Nuclear and Energy Independence

Meetings

ANS WINTER MEETING Nuclear and energy independence

HILE ORGANIZATIONS HAVE canceled or altered conferences in W the wake of the events of Sep- Major themes of the plenary: tember 11, the American Nuclear Society at- tracted more than 1100 attendants to its Win- ter Meeting in November in Reno, Nev. “In H2 power can be an application light of recent events, that is a remarkable ac- complishment,” ANS President Gail Marcus of nuclear commented during the opening plenary. The large gathering was due perhaps to the upbeat mood of the industry in general, thanks 50 years since first electricity with EBR-I in part to the Bush administration’s support of the continued use and further deployment of nuclear power, and because any hope for re- A proposal for a continental supergrid ducing greenhouse gas emissions likely would include nuclear power in a national energy policy. oring the EBR-I and the nuclear pioneers who was associate project director of the EBR-I During the plenary Marcus paraphrased developed it. The proclamation recognized the and project manager for another reactor, the Charles Dickens by saying, “It is the best of environmental benefits of nuclear power and EBR-II. He later became director of the Re- times, it is the worst of times,” in reference feted those who worked to provide the world actor Engineering Division at Argonne Na- to the terrorist attacks on the United States with “clean, sustainable energy for the bene- tional Laboratory before moving on to Illinois and the opportunity for nuclear power to fit of humankind for centuries by making use Power Company. stake a substantial claim in the nation’s ener- of nature’s gifts of uranium and thorium.” A “It is amazing the industry we gave birth gy future. “The recent events only point more ceremony was held later during the Winter to,” the 81-year-old Koch proclaimed proud- strongly to the need for energy security,” she Meeting to celebrate the nuclear pioneers who ly. “Today, there are 438 nuclear power plants said, “and in my mind, energy security has to participated in the EBR-I project and helped operating around the world, producing about include a very strong component of nuclear lay the foundation for energy independence. a sixth of the electricity that is generated.” power.” (For a history of the EBR-I project, see NN, Koch explained that while the EBR-I was Leon Walters, the meeting’s general chair Nov. 2001, pp. 28 and 30.) cooled by NaK (a liq- and director of the Engineering Division at The Winter Meeting, titled Nuclear Re- uid-metal alloy of Argonne National LaboratoryÐWest, noted search and Development, also hosted two sodium and potassi- during the plenary that before September 11 embedded topicals and the ANS Student Con- um), the bulk of its re- the world was coming to the realization that ference. The topicals were Practical Imple- flector was air-cooled nuclear power could be the solution to global mentation of Nuclear Criticality Safety and because of the uncer- warming. But now, he said, after that dark day Accelerator Applications/Accelerator Driven tainty that the control in September, “the contribution of nuclear en- Transmutation Technology and Applications. rods could be operat- ergy to reducing the dependence on foreign ed in a high-tempera- fossil fuels has taken on added importance.” History and hydrogen ture liquid-metal envi- A foothold for the nation’s energy inde- The opening plenary, titled Global Energy ronment. The EBR-I pendence was made 50 years ago, Walters Perspectives, was divided into two sessions itself had an 8-in. di- continued, when on December 20, 1951, the over two days and provided a retrospective on Koch ameter core that was Experimental Breeder Reactor-I became the where the nuclear power industry has been composed of 0.5-in. diameter pins of enriched first nuclear unit to produce electricity. On a and a perspective on where it might go. U-235 in a single assembly. The vessel and large viewing screen set up in the plenary au- During the first session, Len Koch, one of piping all were doubly contained, a top inlet ditorium, an image was shown of an official the nuclear pioneers honored for his work on being provided to the vessel, going down proclamation, signed recently by senators, the EBR-I, reminisced about the early days of through the blanket and up through the core. congressmen, and the governor of Idaho, hon- the industry. During his work career, Koch Fast control was provided by bottomÐoperat-

40 NUCLEAR NEWS January 2002 ed rods and reflectors; slow control by move- safest and cleanest of all energy sources,” clear power. “It would provide a real-time ment of the 5-ton bottom blanket. while hydrogen is “probably the safest and electricity connection between the east and Koch likened the now historical powering definitely the cleanest of chemical fuels.” To- west coasts, and supply electricity and hy- of four light bulbs at the EBR-I facility in Ida- gether, he said, “they can deliver a brighter, drogen fuel,” he said. ho, which represented the first nuclearÐgen- cleaner 21st century.” Current-day national energy strategies are erated electricity on December 20, 1951, to The 21st century, though, is at peril, Scott flawed, Starr noted, in that they are planned the first flight of the Wright brothers’ airplane. claimed, because of a climate threat that is an on projections that provide little guidance be- “This was our first generation of electricity,” “environmental juggernaut.” Current levels of yond a few decades. In contrast, the supergrid he said, “and on the next day we ran the reac- carbon dioxide in the atmosphere equal 360 would be an example of century-long plan- tor closer to full power . . . and all the elec- to 370 parts-per-million, the highest amounts ning, and would be an alternative approach tricity in the building was supplied from the of CO2 concentration in the past 400 000 based on new research and development ini- reactor.” years. “So when people say we are not putting tiated at the applied science level. Those times developing the EBR-I were our planet at risk, it reminds me of the tobac- A long-term national strategy is needed, “the good old days,” Koch said, when nuclear co industry saying smoking isn’t dangerous to Starr stated. In that regard, he called for a na- pioneers considered nuclear reactors “very in- your health,” he said. tional “Energy System Advanced Research teresting, fabulous new tools.” With a nod to- If unabated, climate destabilization “could” Project Agency” to stimulate new R&D. ward energy security, Koch recalled that years lead to catastrophic events, Scott continued, “Let me be clear. We cannot expect lead- before the EBR-I went into operation, scien- such as the shutting down of the Gulf Stream ership on century-long tist Enrico Fermi calculated that nuclear pow- and the freezing of the United Kingdom. planning from our er plants could generate all the electricity These possible catastrophes could be avoided government process. needed in the United States for hundreds of by using a two-pronged strategy, he said. If there is to be an ef- years based on what were then the nation’s First, emphasis must be placed on oil inde- fectively sophisticated known uranium resources. “Now, however, pendence, because a terrorist strike on Saudi direction of technical with the known amounts of uranium, nuclear Arabia’s oil-production facilities would policy, it will have to could provide power for the United States for threaten our economy. Imported crude oil is come from the scien- several thousands of years,” he said. “the commodity all democracies depend on,” tific and engineering Koch recalled a letter written in 1962 by Scott said. Consider a few strategic factors: community. Neither President John Kennedy to Glenn Seaborg, The average production rate of an oil well in government nor the then chairman of the Atomic Energy Com- the United States is about 12 barrels a day. In economy’s market- mission. Kennedy’s letter urged the AEC to Persian Gulf countries, it is about 5000 bar- Starr based processes will look at the role of nuclear power in the na- rels a day. do it for us. It’s our job,” he said. tion’s economy. Seaborg conducted a study Second, the age of hydrogen-electricity, or The “unplanned, radical” innovations of the and then responded to Kennedy. “For the “hydricity,” must be ushered in to allow for 19th and 20th centuries came from science- long-term benefit of the country and indeed the production of hydrogen fuel cells for cars, stimulated R&D, he said—electricity, tele- the whole world,” Seaborg wrote, more em- planes, and other transportation vehicles that phone, petroleum engines, automobiles, air- phasis needed to be placed on breeder reac- currently are powered by fossil fuels. Since planes, nuclear power, semiconductors, tors that could make use of nearly all urani- hydrogen and electricity are carbon free, hy- biotech, etc. um and thorium reserves, instead of the less drogen fuel cells manufactured by a nonfos- Following in that line would be the conti- than 1 percent of uranium and little of thori- sil source such as nuclear power would release nental supergrid (“an old vision,” Starr not- um that was used in present reactors. “Only zero CO2 into the environment, Scott said. ed, but one that with new applied science by the use of breeders would we really solve How does hydricity work? Both hydrogen would now be “marginally feasible”). It the problems of having adequate energy sup- and electricity are energy “currencies,” not en- would supplement the existing grid, which is ply for future generations,” Seaborg’s letter ergy sources, Scott explained. Both can be not feasible to send electricity supplies back implored. harvested from any fuel source, fossil or non- and forth between “the coal-based east and “Things have changed,” Koch commented fossil. The two currencies are mutually inter- hydro-based west” because the power losses sardonically. changeable: “Fuel cells convert hydrogen to are too great over such large distances, he Koch called President Jimmy Carter’s di- electricity, and electrolysis converts electric- said. rective in the 1970s to eliminate reprocessing ity to hydrogen,” he said. The supergrid, a “highly efficient energy of spent fuel a “devastating decision,” and Scott predicted that because hydrogen is corridor,” would be an assembly of bipolar credited Carter with founding a new field storable, it will become the staple fuel of cars, loops using a magnesium diboride super- called “burial science.” buses, trains, and ships that employ fuel-cell conducting transmission line (see figure, If the future belongs to nuclear, Koch chal- engines. It also will power liquid-hydrogen next page). Its core coolant at 25 K would be lenged, then new reactor designs should take aircraft that will fly farther (because hydrogen liquid hydrogen, with the hydrogen exiting advantage of the benefits of spent fuel. “The weighs about a third of what conventional fu- as a fuel. The electricity and hydrogen both Generation IV program lacks the specifics we els weigh) and fly cleaner (because the ex- would be generated by nuclear power plants need,” he said. In that regard, Koch called for haust is water vapor). spaced along the corridor. Water vapor a Generation V program that has a primary The synergies inherent in hydricity systems would be the only gaseous effluent. It would objective of using spent fuel and depleted ura- will permit “extraordinary” technical, indus- be a direct-current system, controlled by sol- nium to power nuclear reactors. trial, and regulatory flexibility, thereby im- id-state electronics. “The end result is a sys- Providing a per- proving efficiencies, reducing costs, adding tem free of fossil fuel and greenhouse gas spective on how an security, and bringing environmental benefits, emissions,” said Starr, “with a relatively energy system could he said. small ecological footprint and mostly buried be shaped through use (A detailed review of hydrogen systems under ground.” of nuclear-derived hy- was given during the President’s Special Ses- The supergrid would cost perhaps $1 tril- drogen was David sion, covered later in this meeting report.) lion, at an average rate of $10 billion per year Sanborn Scott, vice including R&D, superconductor cables, and president of the Inter- Supergrid and infrastructures power plants. It would be built mostly on pub- national Association Chauncey Starr, president emeritus of lic land. “To provide competition and save for Hydrogen Energy. EPRI and past president of ANS, suggested time, we would start at both coasts and at se- Scott opened his talk on the second day of the plenary that the na- lected inland sites,” Starr said. by declaring that nu- tion needs a continental supergrid based on It would take decades to complete, and Scott clear is “probably the hydrogen-cooled superconductivity and nu- many White House administrations would

January 2002 NUCLEAR NEWS 41 competing with those ugly, horrible gasoline generators that make a lot of noise and, by the way, have emissions. You could run this in your living room. You could run this right next to your frying pan while you’re cooking. In fact, you could generate all the power for your electric stove from this.” McLean cited a study that said although the market for hydrogen fuel cells is minuscule Superinsulation in two sections of 20 layers each today, it will balloon up to $32 billion by 2010. “Here’s my question to you: Do you

