Archived Events

The new High Temperature Reactor (HTR) designs being considered for future Gen IV nuclear reactor deployment include designs utilizing molten salt as the primary coolant. These molten-salt cooled, graphite core designs pose new material compatibility challenges that are not considered within the gas-cooled HTR designs that have been previously built and operated. In MSRs, graphite is not only exposed to fast neutron irradiation but also in continuous contact with the coolant molten salt, the fuel salt, or both, depending on the design. The continuous operation in contact with the molten salts is expected to affect graphite’s local composition and microstructure, which in turn impacts the mechanical, thermal, and irradiation-resistance properties of the graphite. These issues are currently under investigation within the DOE Advanced Reactor Technologies (ART) graphite program and will be presented at this seminar.

REGISTER HERE: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7530835943262809689

Communities across the country are considering nuclear projects for many reasons - from diversifying regional economies, creating clean energy jobs or meeting carbon reduction goals, to increasing energy security and rebuilding the U.S. supply chain.  Some communities have a familiarity with nuclear energy projects, while others are just beginning to evaluate potential interest.  The ECA Forum is designed to bring communities, SMR and advanced nuclear project developers, federal and state governments together to enable shared learning and to build the partnerships necessary to address opportunities for new nuclear development.

For more information and registration: https://www.energyca.org/events

As arguably the very first nuclear reactor core material, graphite has been utilized in a variety of nuclear applications since Enrico Fermi first stacked up bricks of graphite in a university squash court. But why? Graphite is not the first material that comes to mind when considering the extreme environment anticipated within a nuclear core. Materials with high strength, toughness, hermeticity, and hardness are traditional material choices for this demanding application. Graphite exhibits only moderate, or even low, values for these material properties. This presentation will address these issues and attempt to demonstrate that graphite is nearly the perfect material choice for these (Very) High Temperature Reactor designs. The latest information on graphite’s unique crystal structure and bulk microstructure which provide the desired properties, the (baffling) irradiation behavior, the expected response to anticipated degradation, and how the nuclear graphite community is establishing the operational safety envelop of the core components within these new advanced reactor designs will be discussed. We’ll finish up with a short demonstration of why nuclear graphite cannot burn (No, Chernobyl graphite fires did not happen)

Register Here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7270939981646037336

Purpose: Update the advanced nuclear industry on databases of nuclear technology information and explain the newly approved GAIN Legacy Document Release Process and how it works.

Register todazy at: https://gain.inl.gov/SitePages/2023_GAIN_LegacyDocumentReleaseProcessWebinar.aspx

This webinar highlights the history, describes the status, and examines the strategy for safe final disposal of spent nuclear fuel in Finland. A privately held company, Posiva Solutions Oy, is responsible for the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel of its owners. Posiva is charged with research & development, planning and design, as well as the construction and operation of the encapsulation plant and final disposal facility.

Following the site investigation (1983–1999), Posiva applied for a decision-in-principle from the Finnish government and parliament. It was granted 2001. In 2012, Posiva applied for the construction permit, which was authorized in 2015, and started preparatory construction works in 2016. Construction works of the encapsulation plant and the excavation of the underground facilities started in 2019 and will be ready in 2023. Posiva submitted the operating permit application to the Finnish government in December 2021.A Trial Run of Final Disposal (TRFD) will be carried out in 2024, prior to the estimated start of the operation in 2025. Safeguards are applied for the first time for a spent fuel repository.

Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7547482547162136848

2023 California Environmental Assembly https://www.pcl.org/events/assembly2023/
Can Modular Nuclear Reactors Help Save The Planet?
For decades, the mainstream California environmental community has firmly been opposed to the proliferation of nuclear power facilities. As the energy sector is transitioning to support a clean economy, the need for nuclear technology is changing and new advanced reactors being designed and demonstrated today are distinctly different from the reactors built several decades ago. In fall 2022, California passed legislation to extend the life of Diablo Canyon by 5 years in recognition of its contribution to carbon free energy. Are these changes enough to warrant reconsideration of the historical position of environmentalists, not just in California but around the world?
Our panelists will discuss the latest energy models to achieve a clean economy and how nuclear may contribute, how nuclear technology has changed and the impact on safety and waste. They will discuss how the DOE is supporting the demonstration of these new technologies. They will also discuss the state and local efforts underway across the nation to conduct feasibility studies associated with these new technologies including repowering coal stations with advanced nuclear technology.
The panel will also address abiding skepticism about the short- and long-term dollar costs associated with the production and installation of Modular Nuclear Reactors and will examine the critical question of how fast MNR’S can be brought on line in sufficient quantity to materially slow global warming.
Conference participants are encouraged to join the panel and be prepared to ask what they might consider to be “tough” questions, keeping in mind the evolving and growing extreme hazards of unchecked climate change.”
Moderator: Todd Allmendinger, Director of Consulting and Research, Cleantech Group (bio pending)
Panelists:
Alice Caponiti, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Reactor Fleet and Advanced Reactor Deployment, Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy
Christine King, Director of Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN), Idaho National Laboratory
Dr Mike Laufer, CEO Kairos Power
 
Thursday Feb 2
Modular Nuclear Reactors: 9 am to 10:30 am, Pacific
ATTENDEE LINK To View the sessions:
Assembly Webinar link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88271792953
Assembly Page with webinar link and recordings to be posted after the Assembly: https://www.pcl.org/events/assembly2023/registrantinfo/

The Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop (METL) facility, established in 2010, is an intermediate-scale liquid metal experimental facility that provides purified R-grade sodium to various experimental test vessels to evaluate components required to operate in a prototypical Sodium Fast Reactor (SFR) environment. The METL facility has the capability to test small to intermediate-scale components and systems in order to develop advanced liquid metal technologies. METL is a flexible facility as multiple configurations are available, enabling the hosting of experimental investigations from a range of disciplines with cross-cutting results. The presentation will provide an overview of METLs entire ecosystem; beginning with the flagship facility’s design methodology, construction and virtual tour. Supporting equipment such as the qualifying stations, test article removal/insertion flexible-cask and alkali metal passivation techniques/hardware will be covered as well. METLs demonstrated capabilities and infrastructure available to facilitate various research initiatives are summarized and the webinar will conclude with a highlight reel of current experimental programs as well as, what future technologies/demonstrations to expect from the METL team.

Register here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6451424484484030219

An upcoming workshop will focus on the technology challenges, knowledge
gaps and research needs associated with developing, demonstrating and
applying lightweight materials. These materials can be used for successful
deployment and operation of simplied advanced reactor technologies. The
workshop is a collaboration between the Fission Battery Initiative, within Idaho
National Laboratory’s Nuclear Reactor Sustainment and Expanded Deployment
Initiative, and the National University Consortium.
The workshop will include presentations and discussions on topics related to
advanced manufacturing, modeling and simulation, articial intelligence and
testing and qualication capabilities.
Registration link
22-50716
U.S. citizens, please register by Oct. 25. Non-U.S. citizens, please register by Oct. 12
to allow time for adequate security planning.

Registration will open in June 2022
Topics to be presented during the 2022 workshop will include:

* Overviews of US Department of Energy (DOE) and US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) MSR released activities
* Overviews of the US DOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) MSR technology development and advanced modeling and simulation activities
* DOE-NE and NRC sponsored MSR activities overviews
* Safeguards and proliferation resistance
* Salt chemistry
* Salt irradiation
* Modeling and simulation
* Reactor operations and monitoring
* Safety and licensing
* Overviews of the current status from several MSR reactor developers Deployment

For more information: msrworkshop.ornl.gov

Join us in learning more about the Converting Coal Plants into Nuclear Plants report with the expert team who conducted the study. We'll take a deep dive into the study and learn more about the impacts the transition from coal to nuclear can make.

Register Here: https://gain.inl.gov/SitePages/Coal2Nuclear.aspx

In this Webinar, development of ISI rules for SFRs using the System Based Code (SBC) concept is introduced. The SBC concept consists of three parts: 1) design to reliability target that must be met throughout the service life, 2) margin exchange among the various technical areas of concern such as design, inspection, fabrication, and fitness for service, and 3) expand technical options by the timely adoption of newly developed technologies that are not in current codes and standards. Such a flexible and consistent concept is suitable to develop ISI rules by taking account of individual features of SFR plants. A unique logic flow to determine ISI requirements by using reliability targets for components is discussed, and the procedure to derive the reliability targets from plant safety requirements and to evaluate corresponding structural reliability is presented.

