Research Programs

Advanced Nuclear Power

-- Select program -- A Very Long Cycle Boiling Water Reactor Solid Hydride Fuel for Long-Lived LWR Core Design Investigation of Nanofluids for Nuclear Applications Supercritical Water Reactors Advanced Gas Cooled Modular Pebble Bed Reactors Fission Product Barrier Integrity Fuel Performance Modeling High Performance Alloy Development for Liquid Metal Service Supercritical CO2 Power Conversion System Methods for Risk-Informing Future Reactor Regulation Gas Cooled Fast Reactor Evaluation

Publications:

1. Y. Wang, V. Dostal, P. Hejzlar, Turbine Design for Supercritical CO₂ Brayton Cycle, Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Vol. 89, Proceedings of GLOBAL ‘03, New Orleans, LA, Nov. 16-21, 2003
2. V. Dostal, M.J. Driscoll, P. Hejzlar, Y. Wang, Supercritical CO2 Cycle for Fast Gas-Cooled Reactors, Proc. of ASME TurboExpo, Vienna, Austria, June, 2004
3. Y. Wang, G. Guenette, P. Hejzar, M.J. Driscoll, Compressor Design for the Supercritical CO₂ Brayton Cycle, Proc. of 2^nd Int. Energy Conversion Conference, 16-19 Aug. 2004, Providence, RI.
4. Hejzlar P., Dostal V., Driscoll M.J., Dumaz P., Poullennec G., and Alpy N., Assessment of Gas Cooled Fast Reactor with Supercritical CO₂ Cycle, International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants ICAPP ‘05, Paper 5090, Seoul, Korea, May 15-19, 2005.
5. Yong Wang, G.R. Guenette. P. Hejzlar, M.J. Driscoll, Aerodynamic Design of Turbomachinery for 300 MWe Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Brayton Power Conversion System, MIT-GFR-022, March 2005.
6. P. W. Stahle, M. J. Driscoll, Pavel Hejzlar. Supercritical CO₂ Power Conversion System Design and Layout for 300 MWe Plant, MIT-GFR-025, Aug. 2005.
7. Vacek Dostal, A Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Cycle for Next Generation Reactors, ScD Thesis, MIT Nucl. Eng. Dept., January 2004.
8. Knut Gezelius, Design of Compact Intermediate Heat Exchangers for Gas Cooled Fast Reactors, SM/SB Thesis, MIT Nucl. Eng. Dept., May 2004.

Investigators:

• M. J. Driscoll
• P. Hejzlar
• G.R. Guenette
• Y. Gong
• P. W. Stahle
• V. Dostal
• N. A. Carstens
• Y. Wang
• K. Gezelius
• H. Funmilayo
• V. C. Cabral

Supercritical CO₂ Power Conversion System

Work on the use of a Brayton Cycle Power Conversion System (PCS) having supercritical CO₂ (S-CO₂) as the working fluid has expanded significantly. Because compression occurs near the critical point, where CO₂ density is several times that of an ideal gas, compressor work is comparably reduced. This leads to good thermodynamic efficiency (~45%) at a modest core outlet temperature (~550°C), which considerably expands the option space for selection of both in- and ex-core materials.

Our principal research project in this area has the objective of developing an indirect S-CO₂ PCS suitable for use with most GEN-IV reactors. During the past two years major topical reports have been issued on overall PCS thermodynamic optimization and on heat exchanger and turbomachinery design – the last in collaboration with researchers from the MIT Aero/Astro Gas Turbine Laboratory. The current focus is on development of modeling capability for system dynamic performance assessment, including evaluation of transient response and control strategies.

Interest in this concept has increased worldwide. The MIT group has made both formal and informal collaborative agreements with organizations both in the US and abroad: ANL, INL, KAPL; CEA, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Framatome, and BNFL.