Electrical insulation think that this is going to create some demand for hydrogen?” McLean asked. “The fuel cell is at the fulcrum of change. It’s going to Outer structural element of stainless steel with a change the energy system.” vacuum barrier (outer tube is ~17 cm diameter) By way of example, McLean said the Cal- Superconductor matrix ifornia Air Resources Board said that there Liquid hydrogen Stabilizer would be 2 gigawatts of installed generating 25 K (inner tube Ground plane Structural support capacity in automobiles by 2008. “Now, it’s is 10 cm Superconductor matrix distributed. It’s like sand. But what happens Stabilizer diameter) Low emissivity surface if you hook up with some other technology that I know about—embedded systems, the Internet, the chip—so that you can manage that? You can put electricity back into the Fig. 1: Design of the MgB2 DC superconducting transmission line in an evacuated pipe (Source: EPRI) grid. You can take electricity out of the grid. share in its progress. “I can picture the rhetoric Hydrogen future You can store that electricity in hydrogen. and the symbolic switch-closings as we com- The potential importance of nuclear-de- You can take hydrogen from fossil fuels and plete each milestone uniting the energy sup- rived hydrogen to the future of the nuclear in- make electricity. plies of eastern and western U.S., and even- dustry was the driving force behind the well- “So, you end up with a scenario like this: tually the continent,” he said. attended “President’s Special Session on You generate hydrogen; that hydrogen is now The supergrid would be near invulnerable Hydrogen Systems: An Overview.” “I know in your hybrid or fuel-cell car, which can now to terrorism because all major parts would be in my agency, the Department of Energy, provide transportation services and energy underground. It also would further the na- there’s some interest in hydrogen generation, services.” tion’s energy independence. “If a hydrogen- in general, from any source, including nuclear McLean described a situation in which con- fueled motor would gradually replace the in- power,” said ANS President Gail Marcus. “I sortia of consumers could sell back hydrogen ternal engine, the reduction of U.S. think this is the next big sector that we can ap- reserves to utilities. “This is really interesting, dependence on oil imports might radically ply nuclear power to.” because... it means you don’t have to size change our foreign policies and commit- Speakers at the session covered a range of your nuclear power above the peak. It means ments,” said Starr. hydrogen applications and experience. Among you can size your nuclear plant somewhere Another speaker, Hans-Holger Rogner, the presentation highlights were discussions of below the peak and rely on the hydrogen that head of the planning and economic studies the opportunities for nuclear power in the pro- you’ve produced . . . [to] get that hydrogen section within the Department of Nuclear En- duction of hydrogen for fuel cell applications back to generate your peak.” ergy, International Atomic Energy Agency, and the role of nuclear-derived hydrogen in McLean concluded that this integrated ap- wondered what effect energy infrastructure building a sustainable energy system. Also, the proach “will really change the way the ener- decisions made today would have on the com- final speaker convincingly dispelled false lore gy utilities work.” ing decades. surrounding the topic that inevitably comes up “When we talk about global energy per- during any discussion of hydrogen as an ener- Sustainable development spectives, what it really is about is the energy gy source: the Hindenburg disaster. Hydrogen can be produced by splitting wa- services needs of future societies,” Rogner “With hydrogen applications moving out ter into hydrogen and oxygen by way of elec- said. “Let us remind ourselves that there are into the general public arena, attention to safe- trolysis, or by stripping the carbon atom from still about 2 billion people out there [to- ty is clearly paramount,” said retired NASA fossil or biomass sources, noted Hans-Holger day]... who have no access to modern [elec- engineer Addison Bain during his presenta- Rogner, of the International Atomic Energy tricity] services.” tion on the Hindenburg. “It’s not that it’s any Agency. With global climate change being the Thus, Rogner noted, choosing an energy in- more hazardous than any other chemicals in most critical environmental threat of the 21st frastructure would have long-term, socioÐen- fuel, but that its unique and emerging uses will century, and in the absence of environmental- vironmental impacts be smaller in scale, less centralized, and more ly sound carbon disposal routes, the only sus- on the world. Factors accessible to the public.” tainable hydrogen production options are re- influencing the deci- newable sources and nuclear power, Rogner sions on which energy Fuel cells said. generators to pursue Ged McLean, director of the University of Over the next three to five decades, Rogner would be the costs to Victoria’s Institute for Integrated Energy Sys- said it is almost certain that only nuclear tech- build and maintain tems, pointed out that fuel cell technology is nologies could produce hydrogen in sufficient them, their quality, re- in its infancy. In fact, what is purported to be quantities, and at economically viable costs, liability, security, and the world’s first portable fuel cell generator— to build up a substantial bulwark against car- convenience, their ef- manufactured by Coleman, the camping bon dioxideÐinduced climate risk. fect on the environ- equipment company—was scheduled to come In contrast to renewables, nuclear power is a ment, and their social to market before the end of 2001. highly concentrated source of energy, with Rogner impact. “This is a completely integrated, 2-kilowatt minimal burden on land requirements, he ex- Rogner presented scenarios of various en- remote standby power system,” McLean said. plained. With continually increasing urbaniza- ergy infrastructures and concluded that the fu- “It’s quiet. It makes no noise and it generates tion, concentrated energy supplies will become ture would hold “enormous technical oppor- very little heat. It’s a premium product going even more important, Rogner said. Service of tunities for nuclear power.” after an early market—the early market being peak energy demand densities of 1.5 kW per

42 NUCLEAR NEWS January 2002 MEETINGS square meter will be needed, and nuclear pow- doomed the vessel. “That’s the first time the Generation IV International Forum: The er is well suited to densities several times that, Hindenburg ever attempted a high mooring,” forum consists of senior policy officials from at a high rate of reliability, Rogner said. Re- Bain said of the procedure, in which the ship the countries of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, newables, though, can supplement nuclear was moored at a high altitude and winched to France, Japan, Korea, South Africa, the Unit- power by, for example, supplying energy needs the ground with cables. “The static electric ed Kingdom, and the United States. The Or- in remote or low-demand density areas. buildup on an airship is a function of the al- ganization for Economic Cooperation and De- System considerations, especially of the ex- titude. The voltage potential that was built up velopment’s Nuclear Energy Agency and the pected energy service demand densities of on that airship that day was 250 000 to International Atomic Energy Agency are per- modern metropolitan areas, set nuclear pow- 300 000 volts.” manent observers. Each country and observ- er as superior to renewable sources—espe- Bain learned that the outer cover of the Hin- er is providing technical expertise to the cially in its ability to produce the very large denburg’s sister ship, the LZ130 Graf Zep- roadmap. quantities of energy that will be required with- pelin II, was of made of a different material. Nuclear Energy Research Advisory Com- out unacceptable environmental damage, “It was a peak on sulfur and a peak on calci- mittee Generation IV Technology Roadmap Rogner said. um [during testing of pieces of the outer cov- Subcommittee: This subcommittee will pro- er] that would determine that the coating in- vide advice to the DOE on the preparation of Hydrogen exonerated cluded a calcium sulfate. And that is a fire the roadmap. Addison Bain, who designed hydrogen retardant used in the textile industry. So, the Roadmap Integration Team: This team is systems for the Apollo program in the 1960s, guys knew,” Bain said. responsible for developing and integrating outlined the reasons for the crash of the Hin- He said he found likeminded testimony in the roadmap groups and activities, and denburg dirigible in Lakehurst, N.J, in May an archive in Germany, which gave cause of preparing the final roadmap using analyses 1937. At age 57, Bain embarked on a doctor- the Hindenburg disaster to the fabric and dop- and documentation prepared by the working al thesis on the subject. In the course of his ing process used in the manufacture of the groups. extensive research, he spoke to an employee vessel—and not hydrogen. Evaluation Methodology Groups: These assigned to the construction of the Hinden- “The moral of the story is, Don’t paint your four groups collect information on and evalu- burg, a surviving crew member, and approx- airship with rocket fuel,” Bain concluded. ate the four broad classes of nuclear energy sys- imately a dozen eyewitnesses of the crash, tem concepts: water reactors, gas reactors, liq- among others. He is currently at work on a Generation IV roadmap uid metal reactors, and nonclassical systems. book about the crash, which he said appears Two sessions were devoted to the “Gener- Fuel Cycle Crosscut Group: This group re- to have been caused in large part by the ex- ation IV Roadmap,” the Department of Ener- views energy demand forecasts for the 21st treme flammability of the zeppelin’s fabric, gy’s ongoing initiative to develop the next century and develops the characteristics of as opposed to the flammability of its hydrogen fleet of nuclear reactors. The roadmap, the ba- fuel cycles for comparison. load. sics of which were introduced during a morn- The steps to developing the roadmap, Ver- “I started out reading books about airships. ing session, has a goal of identifying and de- sluis explained, include establishing goals, de- And the more I read and the more I studied, I veloping one or more systems that can be termining how to measure concepts against ran across so many inconsistencies. One of the commercially deployed no later than 2030 and goals, identifying the concepts to undergo ini- airship books I read said that they used a cel- can offer significant advances in the areas of tial evaluation, gathering detailed information lulose nitrateÐpowdered aluminum mixture sustainability, safety and reliability, and eco- for promising concepts, evaluating the for doping [the skin of the craft]. That sound- nomics. Also explained were the roadmap’s promising concepts against Generation IV ed like a rocket fuel to me. That got me going technology goals and fuel cycles. goals, and identifying and establishing R&D and inspired.” An afternoon session delved deeper into the goals for the most promising concepts. Two boards of inquiry, an American ver- specifics of the individual groups that are work- Technical goals for Generation IV energy sion and a German version, into the disaster ing in support of the roadmap’s development. systems were detailed by Ralph Bennett, di- determined that one of the ship’s 16 gas cells rector of Advanced Nuclear Energy at the Ida- sprang a leak, causing the vessel’s hydrogen Program direction ho National Engineering and Environmental to mix with air, which was then ignited by a St. The need for a technology roadmap to Laboratory. In all, eight goals have been pro- Elmo’s fire–type of brush discharge. guide the Generation IV initiative was proposed, three in sustainability, three in safety After much research, Bain reached a dif- posed by the DOE in 1999, according to Rob and reliability, and ferent conclusion. Versluis, a nuclear engineer for the Energy two in economics. He said one of the most enlightening mo- Department. Initiated in October 2000, the For sustainability, ments of his investigation came when he ob- roadmap has a completion goal of October the three goals are: that tained a piece of the Hindenburg’s fabric. He 2002. the systems (including took that piece of fabric, as well as other Research and development on Generation fuel cycles) will pro- samples that were donated to him or that he IV technologies “is expected to be advanced vide sustainable ener- purchased, to the NASA Materials Science internationally,” Versluis said. Accordingly, gy generation that Laboratory at Kennedy Space Center. There, about half of the technical experts participat- meets clean air objec- after conducting tests, he learned that the fab- ing in the project are from outside the United tives and promotes ric consisted of cotton, iron oxide, cellulose States. “Once the roadmap is complete, it can long-term availability fuel acetate, and powdered aluminum, as serve as the organizing basis of national, bi- of systems and effec- well as other materials. Bain said iron oxide lateral, and multilateral R&D activities aimed Bennett tive fuel utilization for and powdered aluminum can cause a ther- at developing Generation IV systems,” he worldwide energy production; that the systems mite reaction, in which temperatures can said. will minimize and manage their nuclear waste reach 5000 ¡F. While the roadmap’s international partners and notably reduce the long-term stewardship Also, the configuration of the powdered investigate the long-term aspects of develop- burden in the future, thereby improving pro- aluminum was similar to that of the powdered ing new reactors, within the United States the tection for the public health and the environ- aluminum configuration used in rocket pro- DOE’s Near-Term Development Group ment; and that the systems will increase the as- pellant, which is “significantly sensitive to the (NTDG) is studying the regulatory, technical, surance that they are an unattractive and least flow of static electricity across its surface,” and institutional issues that need to be ad- desirable route for diversion or theft of Bain said. That, coupled with stormy atmos- dressed to support the domestic deployment weapons-usable materials. pheric conditions, in which lightning could of a new reactor within 10 years. For safety and reliability, the three goals are be seen around the time of the landing, as About 100 experts are involved in the that the systems will excel in safety and reli- well as the debut of an unorthodox high- roadmap through the following groups, in ad- ability; that they will have a very low likeli- mooring landing procedure, appear to have dition to the NTDG: Continued on page 46

January 2002 NUCLEAR NEWS 43 Meetings, continued from page 43 “Selections of new projects must be market it to be operating by 2010), work toward se- hood and degree of reactor core damage; and driven and primarily supported by private sec- curing the necessary permits and licenses that they will eliminate the need for offsite tor investment,” said Long, “but government would have to begin four years before that, in emergency response. support is essential” in the form of leadership 2003. For economics, the two goals are that the and effective policy, efficient regulatory ap- Jordi Roglans-Ribas, a nuclear engineer for systems will have a clear life-cycle cost ad- provals, and cost sharing of generic and one- the DOE, explained the work of several vantage over other energy systems; and that time costs. groups that are evaluating specific areas of the they will have a level of financial risk com- The NTDG has identified nine generic is- Generation IV roadmap. Last February, the parable to other energy systems. sues that could influence the viability and tim- roadmap’s Evaluation Methods Groups initi- The eight goals “will be a vital factor in ing of any new nuclear plant project, accord- ated the process for systematically evaluating building public confidence in Generation IV ing to Long. These are: nuclear plant economic the comparative performances of the systems,” Bennett noted. competitiveness, business implications of the roadmap’s proposed goals. A component of Providing information about Generation IV deregulated electricity marketplace, efficient that process is “Screening for Potential,” ac- fuel cycles was Charles Forsberg, of Oak implementation of 10 CFR 52 (the standard- cording to Roglans-Ribas. Ridge National Laboratory. “Four generic fuel ized licensing process), adequacy of the nu- The Screening for Potential component cycles that cover the spectrum of feasible tech- clear industry infrastructure, a national nuclear identifies those nuclear energy system con- nologies for conversion of ore resources to en- energy strategy, nuclear safety, spent fuel man- cepts that meet the purpose and principles of ergy have been defined,” he said. agement, public acceptance of nuclear energy, the Generation IV initiative and have the po- The four fuel cycles are Once through, in and nonproliferation of nuclear material. tential for significant progress toward estab- which the fuel is fabricated from uranium and Right around the corner, however, is the lished goals. “The basic philosophy for the thorium, irradiated, and directly disposed of date when a new plant must be ordered. “Af- Screening for Potential is to avoid discard- as a waste; Partial recycle, in which some ter reviewing all this, [the NTDG members] ing concepts with potential, even if associat- fraction of the spent fuel is processed, the fis- came to a conclusion,” he said, “and that is ed with large uncertainty,” Roglans-Ribas sile material is recycled, and new fuel is fab- that we think we can deploy new plants by the said. ricated; Full recycle, in which all spent fuel is end of this decade. But in order to make it Criteria used during the screening include reprocessed for recov- happen, the owners/operators have to commit system characteristics that provide an indica- ery and recycle of by 2003.” tion of a definitive future metric (e.g., facility plutonium and U-235; Long reasoned that if construction on a new size and complexity, as indicators of the cap- and All-actinide recy- plant were to begin in early 2007 (in order for ital cost). Evaluations are of a qualitative na- cle, in which all spent fuel is reprocessed and all actinides are Concept Name:______recycled. Summary Evaluation: ______Retain _____ Reject Forsberg concluded Much worse Worse than Similar to Better than Much better that the four types of Scoring by Goal than reference reference reference reference than reference fuel cycles have com- -- - = + ++ mon facilities—those Forsberg for mining (uranium Goal Sustainability 1 and/or thorium), milling (purification of ura- SU-1-1 Fuel Utilization nium and/or thorium), and fuel fabrication— SU1-2 Fuel cycle impact on environment SU1-3 Utilization of other resources as well as power reactors and the repository. Some fuel cycles, he said, include isotopic Goal Sustainability 2 separation facilities, reprocessing facilities to SU2-1 Waste minimization recover selected elements from spent fuel, and SU2-2 Environmental impact special facilities to burn minor actinides. SU2-3 Stewardship burden

