[ RadSafe ] " MIT wins $7.5M DoE grant to develop a new generation of adv...

[JPreisig at aol.com]

Jaro, Radsafe:
 
     From:    _jpreisig at aol.com_ (mailto:jpreisig at aol.com) 
 
 
     Hmmmmmm,
 
            Seems  like an inherently safe advanced reactor design.  
Reactor doesn't melt  generally.
Neat.
 
      Have these MIT guys been reading our fast  neutron reactor postings 
on radsafe????
Liquid salt (NaCl) replaces water as a moderator, and thus allows fast  
neutrons to be part of the
reactor's operating scenario.  More of the reactor fuel will be used  up, 
thus leaving less long-lived
nuclear waste??? Dr. Stanford, take note of this????
 
      Hope this all works out.
 
      See MIT etc. research folks are really  pretty smart and motivated.  
They got this research proposal
written and approved, while this type of project was only being discussed  
here on radsafe.
Good work, guys.
 
       Regards,   Joseph R. (Joe)  Preisig, PhD
 
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 9/23/2011 9:14:35 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
jaro_10kbq at videotron.ca writes:

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/doe-grant-advanced-reactors.html
MIT  wins $7.5M DoE grant to develop a new generation of advanced  reactors

MIT has been awarded $7.5 million as part of a new initiative  by the
Department of Energy (DoE) to support research and development on  the next
generation of nuclear technologies. Funded through the DoE’s  Nuclear Energy
University Projects (NEUP), the Integrated Research Projects  (IRPs) were
established to help ensure that the country maintains a leading  role in
nuclear energy research.

The Department of Nuclear Science  and Engineering and the MIT Reactor Lab
will work together with their  partners at the University of California at
Berkeley (UCB) and the  University of Wisconsin at Madison (UW) on the
project over the next three  years to develop the path forward to a test
reactor and ultimately a  commercial high-temperature salt-cooled reactor,
also called a  Fluoride-salt High-Temperature Reactor (FHR).

The FHR is a new reactor  concept — about a decade old. It combines
high-temperature graphite-matrix  coated particle fuel developed for
high-temperature gas-cooled reactors  (fuel failure temperature greater than
1600°C), liquid salt developed for  the molten salt reactors (boiling point
greater than 1400°C), and safety  systems originate from sodium fast
reactors.

This new combination of  existing technologies creates the possibility of a
large power reactor  where catastrophic accidents would not be credible. The
Three Mile Island  and the more recent Fukushima accident resulted from
radioactive decay heat  generated after the reactors were shut down that
overheated and destroyed  fuel. The FHR fuel and coolant combination may
allow decay heat to conduct  to the environment without massive fuel failure
even with large-scale  structural and system  failures.

----------------------------------

More on this type  of NPP concept here:  
http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/pb-ahtr/


















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