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Idaho National Laboratory (INL)
Idaho National Laboratory (INL) will develop a thermal treatment process for extracting metallic actinides as a group and separating active fission products from used metal fuels. The INL team will leverage the anticipated formation of immiscible (unmixable) liquid layers and subsequent precipitation of solid phases upon cooling to improve the purity of resulting products at a potentially lower cost. A traveling molten zone system will rapidly extract actinides from used metallic fuels.
… 2076343 … The next generation of advanced nuclear reactors (ARs) is currently being developed to enhance the safety, reduce the cost, and increase the efficiency of nuclear power generation, which is important to meeting greenhouse gas (GHG) emission goals. Challenges associated with disposal pathways of waste, such as used nuclear fuel (UNF), however, threaten AR development and deployment. ONWARDS seeks to develop and …
Southern Research Institute
Southern Research Institute proposes to transition most reactor maintenance activities from being done manually to people overseeing autonomous maintenance robotic systems, to reduce costs and avoid personnel exposure to radiation. To achieve this level of control, robots will be trained in a virtual environment through the use of virtual reality and machine learning to perform routine maintenance.
… 2636013 … This topic would leverage innovations supporting nuclear energy for the development of technologies that will reduce the cost of nuclear energy. These projects seek to develop advancements in nuclear facility sensors, tools, analytics and controls. The next generation of nuclear reactor …
Moltex Energy
Moltex Energy will develop a multi-physics plant digital twin environment for its Stable Salt Reactor - Wasteburner (SSR-W). SSR‑W is a low overnight-capital plant design, targeting a <$2/kWe build cost. The first-of-a-kind (FOAK) plant uses contemporary approaches to nuclear power plant design and may be encumbered with conventional O&M obligations. The digital twin will be used to evaluate proposed O&M improvements for the SSR-W and empower the FOAK operator to better predict faults and execute remedial actions.
… 4618868 … Although nuclear power is one pathway to achieving a zero-carbon grid, nuclear power plants are comparatively cost-intensive in some markets. Many industries are … O&M in their processes. O&M is approximately 80% of a reactor’s total generating cost. The nuclear energy industry has not fully explored these innovations, necessitating new designs of …
Rutgers University
Rutgers University aims to develop and demonstrate PACE-FORWARD, a high-density, durable cermet waste form (WF) suitable to immobilize all forms of AR wastes, significantly reducing processing complexity. The proposed WF will exhibit high waste loading (≥70% by volume) and immobilize multiple waste streams, including metal, salt (halide), and oxides from molten salt fueled or metallic fueled reactors; or metal and carbon-14/carbide waste from reprocessing of tri-structural isotropic fuel particles.
… 3999595 … The next generation of advanced nuclear reactors (ARs) is currently being developed to enhance the safety, reduce the cost, and increase the efficiency of nuclear power generation, which is important to meeting greenhouse gas (GHG) emission goals. Challenges associated with disposal pathways of waste, such as used nuclear fuel (UNF), however, threaten AR development and deployment. ONWARDS seeks to develop and …
Idaho National Laboratory (INL)
INL and its partners are proposing a next generation metal fuel in support of a megawatt-scale compact fast reactor – being developed by Oklo Inc – that is uniquely sized for off-grid applications.
… 1659014 … This topic would leverage innovations supporting nuclear energy for the development of technologies that will reduce the cost of nuclear energy. These projects seek to develop advancements in nuclear facility sensors, tools, analytics and controls. The next generation of nuclear reactor …
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook University aims to significantly reduce compact reactor waste via improved fuel utilization and reduced uranium loading. The team’s solution is a novel microencapsulated fuel form leveraging halide salt sintering of magnesium oxide (MgO), developed under ARPA-E’s MEITNER program to enable advanced moderator technologies with enhanced neutronic performance and temperature stability as a replacement for graphite.
… 3400000 … The next generation of advanced nuclear reactors (ARs) is currently being developed to enhance the safety, reduce the cost, and increase the efficiency of nuclear power generation, which is important to meeting greenhouse gas (GHG) emission goals. Challenges associated with disposal pathways of waste, such as used nuclear fuel (UNF), however, threaten AR development and deployment. ONWARDS seeks to develop and …
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is developing a thermal energy storage system based on a Reversible Metal Hydride Thermochemical (RMHT) system, which uses metal hydride as a heat storage material. Heat storage materials are critical to the energy storage process. In solar thermal storage systems, heat can be stored in these materials during the day and released at night—when the sun is not out—to drive a turbine and produce electricity. In nuclear storage systems, heat can be stored in these materials at night and released to produce electricity during daytime peak-demand hours.
… cost-effective thermal energy storage solutions to maximize the use of domestic solar and nuclear energy resources. Most utility-scale solar power plants only run at about 25% of their … energy storage makes it possible to increase this capacity to up to 60-75%. Similarly, nuclear power plants produce a constant output of power—thermal energy storage could help … demand. … Thermal energy storage systems could make it less expensive to generate power from nuclear and renewable solar energy, which in turn could help stabilize electricity rates for …
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Molten salt reactors (MSRs) produce radioactive materials when nuclear fuel is dissolved in molten salt at a high temperature and undergoes fission as it flows through the reactor core. MIT will target two technical gaps: (1) fission product release and transport during normal MSR operations, and (2) radioactive dose rates for MSR primary system maintenance due to fuel salt deposition. In MSRs the primary system serves as the first radiological release barrier during normal reactor operation.