Roadmap speciﬁcs Goal Sustainability 3 Louis Long, vice president of Southern Nu- SU3-1 Material life-cycle vulnerability SU3-2 Application of extrinsic barriers clear Operating Company, offered a strong SU3-3 Unique characteristics comment about the next generation of nuclear reactors. While the goal of the nuclear indus- Goal Safety and Reliability 1 try is to have new reactors on line by 2010, said SR1-1 Public/worker - routine exposures Long, for that to hap- SR1-2 Worker safety - accidents pen a new plant must SR1-3 Reliability

be ordered “by 2003.” Goal Safety and Reliability 2 Long appeared dur- SR2-1 Facility state transparency ing the second half of SR2-2 System model uncertainty the “Generation IV SR2-3 Unique characteristics Roadmap” session to explain the work of Goal Safety and Reliability 3 the DOE’s NTDG, SR3-1 Highly robust mitigation features which is made up of SR3-2 Damage/transport/dose understood SR3-3 No additional individual risk representatives from SR3-4 Comparable societal risk nuclear utilities, in- Long Goal Economics 1 dustry, reactor ven- and dors, national laboratories, and academia. Goal Economics 2 While the Generation IV roadmap seeks to de- EC-1 Low capital costs ploy new plants by 2030, the NTDG has been EC-2 Low financial costs formed to identify and develop one or more EC-3 Low production costs of the next-generation nuclear energy systems EC-4 Low development costs EC-5 High profitability that can be commercially built no later than the end of this decade. Example of a Generation IV “Screening for Potential” score sheet

46 NUCLEAR NEWS January 2002 MEETINGS ture, and a score sheet has been developed to tive safety system re- Candu burnup approach, and a concept that help evaluate concepts against all the criteria quirements. They also would develop Russian Pb-Bi submarine re- (see accompanying figure). As additional con- exhibit high efficien- actor technology for commercialization). A cept information becomes available, Roglans- cy, generally based on sixth concept was more a statement of fuel cy- Ribas said, evaluations will become more direct-cycle gas tur- cle principles, said Lineberry. quantitative. bine power conver- Samim Anghaie, professor and director of Mario Carelli, manager of energy systems for sion systems, with or nuclear engineering at the University of Flori- Westinghouse Electric Company, explained the without a bottoming da, explained the activities of the roadmap’s work of the roadmap’s Water-Cooled Reactor cycle using the rela- Nonclassical Power Reactor Concepts group. Concepts group. A total of 37 advanced water- tively high exit tem- Each of the concepts cooled reactor con- perature (about 500 falls into one of five re- cepts are being investi- ¡C) helium from the actor categories: liquid gated, each segmented Southworth turbine. The reference core, gas core, noncon- into one of the follow- pebble bed reactor is 250 MW thermal and ventional coolant, non- ing nine categories: 115 MW electrical. convectively cooled, Integrated primary Prismatic modular reactors: These also are and direct energy con- system reactors: thermal reactors. The potential benefits are version. These light-water re- similar to the pebble bed reactors regarding The liquid core reactor concepts are natural safety and high efficiency. The refer- actor concepts include characterized by a pri- ence prismatic modular reactor power level is two subsets: molten mary system that is 600 MW thermal and 286 MW electric. salt fuel and eutectic fully integrated in a Very high-temperature reactors: These re- Anghaie metallic fuel. The Carelli single vessel, which actors have core exit cooling temperatures molten salt reactors are fueled by uranium or makes the nuclear island more compact and above 900 ¡C. Concepts for these reactors thorium fluorides dissolved in a mixture of eliminates the possibility of large releases of provide the potential for increased energy molten lithium and beryllium fluorides. Eu- primary coolant. conversion efficiency and for high-tempera- tectic metallic fuel reactors use a mixture of Advanced loop pressurized water reactors: ture process heat applications such as coal uranium or plutonium and a low neutron ab- These are modified loop-type PWRs with gasification or thermochemical hydrogen sorbing metal. small water-filled containments. production. The gas core reactor concepts comprise all Simplified boiling water reactors: These are Fast gas reactors: These concepts offer reactors that are fueled by uranium tetrafluo- various-sized BWRs with natural circulation “high fuel utilization, closed fuel cycles” ride vapor. in the core region, no recirculation pumps, through high conversion or breeding of fissile Nonconventional coolant reactors use and, in most cases, more passive decay heat materials. molten salts or high boiling point organic liq- removal systems. Michael Lineberry detailed the work of the uids to remove core power at low pressure and Pressure-tube reactors: These are Candu roadmap’s Liquid Metal Reactors Concepts provide heat at high temperatures. type reactors with light-water cooling and fuel group. Lineberry is a senior technical advisor Nonconvectively cooled reactors include that is slightly enriched. at Argonne National LaboratoryÐWest. Thir- all designs that do not use bulk convective Supercritical water-cooled reactors: These ty-three concepts were reviewed by the group, cooling to transport the core power. are a class of high-temperature, high-thermal- and 27 of them were Direct energy conversion reactors are built efficiency water-cooled reactors, each with a slotted into one of the from very thin uranium dioxide foils fuel. Fis- primary coolant system that operates above following five cate- sion fragments carry most of their energy and the thermodynamic critical point of water gories: electric charge out of the microns-thick foils (374.12 ¡C, 221.2 bar). 1. Medium-to-large to direct power conversion devices. High-conversion water-cooled reactors: sodium-cooled mixed- The Nonclassical Power Reactor Concepts These are various reduced-moderation reac- oxide fueled reactors group also is evaluating concepts with spe- tor cores designed to use uranium more effi- with advanced aque- cific design features, including those with ciently and minimize the reactivity swing. ous reprocessing and minimized waste fuel cycles, advanced fuel Pebble-fuel reactors: These use a fluidized ceramic pellet or vi- materials, and alternative power conversion bed of ceramic or metallic fuel particles in bratory compaction cycles. In addition, the group is investigat- sizes ranging from a few mm up to about 10 fabrication (five con- ing diverse energy product reactors (which mm, which keeps the fuel at low temperatures, Lineberry cepts). may provide hydrogen, hot water for district enabling higher core power densities. 2. Medium-to-large sodium-cooled, metal-fu- heating, seawater desalination, and other Thorium/uranium fuel cycles: These are ei- eled (U-TRU-Zr metal) reactors with electro- products, in addition to electric power) and ther homogeneously mixed thoria fuels or var- chemical fuel cycle technology (pyroprocess- modular deployable reactors, which are de- ious seed and blanket arrangements using both ing) (six concepts). signed for long- period (5Ð10 years) single- oxide and metal fuels. 3. Medium-sized Pb or Pb-BiÐcooled; MOX cycle use and installation in locations that are AIROX fuel cycle: This fuel cycle consists or Th-U-TRU-Zr metal alloy-fueled reactors; not conveniently accessible for construction of an oxidation/reduction process to recycle pyroprocesss fuel cycle for the metal-fueled or refueling. spent LWR fuel into Candu reactors, or, with concepts, advanced aqueous or unspecified added enrichment, back into LWRs. “dry” process for the ceramic-fueled concepts Early site permitting Finis Southworth, manager of systems, sci- (nine concepts). Three nuclear generating companies—En- ences, and engineering at the Idaho National 4. Small Pb or Pb-BiÐcooled; metal- or ni- tergy, Dominion, and Exelon—have an- Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, tride-fueled reactors with long-life “cartridge” nounced plans to examine the early site per- explained the work of the roadmap’s Gas- or cassette cores; fuel cycles vary (three con- mit, which allows utilities, before actually cooled Reactor Concepts group. The group cepts). deciding to build a plant, to obtain permission has divided each of 20 concepts into one of 5. Sodium-cooled concepts that eliminate the to build it on a chosen site. The advantage of the following four categories: traditional secondary sodium loops by devel- the early site permit is that it resolves the li- Pebble bed reactors: These are all based opment of novel new steam generators (3 censing issues of a site for a given plant pro- on thermal neutron spectra, and generally of- concepts). file, which reduces the investment risk and al- fer the following features: They are “natural- In addition, five of the 33 concepts were lows utilities to clear many adjudicatory ly safe,” designed to maintain fuel integrity evaluated as stand-alones (three direct energy issues before constructing a nuclear power under all design-basis accidents with no ac- conversion schemes, a concept involving the plant. A standard, certified plant design can

