day four
Framatome’ s Richland facility produces uranium dioxide powder, pellets, fuel rods, and fuel assemblies for commercial nuclear power plants worldwide. The uranium fuel pellets produced by the plant are about the size of a thimble or a gummy bear. One pellet would power a house for five years— and the Richland facility produces 300,000 such pellets a day, or 90 million a year. One carbon-free pellet is equivalent to the power capacity of: 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas, 149 gallons of oil or 2,000 pounds of coal. The most versatile fuel production facility in the world, it can produce fuel for both Pressurized Water Reactors( PWRs) and Boiling Water Reactors( BWRs) and is positioned to produce the fuel of the future for the next generation of advanced reactors. In Richland, Framatome employees over 580 people.