Seminar: Nuclear Energy in the Context of Today’s Energy Challenges

Abstract:

In the face of increasing demand for energy and growing concerns over climate change, nuclear energy offers a carbon-free alternative to increased dependence on fossil fuels, both for power generation and hybrid energy applications.  The benefits of nuclear energy as a safe and clean energy source have been quantified in recent detailed life cycle analyses.  Many scientists across a broad range of disciplines have concluded that increased emphasis on nuclear energy represents one important strategy to slow the rate of increase of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.  In addition to a discussion of these motivating factors, this presentation will provide a summary of the current status of nuclear energy utilization in the US, and the new emphasis from the US Department of Energy on a new generation of passively safe Small Modular Reactors (SMRs).  The development of new SMR designs has sparked a renewed interest in analysis methodologies for nuclear systems.  Several SMR vendors have also constructed new electrically heated scaled integral test facilities designed to replicate the transient response of the reactor system to design-basis accident scenarios, to demonstrate the effectiveness of the reactor safety systems, and to provide validation data for analysis codes.  A brief discussion of scaling methodologies for integral test facilities will be presented.  Near-term SMRs will be Pressurized Water Reactors, but several designs for advanced high-temperature SMRs have also been developed.  The advanced SMRs will be more suited to support non-electric applications of nuclear energy, such as hydrogen production, synthetic liquid fuels production (e.g., from biomass), and high-temperature process heat for chemical plants.

Bio:

James O’Brien, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Engineer at the Idaho National Laboratory.  Dr. O’Brien is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati (BSME, 1977) and the University of Minnesota (Ph.D., 1981) with a specialty in Heat Transfer.  He served as a member of the ME faculty at Penn State from 1981 – 1985 and as a research engineer at NASA Lewis (now Glenn) Research Center from 1985 – 1990.  He joined the Idaho National Laboratory in 1990.  Current research activities include high-temperature electrolysis for efficient production of hydrogen from steam.  He is also working to develop a new multi-loop, multi-fluid advanced test facility designed to examine thermal hydraulic and materials issues associated with advanced Small Modular Reactor concepts.  Dr. O’Brien is the author or co-author of 5 book chapters, 38 journal articles and more than 125 conference papers on a variety of topics in thermal sciences.  He has also been awarded 10 patents.  Dr. O’Brien has received numerous awards, and is an active member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He has also served as a technical consultant for IAEA on non-electric applications of nuclear energy.

Hosted by Professor Xiaodong Sun