January 2002 NUCLEAR NEWS 47 then be plugged into the site. information. plant impact on site resources. Third, the The session “Early Site Permits: First Step The site safety analysis report requires in- plant must have the capability to withstand to the Next Generation,” featured three pan- formation about the site such as a general site hazards greater than the site presents. “For elists variously involved in early site permit description; the meteorological and hydro- example, in California it’s going to be diffi- activities. Dan Keuter, vice president of En- logical characteristics of the site; nearby in- cult to site plants because many plants aren’t tergy Nuclear, provided an update of Enter- dustrial, military, and transportation facilities; designed for the earthquake [challenges] that gy’s early site permit plans: Ed Rumble, of the the existing and projected population of the California presents. That’s one case where Electric Power Research Institute; and session surrounding area; and a plan for site redress plant design has to have certain capabilities chair Kyle Turner, CEO of McCallum-Turn- (i.e., for putting the site back into the state it to exceed the hazards on the site,” Rumble er, gave in-depth descriptions of what the ear- was in when work started, if the work is not said. ly site permit process entails. complete). “I have to caution that this is pretty new The environmental report is for information stuff and hasn’t been demonstrated,” Rumble On the frontier on the environmental effects of site prepara- concluded. “It’s going to be interesting to see Entergy Corporation is the second largest tion, station construction, and station opera- how the plant parameter envelope situation re- nuclear utility in the United States, and “def- tion, as well as reports on effluent monitoring. ally works out.” initely the fastest growing,” Keuter said. The It is also to take into consideration the envi- utility has recently doubled its nuclear fleet, ronmental effects of accidents and the eco- The steps involved adding five plants in the northeastern United nomic and social effects of station construc- Kyle Turner provided more detail on how States. Furthermore, he said, the company’s tion and operation, and provide a summary an applicant might proceed from thinking long-term vision involves building nuclear cost-benefit analysis. Rumble said there is cur- about pursuing an early site permit to actual- power plants. “We want to bank these sites, at rently a petition to reduce the amount of ally obtaining one, and what the project entails. the right time, with the right design... [and] ternative analysis—in which the applicant re- When undertaking an early site permit pro- start building new nuclear power plants.” ports on considerations of other sites and other gram, utilities should expect it to last from 18 Entergy is actively embarking on early site types of facilities—required in the environ- to 24 months, Turner said. At an existing site, permits for “at least two of our sites; it could mental report. the process may only require 12 to 15 months. be more,” Keuter said, Applicants pursuing an existing site for an As far as the cost of the project, however, not wanting to divulge early site permit will find significant advan- Turner invited the audience to speculate. sensitive information. tages in the emergency planning information “What I can tell you is the work that is equiv- He mentioned that En- portion of the application, Rumble said. “If alent to an early site permit application con- tergy is looking to add people use existing sites, it’s probably a ducted for . . . plants reactors where there good idea. If they pick what they call a like the existing fleet are existing plants be- greenfield site, which is a brand new site, was about $5 million cause “it’s a lot cheap- then they’re either going to have to do a full- in the 1970s. You can er to put up [plants at] out emergency plan or propose the major el- apply your own esca- an existing site than to ements of it,” Rumble said. The emergency lation factor to that. greenfield a site,” he planning information must describe the And you can also take said. Although all 10 physical characteristics unique to the pro- into account that the Keuter of Entergy’s sites are posed site, such as egress limitations from geologic and seismic under consideration, Keuter mentioned that the area surrounding the site. It must contain challenges are some- Indian Point and Waterford stations are un- contact information and descriptions of what greater today... likely candidates for hosting new units. arrangements made with local, state, and because the burden of Keuter said Entergy is interested in pursu- federal governmental agencies with emer- Turner proof lies more direct- ing three reactor designs, GE Nuclear Ener- gency planning responsibilities. ly at the hands of the applicant.” Also, for a gy’s Advanced Boiling Water Reactor, West- Rumble explained that the early site permit site investigation of a nuclear power plant, inghouse’s AP1000, and the Gas Turbine application also allows applicants to address public relations programs are likely to have to Modular Helium Reactor (GT-MHR). “Our the plant design in general terms of an enve- be more active today than 25 years ago—a early site permitting would be capable of tak- lope, without having to name the specific de- point he made several times throughout the ing those three designs,” Keuter said. “But we sign. “You could envelope many different session—so those costs will also have to be want to keep those options open. At the right kinds of plants, or you could envelope only a considered. time, when the right economics come through, few, depending on what you want to do. But Turner said it is important for utilities un- we’ll have a site that can pick up the right de- you have flexibility there,” he said. dertaking an early site permit program to ad- sign and place it in any of those sites.” “The plant parameter envelope is supposed dress it as a project, with definite schedule Those “right economics” have much to do to bound the plants that you would want to milestones, technical products, and budget with being able to compete with natural gas. build for that site,” he said. “Basically, the site constraints. “It is not a scientific investigation. “A lot of people ask me, ‘When are you go- is approved conditionally on the plant’s being It is not something where we’re looking ing to build the next nuclear power plant?’” inside that envelope. If you have a site, the site around for whatever answer may arrive. We Keuter said. “And I tell them, ‘You tell me has got to accommodate that envelope, and the do have an objective,” Turner cautioned. “I what natural gas is going to be doing and what envelope has got to bound the plant. So that say this only because it’s very easy in one of the cost of a nuclear plant is.’ And I’ll take when you actually go ahead and pick a plant these programs—and I’ve seen this in the that intersection and say, ‘That’s when we’ll and decide to build that plant, the plant param- past—to sort of run off. . . . Well, we can’t build it.’” eters have to be within this envelope, so that conduct it that way and meet the schedule and the whole system works.” budget objectives that may apply.” Application elements Rumble then described the three rules gov- Also, a strong public information program Early site permits are a “real good deal,” erning the plant-versus-site parameters in the will be needed. “You will, by virtue of the said Ed Rumble, of the Electric Power Re- early site permit application. The first is that work you have to do to develop an early site search Institute, in that they are applicable the site capacity must be greater than the site permit application, come into contact with the for 10 to 20 years and can be renewed. Also, needs. Using raw water as an example, Rum- public,” Turner said. “You can’t do it in se- Rumble said, the public’s ability to chal- ble said, “You have to have enough capabil- cret and you shouldn’t do it in secret. You’re lenge an obtained permit is reduced. He de- ities for water to exceed the needs of the going to be in the process, as an applicant, of scribed the three elements to the early site plant and everything else that’s at the site.” doing the things necessary to apply for an ap- permit: the site safety analysis report, the en- Second, the site capacity to accommodate plication. And the public is going to be inter- vironmental report, and emergency planning plant operations must be greater than the ested, at a minimum. And the agencies, both

48 NUCLEAR NEWS January 2002 MEETINGS regulatory and informational, are going to be water quality stations. And, in ecological stud- planning issue, but also a communication is- aware.” ies, investigators may have to return to the site sue, so that everybody working on this pro- Also, potential applicants need to be aware on a seasonal basis to gain a full understand- gram—[who are] not always an employee of of unforeseen pitfalls owing to the novelty of ing of a how a site’s environment works over the applicant—knows how to handle these the application process. The NRC review the course of a year. kinds of questions.” phase has not been tested, and neither the ap- Also, a plan for restoring landowners’ prop- plicants nor the NRC itself knows how this is erty to its original state will be needed. “Nor- HTGR designs going to evolve. “Some of these uncertainties mally, landowners don’t like for you to go Among the most exciting prospects for will be hammered out only in the forum of the drill holes on their property, construct roads, the nuclear power industry is the high-tem- actual regulatory review,” Turner said. “And install . . . mud pits, and just walk away from perature gas-cooled reactor, and the audi- NRC is going to be fighting its way through that. So, in addition to access for these field ence for the panel session “HTGR: Innova- that process just like the applicants would.” data collection programs, you’ll also need . . . tive Designs” heard from some passionate Having considered these points before a redress plan,” Turner said. advocates for this technology from Germany embarking on an early site permit applica- An advantage of applying for an early site and the United States. Panel chair Mark tion, a utility must then, of course, pick a permit on an existing site is that much of the Reinhart, of the Nuclear Regulatory Com- site. It helps to pick an existing site, or a par- information required for approval is already mission, unfortunately had to tell the audi- cel of land adjacent to an existing site, be- available. Because of changing regulations, ence that two presentations were with- cause regulators have already found them to however, one area in which this advantage is drawn—one on China’s 10-MW reactor, be acceptable. The site should also satisfy less certain is in seismology. Turner said the which began operating in December 2000, the National Environmental Policy Act re- reason is simply the bases on which an appli- and the other on Eskom’s Pebble Bed Mod- quirements for the consideration of alterna- cant proves the adequacy of a site from a seis- ular Reactor project. tives. “You need to be able to demonstrate mic perspective have been changed. “The ap- This gave the three other speakers addi- that you considered the environment—[that] plicant does have much more latitude, but the tional time to present their thoughts about a you didn’t just pick a site based on econom- applicant does have much more in the way of technology that they have been committed to ics or engineering considerations without a burden of proof. And it is not certain at this for most of their careers. The first speaker was taking into account the impacts that the plant point exactly how much of a leg up existing Hubertus Nickel, from the Jülich research cen- might have on that parcel of land and its sur- data on seismicity at an existing site is going ter in Germany, where the pebble bed concept rounding area,” Turner said. to help with the licensing of a new site. Clear- was first developed. Also, the site selection decision process ly, it’s an advantage. But how much of an ad- Nickel, who had also been a member of should be replicable, Turner said. There is reg- vantage we simply do not know yet,” Turner Germany’s Reactor Safety Committee ulatory guidance from the NRC, as well as said. (equivalent to the NRC’s Advisory Commit- documented criteria, that can be used in the “I would say that in the discussions within tee on Reactor Safeguards) for 26 years, ran process. Any intelligent and informed person the industry and in the interactions with through some of the history, as well as the should be able to walk through the process NRC... probably the area of most intense dis- main features, of the HTGR. The HTGR uti- and understand how the decision was made, cussion and most detailed discussion has been lizes an all-ceramic Turner said. “You start, in general, with large in and will continue to be the degree to which core with a graphite areas, and you narrow those down until existing site information provides you a leg core structure, ceram- you’ve got individual parcels of land. And up—or not—in applying for and obtaining an ic-coated particle fu- when you’ve done that, then you can compare ESP application at a parcel of land that’s ad- els and complete ce- those parcels of land to each other. And, based jacent to an operating unit.” ramic fuel elements. on those comparisons, you select the preferred Turner then once again emphasized the im- Combined with the site that you propose to NRC and on which portance of public information programs. “I helium coolant, the you do the site characterization work.” want to harp on this subject again, because it’s system provides a Once the site is selected, the early site ap- one that I think applicants find very difficult,” high level of inherent plication project begins. Turner said the proj- he said. “If you’re planning on doing some- safety while allowing ect is not any different than other projects in thing as controversial as siting a nuclear pow- very high operational that data is collected, analyzed, and summa- er plant, at the same time you’d like to keep Nickel temperatures. Reach- rized in a report. In this case, the report is the your stock prices as high as you could and ing outlet temperatures of around 950 ¡C application, whereby the utility explains to the you’d like to keep your existing plants oper- provides a number of advantages, including NRC what they’ve done to satisfy the re- ating efficiently and without interference. So, high thermal efficiency and usable process quirements of the license application. what you have here is the classic question of heat for industrial applications. In the instance of an early site permit ap- who do you tell and how much can you tell plication, field data collection is not an in- and how do you tell it. Current designs significant item, Turner noted. Some data for “. . . Whenever you start with this process, The latest designs of relatively small, the application, which can be collected from this program of developing an ESP—this data modularized reactors with steel pressure sources in libraries, the Internet, and agencies collection, analysis, and reporting project— vessels provide what Nickel called “cata- like the Census Bureau, is obtained easily has to be integrated into that [a public infor- strophe-free” operation through passive de- enough. The amount of onsite and near-site mation program], so that every interface that’s cayÐheat removal during any loss-of-coolant data that is needed for the application, how- conducted as a part of the ESP application is accident. The fuel temperatures during a full ever, “requires a significant amount of pre- consistent with the existing institutional rela- loss-of-coolant accident would remain be- planning and approval,” Turner said. “Field tionship program. low 1600 ¡C, ensuring no catastrophic re- assessments in themselves require site access. “This becomes acutely a problem when you leases of radioactivity. This may mean legal agreements with people have contractors working on your ESP appli- Nickel described the two types of HTGRs: who own land on the site or, in the case of an cation,” he continued. “They have to be the pebble bed concept and the prismatic existing site, land offsite. You may need per- trained. They have to know what the appli- coreÐtype reactor developed by, among oth- mission to put on drilling rigs, to build roads, cant’s position is. And they have to know to ers, General Atomics in the United States. For to run biological sampling. . . . You may need whom to refer any questions that they may get the pebble bed reactor, the fuel elements con- access to do geophysical testing.” And for about things like, ‘What kind of plant are you sist of tennis ballÐsized spheres containing some field data collection programs, longer- going to put here?’ ‘When are you going to tiny coated particles in a graphite matrix. In term access will be needed for maintaining start building?’ ‘I’ve heard that you guys have the prismatic core, the fuel elements consist and calibrating meteorological tower instru- already started laying the foundation.’ of hexagonal graphite blocks in which are in- mentation or accessing well water or surface “So, it becomes not only an institutional serted fuel rods containing coated particles

January 2002 NUCLEAR NEWS 49 reactors smaller. There is now a good match between the two. The move to smaller reactors, previously ruled out because of their perceived poorer economics, came from growing demands for safer reactors. In 1984, GA received a letter from Congress asking it to look at reactors that were safer. This resulted in a design that looks very different from the previous “short and fat” HTGR design. The new ones are long and skinny. The new design is largely determined by two constraints imposed by safety requirements. First, there were to be no control rods in the core, only in the periphery; second, to avoid a catastrophic failure, fuel temperatures could not exceed 1600 ¡C in a loss-of-coolant accident. These constraints basically define the limits of the core diameter and power density to levels that ensure adequate decay heat removal to prevent fuel failures. It does, however, allow some increases in core length, and The GT-MHR core (Source: GA) by going to an annular conﬁguration with pure graphite in the central region, some increase in bonded in graphite matrix. The basic coated passage of nonproliferation legislation in the power was possible. particle is essentially the same in both con- United States (during President Jimmy Simon described how decay heat is re- cepts, and present designs can achieve very Carter’s administration), which led to the end- moved following a full depressurization. high burnup. ing of the use of high-enriched uranium— While there is a passive reactor cavity heat re- In the 1960s, several high-temperature re- which drove the THTR fuel cycle—in many moval system, if this fails, heat from the research reactors were built to study this reac- countries, including Germany. actor, which is built underground, will flow tor concept: In Germany, the AVR (Ar- through the containment and dissipate through beitsgemeinschaft Versuchsreaktor), with a A vendor perspective the earth to ensure that fuel temperatures will pebble bed core; in the United States, the The next speaker, Walter Simon, senior not go above 1600 ¡C. Peach Bottom-1 reactor, with a prismatic vice president at General Atomics, told the A major development came in 1993, when core; and in Britain, the Dragon reactor, with audience that there was a time when GA had GA and Russia’s Minatom signed a Memo- a prismatic core (an international project an order book of 10 large HTGRs. Unfortu- randum of Understanding on the joint devel- sponsored by the OECD Nuclear Energy nately, this was before the first oil crisis. One opment of a GT-MHR. At the time, they also Agency). of them was canceled the day it received the approached the U.S. government for assis- These led to the construction of two com- construction permit; all others were also soon tance, but it still had a no-nuke policy fully in mercial reactors operating on a conventional canceled. force and, “as usual in those days,” said Simon, steam cycle: Simon explained some of the reasons for they got no answer. GA then told Minatom that The 300-MWe Thorium High-Temperature the new interest in the HTGR, which have to it would put in $1 million to start the project if Reactor (THTR) at Schmehausen, built by a do with both new technology and changing at- the Russians would also. Minatom, which had German consortium. titudes, and described some of the more in- already proposed building a unit at Seversk to The 330-MWe Fort St. Vrain reactor, built teresting features of the its new design, the burn Russian weapons plutonium from dis- by General Atomics for the Public Service 285-MWe gas turbine modular helium-cooled mantled nuclear weapons, agreed. Despite not Company of Colorado. reactor (GT-MHR). having U.S. government support, there was Neither of these was commercially suc- One fortuitous development was the com- enough interest in this concept that in 1996, cessful. ing together of two technological develop- two commercial companies, Framatome and Nickel described some of the achieve- ments: gas turbines were becoming larger and Fuji Electric Corp., joined the project. ments of the AVR reactor, which operated for more than 20 years, including 10 years at over 900 ¡C. Two particular concerns of the HTGR are the ingress of water or air into the core. The scientists at AVR were able to study the effect of a water ingress first hand when a steam generator tube failed during reactor operation, allowing more than a ton of water into the core in about 20 hours. Ac- cording to Nickel, nothing much happened. It took some months to complete a dry-out of the core, but the fuel performed well at full power afterward. As to air ingress, when AVR operations finally ended, an air ingress accident was created in the reactor. The effect on the fuel was relatively minor. It took about 36 hours for the helium to be purged and oxidation affected only 1Ð3 percent of the fuel. He also explained why a thorium-based fuel cycle was chosen. Basically, the decision was taken at a time when there were still concerns about uranium supplies and before the GT-MHR fuel temperatures during a loss-of-coolant accident (Source: GA)