… 899825 … Close to a third of all U.S. nuclear reactors will be shut down permanently by 2025. Although nuclear power is one pathway to achieving a zero-carbon grid, nuclear power plants are comparatively cost-intensive in some markets. Many industries are …
High Energy Advanced Thermal Storage
The projects that make up ARPA-E's HEATS program, short for "High Energy Advanced Thermal Storage," seek to develop revolutionary, cost-effective ways to store thermal energy. HEATS focuses on 3 specific areas: 1) developing high-temperature solar thermal energy storage capable of cost-effectively delivering electricity around the clock and thermal energy storage for nuclear power plants capable of cost-effectively meeting peak demand, 2) creating synthetic fuel efficiently from sunlight by converting sunlight into heat, and 3) using thermal energy storage to improve the driving range of electric vehicles (EVs) and also enable thermal management of internal combustion engine vehicles.
… 36733886 … Thermal energy storage systems could make it less expensive to generate power from nuclear and renewable solar energy, which in turn could help stabilize electricity rates for … HEATS projects are also focused on finding cost-effective and efficient ways to store nuclear energy so that emissions-free nuclear power plants can deliver on-demand peak power. This is important because today nuclear …
Abengoa Solar
Abengoa Solar is developing a high-efficiency solar-electric conversion tower to enable low-cost, fully dispatchable solar energy generation. Abengoa's conversion tower utilizes new system architecture and a two-phase thermal energy storage media with an efficient supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) power cycle. The company is using a high-temperature heat-transfer fluid with a phase change in between its hot and cold operating temperature. The fluid serves as a heat storage material and is cheaper and more efficient than conventional heat-storage materials, like molten salt.
… cost-effective thermal energy storage solutions to maximize the use of domestic solar and nuclear energy resources. Most utility-scale solar power plants only run at about 25% of their … energy storage makes it possible to increase this capacity to up to 60-75%. Similarly, nuclear power plants produce a constant output of power—thermal energy storage could help … demand. … Thermal energy storage systems could make it less expensive to generate power from nuclear and renewable solar energy, which in turn could help stabilize electricity rates for …
X-Energy
X-energy’s digital twin project aims to reduce the fixed O&M cost of its advanced nuclear reactor design to $2/MWh. The project will use human factors engineering, probabilistic risk assessment, hazard analysis, and security and maintenance evaluations to identify areas for optimization. X-energy will develop innovative ways to leverage advanced technologies—including automation, robotics, remote and centralized maintenance, and monitoring—to optimize staffing plans while ensuring optimal plant operation.
… 5978289 … Although nuclear power is one pathway to achieving a zero-carbon grid, nuclear power plants are comparatively cost-intensive in some markets. Many industries are … O&M in their processes. O&M is approximately 80% of a reactor’s total generating cost. The nuclear energy industry has not fully explored these innovations, necessitating new designs of …
Modular Power Fluidics and Online Optical Spectroscopy for Reprocessing Separation Plant Accountancy
NuVision Engineering
NuVision Engineering will design, build, commission, and operate an integrated material accountancy test platform that will predict post-process nuclear material accountancy within 1% uncertainty for an aqueous reprocessing plant. Current U.S. reprocessing plants utilize commercial process equipment for pumping, mixing, and sampling that requires regular maintenance and replacement due to radiolytic degradation of seals and other non-metallic components.
… 4714784 … The U.S. has accumulated approximately 86,000 metric tons of used nuclear fuel (UNF) from light-water reactors (LWRs), a value that increases by approximately … AR fuels, and maintain disposal costs in the range of 0.1¢/kWh. … Complement ARPA-E’s existing nuclear energy research portfolio, further ensuring the commercial viability of innovative new … and operate an integrated material accountancy test platform that will predict post-process nuclear material accountancy within 1% uncertainty for an aqueous reprocessing plant. Current …
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
Advanced reactor (AR) power plants can minimize O&M costs by integrating advanced instrumentation and control systems into designs.
… 2199009 … Although nuclear power is one pathway to achieving a zero-carbon grid, nuclear power plants are comparatively cost-intensive in some markets. Many industries are … O&M in their processes. O&M is approximately 80% of a reactor’s total generating cost. The nuclear energy industry has not fully explored these innovations, necessitating new designs of …
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
The current O&M paradigm for operating light-water reactors (LWRs) generally seeks to maximize lifetimes for major structures, systems, and components (SSCs). The consequences are profound as key SSCs can become life-limiting or require costly monitoring, inspection, maintenance, and repair. Unless questioned, the underlying assumption of multi-decadal design life for major plant SSCs could become embedded in the next generation of plants.
… 999464 … Although nuclear power is one pathway to achieving a zero-carbon grid, nuclear power plants are comparatively cost-intensive in some markets. Many industries are … O&M in their processes. O&M is approximately 80% of a reactor’s total generating cost. The nuclear energy industry has not fully explored these innovations, necessitating new designs of …
University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT)
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT) will develop a high-temperature, chemically resistant, diamond-based microfluidic alpha spectrometer (DiMAS) that will enable accurate online and/or at-line (the sample is removed and analyzed near the production process) measurement of alpha-emitting isotopes in LF-MSR fuel. The team will develop an optimal spectrometer design by using experimental and computational methods to evaluate the sensor architecture, packaging, and performance.
… 2418576 … Advanced nuclear reactor power plants have the potential to play a critical role in decarbonizing the … goals. It could also be a key enabler for safe, secure, and efficient recycling of used nuclear fuel. … As the market grows for diamond-related technologies (e.g., electrochemistry, … … Dr. Jenifer Shafer … elukosi@utk.edu … TN … ACTIVE … A DiMAS design will enable heightened nuclear security from more accurate, real-time measurements. … http://utk.edu … Microfluidic …