The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy announced on June 5 that it has awarded vouchers to three nuclear companies from its Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) program to research nuclear fuel and materials.
Standard Nuclear is developing alternative methods to assess the carbon and oxygen content in the fuel kernel. They will partner with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to perform LECO testing in the Low Activation Materials Development and Analysis (LAMDA) laboratory to help baseline and calibrate the method. By developing an alternative method for assessing carbon and oxygen content in TRISO fuel kernels, this project will reduce the cost and inefficiencies associated with current destructive testing methods.
The 10th annual Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) Workshop is a leading forum to discuss molten salt technology advances. MSRs are a promising class of advanced nuclear reactors rapidly progressing toward demonstrations. The MSR workshop, held Nov. 5-7th 2024 in Knoxville, TN, provides a forum for sharing information and status on MSR research and development programs, technology advancements, international collaborations, and the progress of demonstration efforts.
October 2024 – Researchers are engaging directly with communities to learn more about local opinions and how to build social and cultural metrics into their energy-planning analysis. That’s work that’s also being done at ORNL, where the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) works with individual sites and utilities to run economic analyses and provide decision-making resources.
The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is organizing a three-day Safeguards and Security by Design (SSeBD) Workshop (September 10-12, 2024) in Oak Ridge, TN for U.S. advanced and small modular reactor vendors and developers that are seeking to deploy their technologies in the U.S. and internationally. The workshop will focus on the technical measures that can be applied during the planning and design stages to increase physical protection and security system efficacy to meet international security guidance and highlight how designers can meet international nuclear safeguards requirements, which are different from the United States’ requirements.
Entergy will partner with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to implement real-time Generation Risk Assessment (GRA) modeling to address these issues. ORNL’s unique experience in implementing GRA models combined with the use of their Operational Performance Risk Assessment (OPRA) software will be used to integrate the model with real-time data. Entergy will roll out the model at one of its operating plants an if successful look to expand to other plants in their fleet.
Westinghouse will partner with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to perform an irradiation test and associated Post-Irradiation Examination (PIE) on a specific CMC to ensure it is a viable option for the eVinci microreactor prior to performing a larger irradiation campaign. The work will utilize the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at ORNL.
The Remote Systems Group (RSG) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) will perform a three-stage design review focused on operations, the detailed design, and a failure modes and effects analysis. Their experience base is uniquely valuable to MIGHTR and In-Vesel Fuel Handling Machine (IVFHM) development. This project will mitigate the risk of operational complexity by reviewing a critical system.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory – Hybrid October 25-26, 2023 Sponsored By: Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN)Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Register Here Workshop Webpage
Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) will provide the requisite expertise and spent fuel handling capability to enable the laboratory scale assessment and demonstration. The data generated at laboratory scale would provide confirmation of feasibility and basis for scaling to an industrial scale capability.