50 NUCLEAR NEWS January 2002 MEETINGS

In 1998, the position of the U.S. government protection and control systems, and materials. license it as a DOE facility on a DOE site. We changed. As part of its plutonium disposition One strong point for Kendall is that the re- hope to have NRC work with us to develop a agreement with Russia, it decided to fund the newed interest in this technology has been dri- risk-informed licensing basis in the design and GT-MHR program (in parallel with the MOX ven by the marketplace, where credibility is we want the design to be certified.” The plan disposition program) with the condition that so vital. He carried on this line to discuss some is that the facility will provide the test-bed for the Russians match it. The Russians have done of the risks. For example, today’s operating licensing purposes and then continue to be that ever since. In fact, this is quite a unique power reactors—which he called nuclear’s used to develop the concept. situation, said Simon, because it is the only golden goose—provide the financial basis for The MIT reactor, rated at 250 MWt (l10 nonproliferation effort in which the Russians developing new technology. He warned this MWe), is similar to the Eskom PBMR in its actually share the costs. The project is now must be taken advantage of now, as this situ- core design but radically different in the bal- sponsored jointly by the DOE and Minatom, ation will not last forever. ance of plant. and receives support from the Japanese gov- Another concern he expressed was the ca- ernment and the European Commission. pability of vendors to deploy a new technolo- Concept overview The program calls for a prototype GT- gy like HTGRs. There are a lot of skills that The pebble bed reactor core, he said, con- MHR module to be in operation by 2009 in will be needed, he observed, in activities such tains approximately 360 000 uranium-fueled Russia and the operation of a power station as designing, contracting, fabrication, and pebbles about the size of tennis balls. Each containing four modules, each of 285-MWe construction, as well as licensing, etc. He also pebble contains 9 grams of low-enriched capacity, by 2015; each module will burn 250 said that it would be necessary to find suppli- uranium in tiny grains of coated particles kg of plutonium per year. The fuel for these ers willing to take on some of the risk in de- within a hard silicon carbide shell. These reactors will contain only plutonium—there veloping many components, which they microspheres are embedded in a graphite will be no fertile component. This can be would do only if they were to find the product matrix material in the shape of a spherical done, said Simon, by including an erbium poi- credible. pebble. The unique feature of pebble bed re- son. Another advantage, said Simon, it that it actors is the on-line refueling capability, in is extremely difficult to extract any remaining Pebble bed reactors which the pebbles are recirculated with plutonium from the spent fuel. Immediately following the second panel checks on integrity and burnup. It is pro- The development costs in Russia are a quar- session on HTGR Innovative Designs, a tech- jected that each pebble will pass through the ter to a third of what they would be in the nical session on the Pebble Bed Modular Re- reactor 10 times on average in a three-year United States, said Simon. Of course, a few actor (PBMR) was held. period before discharge. Because of the on- design changes would be required to convert Andy Kadak, Professor of the Practice, Nu- line refueling capability, plant maintenance the design for strictly commercial use. For ex- clear Engineering, at Massachusetts Institute outages are projected to be carried out every ample, under the present agreement with the of Technology, opened the proceedings with six years. U.S. government, the first unit will have a an overview of an MIT version of a PBMR, MIT chose an indirect cycle to allow for conventional type of containment system. Si- which, he believes, provides some improve- more flexibility in process heat applications mon explained, however, that such a high- ments to the South African PBMR version and easier layout configurations. Kadak said pressure containment is not needed by this re- (NN, Sept. 2001, p. 35). “We have gotten good they want to focus on the total modularity con- actor to meet safety requirements, and for the press. People are captivated by this idea.” cept. True modularity, he said, will facilitate commercial product, it would be converted to “We wanted to develop a demonstrable factory fabrication, simplify site assembly, a low-pressure vented structure. ‘product’ that could compete with natural gas and, most important, on the maintenance side, The project now has an advisory board con- and coal. . . . It had to be demonstrably safe allow replacement rather than repair. sisting of representatives from a number of and the waste could be For a new type of reactor, licensing will be large U.S. utilities interested in the technolo- easily disposed of and a major item. Issues to be considered include gy. In December 2001, a first meeting with the does not create any containment and the possible impact of acci- NRC was scheduled to set the licensing additional prolifera- dental air and water ingress into the system. process into motion. Simon said that the pro- tion concerns,” Kadak The latest estimate of capital cost is about jected “nth-of-a-kind” plant costs are now explained. $2000 per kW. While this is high, said Kadak, about $1120/kWe, with generation costs of 3 The project was ini- the cost per unit sent out is estimated at only to 3.5 cents. The first plant would be about 25 tially started in early 3.3 ¢/kWh (net), and that includes decom- percent higher. 1998 under the Amer- missioning and waste disposal. The total proj- ican Nuclear Society’s ect cost will be roughly half a billion dollars A view of the future Economic and Envi- to bring the first demonstration unit on line The third speaker was James Kendall, who ronmental Imperative with certification. recently retired from the IAEA, where he led Kadak initiative to see if stu- the gas-cooled reactor technology develop- dents can develop a nuclear energy technolo- Modularity concept ment unit. Before moving to the agency, gy that can compete with natural gas. Re- Marc Berte, an MIT graduate student, next Kendall had gained extensive HTGR experi- search is aimed at developing a conceptual described the total modularity concept used ence in the U.S. No longer an IAEA official, design of the complete plant. Ultimately, it is for the reactor. In the MIT approach, the Kendall felt free to speak his mind, and he had hoped that a full-scale, dual-purpose research whole plant—reactor, intermediate heat ex- a lot of messages for those wanting to devel- and demonstration plant is built based on this changer, and the balance of plant—is pack- op HTGRs. design. The work is now largely supported by aged to be transportable via low-cost means Generally, he said he was quite encouraged. the Idaho National Engineering and Environ- (truck as opposed to barge) and easily assem- His experience at the agency, working on mental Laboratory (INEEL) and DOE Nu- bled. This reduces capital, construction, and projects involving safety issues, including clear Energy Research Initiative (NERI) maintenance costs, and makes them attractive heat transfer and fuel performance, gave him grants. The project has proceeded to the point for use in developing countries, which do not confidence that this is a relatively robust tech- that serious consideration is being given to have an extensive rail network and are not ca- nology and that the safety case will be made. building a full-scale dual-purpose research pable of large onsite construction. Another ad- Another positive development was that Chi- and demonstration plant at INEEL under a vantage of modularity is that it can reduce na and Japan, which both have operating high- university-led consortium that will include na- maintenance costs and downtime since the temperature reactors, have successfully repli- tional labs, other universities, utilities, and modules can be replaced rather than requiring cated German experience. He is also suppliers. online repair. encouraged by the technological develop- Kadak acknowledged that they are not plant The fabrication of the modules, including ments in other fields important to HTGR de- designers, but do want to get involved in all complex assembly and welding, will be velopment, notably in gas turbines, advanced building the demonstration reactor. “We will done in the factory. All pipes are included in

January 2002 NUCLEAR NEWS 51 the modules with their own support struc- ization chamber. The instrumentation was go- the pressure vessel. ture—no additional support structures are ing through acceptance testing at the time of The current goal for the “next-generation” needed on site. No single module exceeds the Reno meeting and should be on its way to plant is to achieve an overall plant efficien- 60 000 kg, well below the 100 000 kg which the Pelindaba Nuclear Institute near Pretoria, cy of above 45 percent, compared to the cur- should be transportable. Shielding of modules South Africa, in 2002. rent 40 percent. This will require extending for transporting active modules will also be The unique circulating fuel of the pebble current technology, which may involve ad- possible. bed reactor makes in-core fuel management vances in materials performance to allow On site, the modules will be aligned and much trickier than for conventional light-wa- higher intermediate heat exchanger temper- flanges and piping bolted together. The only ter reactors for which computational methods atures, increases in turbo machinery effi- large machinery needed is a crane to emplace allow highly precise in-core fuel management. ciency, and many other options. At the mo- the top-level modules. The amount of site For the pebble bed, an on-line measurement ment, the optimum “mix” of technology preparation for the balance of plant, on-site approach becomes the only accurate method development that minimizes overall cost and/ tooling, and machinery requirements is mini- to assess whether a given pebble has reached or risk is not clear. A model is now being de- mal. Overall, this layout requires the use of 21 its burnup limit and is sent to storage or is re- veloped to do this. modules (not including command and control turned to the core. Prof. Ayrnan Hawari, of J. M. Martinez-Val, of the Spanish compa- or power processing units), each of which is the University of Cincinnati, described possi- ny UPM, discussed the possibilities of using truck transportable. ble on-line burnup monitoring using passive pebble bed reactors to transmute transuranics The goal is minimum time and labor and gamma-ray and neutron detection methods to and long-lived fission products from light-wa- zero welding between modules. Whether the establish a power-history and cooling-time inter reactor fuel. The key is the strength of the codes allow it has yet to be determined. “We dependent burnup measurement. These meth- Triso fuel particles, which can achieve burnup are taking all the code compliance issues from ods rely on radiation from selected fission levels of more than 700 000 MWd/t. He de- the beginning so we do not run down a dead products and heavy actinides that have built scribed several variants, including the use of end,” explained Berte. As an aside, he also said up. an accelerator-driven subcritical pebble bed that the possibility of air transport was being Hawari’s group determined that Cs-137 and reactor in tandem with a critical reactor. considered, particularly because there are large Eu-154 provided the best correlations between Various fueling strategies that meet differ- Russian air transporters available now. activity and burnup, and they believed that ent final goals were discussed, including: both methods could be developed for accurate 1. Once through strategy—LWR fuel is re- Multi-pass fuel cycle on-line burnup measurements. Hawari ex- processed once and all the actinides are en- In addition to its inherently safe design, a plained, however, that a usable system must capsulated in Triso fuel, which is circulated unique feature of the pebble bed reactor is its take into account other considerations, partic- in the reactor until high burnup levels are multi-pass fuel cycle, in which the graphite ularly its ability to meet the requirements of achieved. fuel spheres are randomly loaded and contin- throughput. The preliminary analysis indi- 2. Nonproliferation strategy—Irradiation and uously cycled through the core until they cates that using either method for the expect- reprocessing of Triso fuel are repeated until reach a typical end-of-life burnup of about ed measurement time is sufficient to meet a targets of 99.9 percent transmutation of fissile 80 000 MWd/t. Not all the spheres, however, circulation rate of one pebble every 30 sec- material are achieved. have fuel. In the South African PBMR design, onds. Several detectors and detection systems 3. Minimization of long-term radiotoxicity approximately a quarter of the core will con- are currently under evaluation. strategy—Low-level fission products, such as sist of pure graphite “moderator” spheres, the Tc-99 and I-129, are added to the actinides. rest being fuel spheres of varying burnup. To Optimizing the design He warned, however, that to reduce the get the distribution right, the pure graphite According to C. Y. Wang, an MIT gradu- long-lived isotopes to a level that will allow spheres are dropped into the central region of ate student, the development path of the MIT the activity to decay to the natural uranium the core at a single position, while the fuel reactor concept began with a design that al- level in about 400 years, it will be necessary spheres are dropped into an annular region at though not necessarily optimized from an ef- to virtually eliminate all transuranics. But to the edge of the core at nine positions. All ficiency or plant cost point of view, could in get close to 100 percent, the pebbles will have spheres are removed from one central location theory actually be built using current technol- to be reprocessed, which would be very ex- at the bottom. ogy. “Once the initial, buildable design is es- pensive to do. It normally takes about three months for a tablished,” he said, “we will then determine sphere to traverse the core. The reactor has a key limitations to this design, and develop a Security measures fuel handling and storage system that regu- path to removal of these limitations.” Then, a With homeland security issues making lates the input and extraction of the spheres. final design of a more efficient and cheaper news, a special session chaired by ANS Pres- When a sphere leaves the core, the first re- plant will be developed that has a reasonable ident Gail Marcus was organized to examine quirement is to distinguish if it is damaged chance of being buildable. “Nuclear Plant Safety.” Since the September or not. The good ones are transferred to an The most significant constraints on the de- 11 terrorist attacks, the public has had a more identification block to distinguish between signers are having to comply with all exist- active interest in nuclear issues, said Brian fuel spheres and the pure graphite spheres. If ing codes and standards and avoiding any sig- Grimes, an industry consultant from Mukil- it is a pure graphite sphere, it is sent to a sec- nificant additional R&D effort that would teo, Washington. For the first time, for exam- ond block where the identification is verified extend construction times and costs. For ex- ple, the general public seems concerned about and then it is transferred back to the core. If ample, the use of an indirect heat exchanger perceived hazards from the transportation of it is a fuel sphere, it goes to another measur- has the advantage of preventing radioactive spent fuel, he said. ing block where its burnup is measured. If it contamination of the secondary plant and re- Also new is the interest of “mainstream me- has reached the planned burnup level, it is duces “to incredible” the probability of a wa- dia” in talking with people about nuclear issues, sent to storage; if not, it goes back into the ter or air ingress accident; this restriction, Grimes continued. “Of course, there is the usu- core. however, which is due to ASME code real reporter technique of seeking judgments David Chichester, of Thermo Gamma-Met- quirements, severely limits the allowable in- from local sources,” he said. “Unfortunately, rics, described the on-line activity measure- termediate heat exchanger temperatures, and, some of the antinuclear people have more pun- ment system (AMS) his company has devel- therefore, the plant efficiency. Avoiding any gent quotes than the nuclear people.” oped for Eskom’s PBMR to differentiate significant extension of existing technology Overall, the general public has a greater between irradiated pure graphite and fuel limits the allowable size of the turbines and concern for nuclear safety because an attack spheres. The system measures the gross pho- compressors, and by using the pressure ves- on a nuclear target could lead to perceived ton activity of a sphere and compares this val- sel design of South Africa, coupled with the worst-case consequences, such as radiation ue with a predetermined threshold value. indirect cycle design of the MIT concept, a exposures and land contamination. This con- These measurements are done using an ion- separate cooling system will be required for cern exists “because there is a general radia-

