory Commission pre-application reviews in 1994, is an advanced reactor technology that builds on U.S. research and development of sodium cooled reactors, GE Hitachi said.

It said a key attribute of PRISM technology is its ability to recycle “spent” nuclear fuel to generate electricity.

“Working with SRNS toward the possibility of implementing our Generation IV PRISM reactor design is a major step,” said GE Hitachi Chief Executive Caroline Reda. (Editing by Thomas Brown and Lisa Shumaker)