Register here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/995923764273506063

New speakers confirmed:
• Dr. Kathryn Huff, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy;
• David Wright, Commissioner, Nuclear Regulatory Commission;
• Todd Shrader, Deputy Director for Project Management, Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations;
• James Schaefer, Senior Managing Director, Guggenheim Securities;
• Richard Arnold, Spokesperson, Consolidated Group of Tribes and Organizations;
• Sharon Fain, Vice President, Rocky Mountain Power Wyoming;
• Rita Meyer, Executive Outreach, TerraPower;
• Christine Csizmadia, Senior Manager for State Outreach, Nuclear Energy Institute
• Rick McLeod, President/CEO, Savannah River Site Community Reuse Organization;
• Dave McCormack, Executive Director, Clean Energy Supplier Alliance;
• Karl Dye, President/CEO, Tri-City Development Council; and
• Jackie Toth, Deputy Director, Good Energy Collective;
...in addition to representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy and Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, national laboratories, University of Michigan’s Fastest Path to Zero, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear, the National Reactor Innovation Center, and more!
Agenda:  https://www.energyca.org/eca-forum-agenda
Registration:  https://www.xcdsystem.com/cleanupworkshop/attendee/index.cfm?ID=uY4o2ff
To better understand how to match potential host community strengths and needs with those of advanced nuclear project developers, ECA’s Energy Communities Forum on Hosting New Nuclear Development will:
• Provide a venue for nuclear technology and project developers to meet and interact with interested potential host communities, with exhibition booth spaces and separate, small meeting room availability.
• Share lessons learned from communities and developers hosting nuclear power facilities or federal nuclear missions and outline what local government needs to understand and should consider as potential hosts for nuclear projects.
• Facilitate discussions to better understand the outlook for new nuclear development and provide realistic timelines for local governments and economic development entities looking at siting, regulation, public-private partnerships and how to build support from the ground-up. 
The agenda features five case studies on new nuclear development in Idaho; Richland, Washington; Kemmerer, Wyoming; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Portsmouth, Ohio with presentations by the teams – from the developer, utility, local government, and local economic development entities – on progress being made and the challenges that remain.
For questions - including discounts for ECA members and local governments - please contact Sarah Templeton, ECA Program Manager, at saraht@energyca.org.

Molten salt reactors (MSRs) are being considered as one of the potential nuclear options to meet future energy demands. While the MSR designs differ from the more traditional light water reactor, many of the waste streams are similar between the concepts. Other streams differ drastically. This presentation outlines strategies for the treatment and processing of MSR-type wastes from concepts of reconditioning and recycle of certain components to partitioning and direct immobilization of other waste components. The primary focus will be on the management of fuel salt related wastes while other streams unique to MSRs are also briefly discussed.

Register NOW at: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/2751100559487016971

Please join us for this GIF-IAEA-NEA joint webinar addressing the Role of Nuclear Energy in Reducing CO2 Emissions. The event features 20-minute presentations from each of our guest speakers, followed by a 30- minute panel discussion in responses to audience questions.

Distiguished Guest Speakers: Dr. Shannon Bragg-Sitton, Mr. Wei Huang, Ms. Diane Cameron
Moderators: Dr. Patricia Paviet and Dr. Tatjana Jevremovic

Register at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8084336684175318286

Join us for a national workshop exploring strategies for and the many benefits of repurposing legacy fossil fuel infrastructure, including closed coal mines, coal power plants, and orphaned oil and gas wells.

Leveraging and transforming legacy fossil fuel infrastructure creates the opportunity for a skilled workforce to access new sources of high-quality jobs and for states and communities to increase tax revenues. As clean energy, manufacturing, and other innovative companies grow, energy communities are an attractive option for locating new and expanding operations because they often offer:

A skilled workforce with knowledge of industrial operations
Entrenched community relationships
Access to rail lines, ports, highways, and other distribution infrastructure
Electrical interconnect equipment and direct grid connections
Industrial land, facilities, and potentially even site and permitting licenses
Register for this half-day workshop featuring expertise on site remediation and reclamation, worker training and upskilling of dislocated workers, and the broad range of options for capitalizing on existing fossil fuel infrastructure.

https://mailchi.mp/energycommunities.gov/repurposing-fossil-energy-assets