52 NUCLEAR NEWS January 2002 MEETINGS

ricane, he commented. Are nuclear plants in the United States robust enough to survive an aircraft hit? “We think generally the answer for containments would be absolutely yes,” Fertel said. But the real danger would be a plane engine’s rotor, not the body of the aircraft itself. “The plane doesn’t do much damage except to itself,” he said. “But the rotor becomes a mis- sile and could penetrate to some depth into concrete.” While containments seem secure, there is some concern for other structures on site, including the auxiliary buildings and spent fuel pools, Fertel said. Spent fuel pools of pressurized water reactors are below ground level and so there is less worry about threats of air strikes. But the spent fuel pools of boiling water reactors are elevated. “The question there is, would a plane be able to crash into it, breech it, and drain it?” Fertel offered. “If it’s not drained, there is no problem. There would be no radiological releases and the situation would be controlled.” Relative sizes of a World Trade Center tower, the Pentagon, and a nuclear power plant’s containment For security of auxiliary buildings, “there building (Source: NEI) are concerns there,” Fertel said. A plane could tion phobia [that is] enhanced by antinuclear clock staffing at its Emergency Operations penetrate them and make safety systems in- folks trying to advance their agendas,” Grimes Center and regional Incident Operations Cen- operable. In that regard, the industry is look- said. ters. “So the entire [nuclear] infrastructure ing at probabilistic safety assessments and It is up to the industry, then, to put nuclear has been at its highest security level,” Fertel working with EPRI to see that protections are threats in perspective. For the short term, said. in place in the event of aircraft accidents. Grimes explained, emphasis must be placed Regarding security Much of the security issue comes down to on communicating the capabilities of nuclear specifics, Fertel re- the likelihood of an aircraft making a direct plants, such as their hardened structures and marked that perime- hit on a nuclear plant, Fertel said. The World the separation of equipment on site. The in- ters have been extend- Trade Center towers were very tall vertical dustry must trumpet ed outward around targets, and the Pentagon, while large hori- that each site has an nuclear plants, so that zontally, was not easy to hit and in fact was armed and active re- visitors are farther struck indirectly on September 11. “So a nu- sponse force and an away before they gain clear plant’s profile”—a fraction of the size of energy plan for evac- access. Some states the buildings attacked on September 11— uation of an area. have National Guard “makes it difficult to hit from the air,” he said Also, the public must troops supplementing (see illustration above). “A plane hitting the be made aware that if the security forces at plant is something that should be looked at an attack occurred on Fertel the plants. Existing and is being looked at, but it is not, at least a nuclear plant, the safety measures include thorough background upon the first assessment, the threat that it is likelihood of radiation checks of employees, vehicle barrier systems made out to be by some of the antinuclear release would be low. in place at sites, and security exercises con- groups.” Grimes Even in a worst-case ducted by plant personnel. scenario, Grimes said, the result from a large The NRC and the industry have indepen- Fighting anthrax accident would likely be “a bad day at the dently undertaken “top-to-bottom” reviews of Also discussed during the session was a nu- plant and [maybe] some local land cleanup.” the security infrastructure. “We’re looking at clear safety issue as related to the use of radi- For the longer term, the industry must in- every aspect,” Fertel said. “Comments have ation to kill anthrax spores. form the public that as the world battles ter- been made, particularly in the media, about Gail Marcus made the presentation for Ray rorism, nuclear plants always will have their [plant security] weaknesses, and we’re look- Durante, who had planned to attend the session protective measures, Grimes said. ing at those to see how real they are.” but was unavailable at the last minute. Durante Fertel stressed that a nuclear plant’s con- is head of the Food Irradiation Council. “As far Hardened structures tainment has about 12 feet of concrete and a back as the 1960s, radiation was successfully Marvin Fertel, senior vice president of the foot of steel, in various segments, between the used to destroy anthrax spores in imported goat Nuclear Energy Institute, reviewed the secu- reactor core and the outside of the building. hair used [in] making carpets,” Marcus read rity capacities of nuclear power plants. “Nu- “So we have a relatively robust structure,” he from Durante’s statement: “While only a lim- clear plants in our country and basically any- said. ited amount of research has been done specifi- where in the world are generally hardened As to the question about aircraft attacks on cally on the anthrax bacillus spore, there is structures,” Fertel noted. “Also, all the com- nuclear plants, Fertel said that “only three of enough data on work related to similar mercial plants have security plans and pro- our facilities have looked at airplane crash- pathogens to be confident that radiation would grams in place in our country. So, security was es” during design consideration, but that is be very effective for this application.” here before September 11, it will be here af- because those plants are located near airports. Further research needs to be done, Du- ter September 11, and it’s changing [for the Those plants—Seabrook, Limerick, and rante’s statement continued, to determine better through improvements].” Three Mile Island—were designed to protect what level of radiation would be most effec- All nuclear plants in the United States have against what could be perceived as possible tive since an organism’s sensitivity to irradi- stayed at their highest levels of alert since the threats or risks (aircraft crashes), the same ation depends on the size of its DNA and the September attacks, and the Nuclear Regula- way a plant in Kansas would design to pro- rate at which it can repair DNA damaged by tory Commission continues with around-the- tect against a tornado but probably not a hur- irradiation.

January 2002 NUCLEAR NEWS 53 method yet exists, Seiders said. Work is also being done at PNNL on the use of holographic imaging to aid in detection of anthrax in mail parcels. 1 mg 25 mg Seiders would not comment on the work that PNNL is doing to kill the smallpox virus.

California energy crisis The quick answer to the question posed in the session’s title, “California Electricity Cri- sis: How Can Nuclear Help?” is, of course, that it can’t, because it is currently illegal to build nuclear power plants in California. Fur- thermore, session chair and former ANS president Bertram Wolfe, a California resident, said he suspects that the state’s gover- 100 gm 1 gram nor, Gray Davis, is antinuclear. Wolfe said he sent a letter—twice—about nuclear power to Gov. Davis, signed by 15 leading experts, that went unanswered. “So, we don’t have . . . a governor in California today that is looking generally . . . at the energy situation and what nuclear power can do,” Wolfe said. Nonetheless, speculating on the impact nuclear power could have had during the Cali- (Source: PNNL) fornia energy crisis—which led to high energy prices and recurring rolling blackouts Relative amounts of anthrax, to scale throughout the state over the past two-and-a- half years—or could have in the coming “When it was first learned that anthrax doses in a few milligrams of anthrax spores. decades, was the subject at hand. spores were being sent through the mail and “That’s kind of grim,” she commented. (See Although the state’s energy problem has affecting postal workers and others, there photo above for visual depiction of relative abated somewhat, several speakers during the was an understandable rush to find an im- amounts of anthrax, to scale.) session emphasized that it has not been mediately available method to counteract Seiders noted that while irradiation has solved. “In the future and in the present in Cal- the health threat,” Durante’s statement not- been used for medicine and food safety, ifornia, 95 percent of all our generation being ed. Press releases and articles stated that “those usually have been done in liquid built is natural gas,” commented 1998–99 food irradiation equipment could be used mediums or in meat tissue, and it is a very ANS President and California resident Ted to sterilize mail. Unfortunately, Durante different problem trying to sterilize a dried Quinn. “Governor Davis has been very proud lamented in his statement, a mature and vi- powder as compared to a liquid-based or- to announce the opening of natural gas gener- able food irradiation industry does not ex- ganism.” Limited information is available ating stations. And it’s really a beneﬁt to help ist today, although experience on sanitiz- about irradiating dried foods such as spices, us. But, certainly in the long term, it’s not the ing medical supplies shows that the she said. answer.” machines do work. Based on a number of studies dealing with California legislators, however, appear to Durante noted that it would “seem logical” the anthrax spore and from information pro- think that it is. Nuclear Energy Institute to use electron beams to irradiate large batch- vided by experts, the radiation dose would member outreach director Dave Modeen il- es of mail. have to be greater than 10 kGy to kill anthrax, lustrated that point when he recalled a trip he Barbara Seiders, manager of chemical and she said. made to the state a year ago. “I happened to biological defense programs at Paciﬁc North- PNNL researchers have looked at a number be in California last January. And the week west National Laboratory (PNNL), explained of methods for killing anthrax contained in I was there there were two decisions,” Mod- technologies being studied for obtaining mail sealed envelopes and parcels. These methods een said. “Two large plants, 600 megawatts safety. In examining the anthrax threat, re- include irradiation using electron beams, each, were voted down by the authorizing searchers at PNNL have found that the size gamma-ray irradiation using cobalt-60 or ce- agencies because of concerns by the not-in- of an anthrax particle sium-137, beta irradiation using strontium, my-backyard participants. . . . So, even while is important because and irradiation using X rays. this issue of the doubling, the tripling, the “not all particles are All methods are affected by the volume of factor-of-10 increase in energy costs was go- problematic,” Seiders mail to be handled, the amount of time the ing on, there was still really a reluctance to revealed. “The only mail would need to be irradiated, operational try to address, at least from my perception, particles you have to feasibility concerns and constraints, human some of the imbalance, on the part of the pol- worry about are the health concerns, and availability of equipment icy-makers.” ones that find their to do the irradiating. For example, using elec- Part of the problem, Modeen said, is that way into the lungs tron beams at an existing facility, a conveyor two-thirds of California’s current energy mix and cannot find their belt could carry boxes of mail through an ir- comes from less than reliable sources. Natu- way back out.” So if a radiation machine, and PNNL researchers ral gas, which accounts for 46 percent of the particle is too large, it have estimated it would take less than 10 min- mix, according to Modeen, can suffer from Seiders may deposit on the utes to kill the anthrax, depending on the size drastic price swings. And hydroelectric tongue before it gets to the lungs. If it’s too of the box of mail. On the other hand, for gam- sources, accounting for 22 percent of the en- small, it will be breathed in and breathed out. ma-ray irradiation using Cs-137, pallets of ergy supply in California, Modeen said, are Anthrax particle sizes range from 1 to 10 mail (4 ft 4 ft 4 ft) could be irradiated in not always available. In other words, Califor- microns in diameter, with one to two anthrax up to five hours using low doses of about 3 nia appears to be setting itself up for more spores per particle. The bottom line, though, million curies or 15 minutes at a dose of 50 problems in the future. is that there are more than 1 million infectious million Ci. No facility for this gamma-ray “We realize that the electricity business will

54 NUCLEAR NEWS January 2002 MEETINGS continue to experience significant price and that California could not sustain its economy, According to Fessler, the legislation also supply volatility,” Modeen said. “It’s just nat- Fessler said. capped the amount of money that the utilities ural. I know in the last five or six months, as The job of the CPUC has always been to could charge for electricity prices during this the economy has eased, the weather has eased deliver safe, reliable, reasonably priced and period, and fixed them at the electricity rates also, and things look a little better in Califor- environmentally responsible provision of en- prevailing on January 1, 1996. “They could nia. That could be a short-term situation. ergy. The issue that then faced the state legis- not charge a higher rate no matter what hap- There’s really nothing to say that we can’t lature was “the question of reasonable pric- pened,” he added. swing back to much of the same situation, ing,” Fessler said. In March 1997, the Power Exchange be- even with the restructuring of some of these “It was decided that . . . it would be in the came operational. And during 1997 and laws and market rules.” interest of all consumers, particularly to con- 1998, prices on the wholesale market for sumers in California—which was and remains electricity fell dramatically, not only in Cal- Fast reactors a state that imports the great bulk of its ener- ifornia but across the West. “It appeared that Carl Walter, a longtime staffer at the Uni- gy during peak periods, either in the form of our fondest hopes for deregulation and the versity of California’s Lawrence Livermore fuels that are brought in... or in the form of commitment to market forces was paying National Laboratory—who now calls himself electrons over the high-voltage transmission substantial dividends,” Fessler said, “because “a retiree working at Lawrence Livermore”— grid from the other western states—to try to one of the provisions that we had put through said the crisis could have been avoided if firm promote a transparent competition in genera- was that the utilities would have to pass steps had been taken in the 1970s to construct tion, wherein a marketplace would be created through the wholesale costs of electricity, as an appropriate sustainable electric power in- that would give evidence of what would be the found in the Power Exchange, to all Califor- frastructure. He also added his voice to the least costly set of generators that could run at nia citizens, which meant that the benefits of chorus, warning that “we must not be led any hour and satisfy the demand in California competition would reach every citizen, from astray by only short-term approaches to the and, more broadly, in the West,” Fessler ex- an individual living on a pension alone in a so-called electricity crisis in California. The plained. small apartment to the largest user of elec- problem is of vastly greater scope and dura- A spot market for electricity, the first of its tricity. That was, to me, one of the prides of tion, and no less urgent.” kind in the western U.S., was created, called what had been accomplished, because it de- Walter outlined what he believes can be a the Power Exchange. “The idea was a fairly vised a delivery scheme to deliver the bene- long-range solution, once the spent fuel dis- simple one,” Fessler said. “We would take the fits as well as the risks of competition to all, posal problem is solved and California again transmission assets of California, place them on an equal basis. permits nuclear power plants to be built within the hands of a central grid operator, whose “Well, obviously, the story, if it had ended in its borders. He said the advanced fast reac- responsibility would be to operate the trans- there, would be a happy story. But it didn’t tor with fuel recycling—or FR/FR—is “the mission assets so as to facilitate the physical end there.” solution to our problem in California.” delivery of electricity from the least costly set In June 1999, on one day, in one hour, a Work on the reactor has been done by GE of generators that could be identified in... the very strange thing happened, Fessler said. The Nuclear Energy, Argonne National Labora- Power Exchange.” price on the Power Exchange shot up to an as- tory, and Burns and Roe Company. GE’s de- It was a day-ahead and hour-ahead market tronomical level for the hour-ahead market, sign for the Super-PRISM, a liquid sodium- for electricity, in which electricity generators and the market cleared at that very high price. cooled fast reactor, comes closest to would see a day ahead the projections of the But the market receded within the two hours, fulfilling the vision for the reactor, Walter state’s demand for electricity spelled out over and thereafter, for about 7 months, there was said. a 24-hour clock, and then they could bid, in no problem. The FR/FR is passively safe, with a low one-hour increments, the price that they would But by spring 2000, price spikes were be- probability of severe core damage. All the ac- charge to supply electricity during that hour, coming a persistent problem. Prices in Cali- tinides are fissioned, and the long-lived fission Fessler said. fornia on the Power Exchange were going up, products can be transmuted, which means its One of the features of the California Power and they were not just going up during the disposal would not require safeguards, Walter Exchange, Fessler explained, was that all bid- peak hours of electricity usage. “Peak prices noted. The reactor utilizes uranium two orders ders would be paid the price that was to be were going up and they were not coming of magnitude more efficiently than light-wa- awarded to the last increment of supply need- down during periods of the day in which it ter reactors. And, at anticipated costs of $28 ed to meet demand. “That was thought to be the was thought that electricity prices would nor- per megawatt-hour, the cost of power is com- real marginal cost of electricity. And with that mally recede dramatically,” Fessler said. petitive, Walter said, “particularly when you price signal being sent seven days a week, 24 By May, the high prices began to be an en- compare it with Governor Davis’s secretly hours a day, it was thought that over time those demic problem in California. “Indeed, it can awarded contracts of $69 a megawatt hour.” price signals would alert individuals as to be argued, that by May of the year 2000, what where opportunities were to build new gener- was wrong with the system was fully evident Crisis nonintervention ation, where transmission constraints were be- to anyone with public and private sector re- During his presentation, which drew a ing discovered. And it would focus, therefore, sponsibilities, not only in California, but in hearty round of applause at its conclusion, at- the science plus the economics of our profes- Washington, D.C.,” Fessler said. torney Dan Fessler, who was president of the sion . . . upon the true problems in building out The market had become dysfunctional. California Public Utilities Commission from an infrastructure that would match a supply Somehow, Fessler explained, significant seg- 1991 to 1996, provided an analysis and time- needed to meet demand in an efficient manner.” ments of supply were not bidding into the line of the California energy crisis. Rather than expose the state to the true Power Exchange. “It wasn’t that the physical When he took over as president of the movements of supply and demand, however, generation was physically disabled. It wasn’t CPUC in 1991, energy prices in California the state legislature—comprising “very ner- that it had picked up and left the Western part were about one-and-a-half times higher than vous” elected officials—decided that it would of the United States. But it was not being bid the national average. There was a question, order a 10 percent price reduction to be given in the Power Exchange. Instead it was being Fessler said, of how long California could sus- to all household users of electricity, as well as bid into the secondary market, which was op- tain its economy—with its higher taxes and small industrial, small commercial, and small erated in real time by the independent system high cost of living—especially as its neighbor agriculture users. In other words, voters,” operator. The mission of the independent sys- states enjoyed energy prices below the na- Fessler said. “[The] voters would have an im- tem operator was to keep a constant physical tional average. mediate 10 percent reduction, sort of as a de- equilibrium between supply and demand, cost At one point, following the end of the Cold cree of Caesar Augustus, even as the govern- being no object.” War and subsequent “screeching halt on all ment was speaking about giving up command Its normal function would have been to fill defense procurement,” after which California and control of price regulation and moving to in if there had been a loss of a generator “began to hemorrhage jobs,” it was decided forces of supply and demand.” through a physical calamity. But now it was

January 2002 NUCLEAR NEWS 55 taking up an increasingly large sector of the actor research and development began with lyst and facilitator,” he added. “And we can market—5, 10, 15 percent. “By the time the the Carter administration in the mid-1970s. try to integrate these activities and initiate prices reached their full maturity, nearly 40 “If we want to recover the information gen- specific projects with strong member state percent of the market had moved from the erated over several decades, it would be very participation.” Power Exchange into the last-minute desper- difficult,” he said. And to compound matters, The IAEA is already involved in preserv- ate scramble for electricity. Sometimes the experienced people have been leaving the ing fast reactor data. In 1999, it invited experts scramble wasn’t fast enough, and for the first workforce, taking a lot of knowledge with to meet to discuss what should be done to start time in 15 years, Californians began to expe- them. The only way to an initiative. The agency is also now working rience blackouts. reverse the situation with the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency “That was May. would be with a vig- (NEA), which has a similar activity under way “And June,” he continued. orous program and for preservation of experimental neutron “And July.” this is not possible, he physics benchmark data. Generally, NEA will “And the government did nothing,” Fessler remarked, at least for concentrate on thermal reactors and IAEA on whispered. some considerable fast reactors. Consumers were not seeing the price con- time. The session then heard presentations on the sequences of the high prices being paid in the One impetus for approaches being taken and the activities un- wholesale market because the legislation had this session was the der way in several other countries. capped the retail rates for electricity. “Cali- discovery, during re- Roland Soule, of France’s Commissariat à fornia therefore moved into this crisis with the search undertaken on l’Energie Atomique (CEA) described a major consumption of electricity virtually unabat- Walters the technical history project to preserve fast reactor knowledge that ed,” Fessler said. of EBR-II, that much of the information was began after the government decided to close Also, Fessler noted, 2000 was, of course, on the verge of being lost. Several billions of the 1200-MWe Superphenix reactor. He now an election year, in which California was a dollars was spent getting this information, not- has several people working on what appears major prize in the election. “And it seemed to ed Walters, and for a few million more, “we to be a very user-friendly information system. me, as a civilian, to be the primary goal of can put it in a state that can be passed on.” It was constructed to cover the entire scientif- elected officials to make certain that no prices Walters had recently made two important ic and engineering information requirements were communicated to the public until after contacts, the International Atomic Energy of the fast reactor. He mentioned several data- the sixth of November in the year 2000. Agency and the DOE’s weapons program. bases operated by CEA, including SNEDAX, “It was on the eighth of November that With the help of IAEA’s Alexander Stan- which covers integral fast reactor experiments Governor Davis discovered that California culescu, an Agency “consultancy” (a prelim- in zero power facilities. SNEDAX was origi- had a problem with electricity.” inary meeting to define the scope of a problem nally developed at Forschungszentrum Karls- The difference between what the electric and how to approach it) is planned for next ruhe (FzK), in Germany, and includes exper- utilities had paid for electricity in the first 11 spring in Idaho Falls, Idaho, to develop a imental data from facilities in France, months of the year, and what they had been worldwide plan for preserving fast reactor Germany, Japan, Russia, the United King- allowed to recoup from ratepayers through knowledge. In the meantime, the Reno meet- dom, and the United States. frozen rates had gone from a $1-billion prob- ing provided an opportunity to get some of A German contribution by Roland Boehme, lem in May to an estimated $14Ð$16-billion the people together to of FzK (presented by the session co-chair, as problem, Fessler said. start exchanging ideas the author could not attend), described the his- In response to an audience question, Fessler and set the stage for tory of fast reactor development in Germany, made the session’s most striking point: “We the consultancy. beginning in the 1960s with the zero-power will debate for years what actually went Another important SNEAK facility at FzK. SNEAK was shut wrong in the last 26, 28 months in Califor- discovery was that a down in 1985 when a decision was taken by nia.... But here is a solid fact, and it haunts knowledge preserva- France, Germany, and the United Kingdom me. At no point in California during the peri- tion program for (which operated the ZEBRA facility) to keep od of time in which the [energy] market was weapons technology only France’s Masurca facility going as an in- reacting with these grotesque price signals, or is already in place. ternational project. in which we were shutting people off from the One of the conse- Immediately after the shutdown of consumption of electricity, was the imbalance quences of the ending SNEAK, work on preserving documentation between supply and demand ever in excess of Stanculescu of both U.S. nuclear started. This was completed in 1996 and then 600 megawatts. weapons testing and weapons development in transferred to the CEA. Information from the “Now, if SONGS-1 [San Onofre nuclear 1992, was that this community has been ex- country’s fast reactors, including details from generating station] had been operating, we periencing a continuing loss of expertise. But the experiments undertaken at the KNK-2 re- would not have had a problem. If Rancho it was able to convince the administration and actor at Karlsruhe, and publications on the Seco had been on line, we would not have Congress that this should be viewed as a na- Kalkar SNR-300 fast reactor (which was built, had a problem. If Trojan had been func- tional security issue, and funding has been but never received an operating license) are tional—and if you assume that there was made available to undertake a preservation stored in the archives of Siemens, now Fram- adequate transmission capacity, which can program. atome ANP. No manpower is available for be a problem—we would not have had a scrutinizing these. problem.” IAEA work The Japanese situation was described by Someone in the audience immediately Walters then asked Stanculescu to describe Yoshio Yokota, of JNC (Japan Nuclear Cy- asked, “Have the folks in California been told the potential role of the IAEA. He explained cle Development Institute), which still has this?” to which Fessler responded, “No.” that the agency appreciates the need to pre- a very active fast reactor program, although serve information and knowledge when, as it its two power generating plants, Joyo and 50 years of fast reactor knowledge expects, the world comes asking for more nu- Monju, are not presently in operation. It also The session “Passing on Fifty Years of Fast clear power plants. It already has useful re- has a comprehensive knowledge preserva- Reactor Knowledge to a New Generation on sources available, including the Internation- tion program that includes collecting “hu- Nuclear R&D” provided an opportunity to al Nuclear Information Systems (INIS) and man” knowledge. This is done by recorded discuss what needs to be done to preserve several nuclear databases. And provided interviews with key staff as they reach re- knowledge in this technology and motivate it member countries are in favor, said Stan- tirement and through the preparation of in- to happen. Opening the session, Leon Wal- culescu, the agency can provide a number of dividual “memoirs.” Based on this, a com- ters, of Argonne National Laboratory, re- other services. “We can look around and puterized “FBR plant design planning minded participants that the decline in fast re- identify what is being done and act as a cata- system” is being constructed that will in-

56 NUCLEAR NEWS January 2002 MEETINGS clude an explanation of each design decision by that time there was unlikely anyone tual exercising of our people. We have im- and how the decisions affect each other. around to say that the files were worth keep- plemented this at our lab.... I believe a con- Since it is difficult to select what to retain, ing, he doubts that anything survived. On stant program is needed that applies the it preserves all information. sodium boiling, he asked the expert in this knowledge to real projects, real things to do JNC is also proposing a major internation- country, who happened to be in the audience. or we will lose it,” he said. This is why send- al knowledge preservation program to be Graham was told that “his own published pa- ing people to take part in Russian and Japan- called ISAN, which, besides being an pers were stored in his garage, but the West- ese programs seemed a good idea to him. acronym for International Super Archive Net- inghouse files of analysis and data had been Bookless also talked about the need to cre- work, is, appropriately, Japanese for “legacy.” destroyed.” ate an environment where people feel com- The company hopes that this will provide oth- Graham concluded that he knows “of no fortable to induce them to impart their knowl- er countries whose staff have been redeployed technology which has been fully lost without edge. Some people love to talk and hate to or retired with an incentive to put some re- being superseded by better technology. Fast write, he said, and others would rather isolate sources into this activity. It will use the World reactor technology is in danger of being lost themselves until they have finished writing. Wide Web as a means of sharing nonpropri- just in that way—presently, the compendium “We have had people provide 500-page etary information. of knowledge exists only in Japan and Russia. tomes on one specific design approach where If those programs are terminated without the they attempted to write down what we never The Russian program knowledge being preserved, then the world captured in the past—why we did it,” he said. Visa problems meant that the Russian con- will have lost a vital resource. . . . To recon- He gave an example of a particular alloy that tributors were unable to attend, and John Gra- struct the technology again 50 years hence was chosen for some purpose. While there ham, of ETCetera Assessments LLP and a will cost us 10 to 50 times what it cost 25 was good documentation about the alloy, past president of ANS, summarized the paper years ago, even at modest escalation rates. It there was no record of why it was chosen— they sent. Russia has an active fast reactor pro- is almost already too late to act.” was it because it was ductile, or strong, or gram, which includes plans to extend opera- cheap, or have minimum of a material that tion of its BN-600 station to 2020 and to con- Weapons knowledge preservation should not be included? “What was the reason struct an 800-MWe version (BN-800), for An actual nuclear knowledge preservation we used it?” Only those involved in deciding which some funds have been raised. program that is in progress was described by had those answers, he said. In another case, As with other countries, however, its ex- William A. Bookless, of Lawrence Livermore the key designers of a particular item were perts are leaving. Some work preserving National Laboratory. In this case it concerns brought together. With a model in front of knowledge is being done—for example, post- the DOE’s weapons technology program. them, they spent many hours discussing each irradiation experience has been gathered from Bookless remarked that when early-retirement design feature allowing the thought process- the country’s three critical facilities and con- incentives were first offered by the DOE, there es involved in coming up with the design to struction of a database is in progress. In addi- was one day that 700 people left the laborato- be extracted. tion, some work is under way to gather expe- ry. This represented more than 10 000 person- He also provided a lot of other advice. He rience directly from experts. This includes years of nuclear weapons experience. mentioned that a group at Sandia has cap- interviews with older specialists and having In about 1993, he and a few others got to- tured a structured way of extracting knowl- them produce their memoirs, focusing on spe- gether to consider how to keep the technolo- edge. They have explored a lot of techniques, cific problems. gies robust for future use, following the dra- such as the use of panels, methods of moti- Unfortunately, this work has stopped due matic changes that were occurring in the vating people, how to ask questions, etc. Re- to lack of funds. This is an activity that would weapons program as production facilities garding information storage, they use for- appreciate support from the West. The Insti- closed and consolidation was in full swing: in mats that are considered “migratable,” such tute of Physics and Power Engineering, in Ob- 1989, the Rocky Flats plant was closed, and as pdf, ASCII and html, which should be ninsk, has also begun to preserve the private in 1992 all nuclear weapons testing and de- available generation after generation. An- archives of famous scientists (photos, letters, velopment stopped. In response, these few other thorny issue is sharing proprietary in- drafts of scientific papers, etc.). people created the nuclear weapons informa- formation. “We have been working on this In his own contribution, John Graham tion group, an ad hoc group of experts from for many years and feel we are getting imagined it being the year 2050 and the fusion different organizations, to discuss the work al- close,” Bookless said. program having just been terminated. “What ready going on independently in each. Be- does it take to recreate a fast reactor technol- cause it is now seen as a national security is- An FBR session postscript ogy?” he asked. To get an idea of how big a sue, this work also gets financial help from At the end of the session, the chair told the job this would be, he provided a long list of government agencies. participants that given the interest shown, he the types of work that would have to be un- In his presentation, Bookless discussed was inviting everyone to join him and sever- dertaken. For example, the basic knowledge many problems and issues that they had al of the speakers on the final day of the meet- categories he listed were: R&D, design, fab- come across. Trying to understand how to ing to continue the discussion. This extra ses- rication and construction, operation, and de- transfer knowledge to later generations is a sion provided an opportunity to examine commissioning. Under design, he included bit more complicated, he warned, than data where to go now. general design system criteria and standards; management. “Data does not represent un- Bookless had more useful advice based on core physics information (through core life); derstanding of anything,” he said. Above the weapons technology knowledge preserva- dynamic analysis (normal and off-normal); data, he listed “information,” which com- tion program. To attract funding, he said, it is system design descriptions; safety analysis puters can capture fairly effectively. But that necessary to get the message across that it is and reports; beyond design-basis protection; does not capture “knowledge,” he said. This vital to preserve fast reactor knowledge, as project costs. requires an understanding of patterns. “Our one day it may be needed. He said it was vi- Graham then discussed a couple of specif- database systems today cannot understand tal to talk to members of high-level commis- ic topics of vital importance to fast reactors— patterns the way a human being can. Perhaps sions and panels—particularly congressional- thin-walled piping for loop-type fast reactors some day.” ly mandated ones—not only to convince, but and sodium boiling—where information and In his view, the final goal is the ability is to to familiarize them with the idea that it is a na- knowledge has been lost. After the Clinch apply the knowledge to a project—such as tional security issue and that without it, bil- River Breeder Reactor Program was canceled building a reactor. The application of that lions of dollars of knowledge will be lost. This in 1984, the files on the development work knowledge requires the kind of connectedness will take many years and a lot of effort. His done by Westinghouse along with Argonne that computer databases will not be able to do advice led to a proposal to produce a “white” National Laboratory were boxed and sent for for a long time. “The only method that has paper that puts the arguments together. A con- storage in caverns below Pittsburgh with a been proven, as far as I am concerned, is the vincing story is needed with a strong justifi- notation to destroy them in 10 or 15 years. As mentoring of people, which involves the ac- cation, he said. That there are other countries

January 2002 NUCLEAR NEWS 57 that want to share the burden was considered was suggested that there are probably only how to do it, then we will not get started.” helpful, he added. about 500 people in the world that have the The important thing is to get started, he It was generally agreed that preserving the type of experience and knowledge that should added, and then what needs doing will come knowledge found in the heads of experts— be preserved. out. He was confident that the consultancy who know what has been done, why it was The IAEA’s Stanculescu also noted that meeting, which was tentatively scheduled for done, and what the results are—should have some people want to get a clear vision of what the first week of April 2002, will be a step to- priority, since this sort of information is sel- is to be done. “I am afraid we cannot have a ward a real international effort to preserve dom included in reports and is perishable. It clear vision,” he said. “If we wait to know fast reactor knowledge.

TOPICAL MEETING Accelerating the transmutation program

SIGNIFICANT ROADBLOCK TO development of additional nuclear pow- Major points from the session: A er capacity is the concern over management of the nuclear waste produced by the plants, which requires disposal. Authorized by Accelerator transmutation can address Congress to begin in ﬁscal year 2001, the De- partment of Energy’s Advanced Accelerator Applications program was created to address the waste issue this and other pressing nuclear issues facing the United States, including declining U.S. nuclear Spallation Neutron Source to operate infrastructure and global nuclear leadership. The Embedded Topical Meeting on Accel- erator Applications/Accelerator Driven Trans- in 2006 mutation Technology and Applications was held to discuss many of these concerns. Tech- nical program chair Warren Funk, of the cluding Los Alamos, Argonne, and Savannah SNS update Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facil- River. The associate laboratory director for the ity, said the program committee received be- “We were required to put a report to Con- Spallation Neutron Source, Thomas Mason, tween 170 and 180 papers, nearly double what gress in place,” Herczeg said. “That report de- provided an overview and update of the Spal- they had in the largest previous meeting. ﬁned that we were to build a facility within 10 lation Neutron Source, an accelerator-based years that would cost around $2 billion. Con- neutron source that uses spallation, which is AAA history gress looked at that report and decided that under construction in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and The AAA program is developing the tech- that was a little too expensive.” set to begin operation in 2006. At 1.4 MW, it nology base for waste transmutation—the nu- The AAA program has decided to hold will be the world’s leading pulsed spallation clear transformation of long-lived radioactive back on accelerator development for now, source and the world’s leading facility for materials into short-lived or nonradioactive Herczeg said. “We’re going to focus on trans- neutron scattering, Mason said. “We believe materials—and aims to demonstrate its prac- mutation separations technology. We’re still that the capability of this machine will outstrip ticality and value for long-term waste man- going to maintain the [accelerator] technolo- anything that’s currently available, and it’s agement. Both acting associate director for the gy. That is, we’re going to still do some work our intention that SNS will be the world’s program, John Herczeg, and director of the in the design of the [accelerator] facility, even leading facility for neutron scattering.” AAA program at Los Alamos National Labo- if it’s preconceptual and at a very low level.” One of the unusual features of the project, ratory, Bruce Matthews, provided histories Matthews noted that transmutation is Mason pointed out, is that it is being devel- and overviews of the program. needed because Yucca Mountain would oped by a consortium of Department of Ener- Although there was work on transmutation quickly be filled to its statutory limit. “Some- gy labs. The front end, which includes the ion in the early 1990s at LANL, the actual AAA where—we’re guessing 2015—policy-mak- source and some of the low-energy compo- program did not begin until 2000, Herczeg ers in this country are going to have to make nents of the accelerator, is being developed by noted. The program was formed by Congres- a decision whether we go to an alternative Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The sional directive as a combination of the Ac- strategy or build a new repository if we are linear accelerator, which accelerates H-minus celerator Production of Tritium and the Ac- going to have nuclear energy as an option. ions up to 1 GeV, is being developed by Los celerator Transmutation of Waste programs. That’s really, I think, what the key driver is Alamos National Laboratory. The accumula- The organization over the last year has infor this program is and where we fit into the tor ring is being developed by Brookhaven cluded several DOE laboratories and sites, in- future,” he said. National Laboratory, and the mercury target

58 NUCLEAR NEWS January 2002 MEETINGS

ment for carbon-free energy alternatives. Richter noted that the United Nations estimates the current world population to be 6 billion. The U.N. predicts that figure will increase to 9 million in 2050 and to 10.5 billion in 2100. In turn, the world’s primary energy demand grows by a factor of two by 2050, and 3.5 by 2100. “The global environment can’t stand a 350 percent increase in emissions from the world’s existing primary energy sources,” he cautioned. The energy demand in the developed world or the reforming world (such as the Eastern Bloc) will not be increasing as much as energy demand in the underdeveloped world, Richter said. “We have to take steps in the industrialized world to make carbon-free power practical and available. Because if we don’t, we’re going to see average world temperatures go up. The latest estimate is [an in- Site plan of the Spallation Neutron Source (DOE) crease of] 6 °C. And while we don’t know what the environmental consequences are go- by Argonne National Laboratory. Mason noted. “The target is a nuclear facility, ing to be, it’s been several hundred million The funding request for the project in FY so it’s complicated from that point of view. years since the temperature was that high. 2002 was $291.4 million. The bill that has It’s also got to accommodate all the experi- And the environment is certainly going to be been passed by the House and Senate in- mental apparatus. And it’s the most expensive different.” cludes the full request of $291.4 million. structure that we’re building, certainly.” So, what are the options? The first is nu- “This is a reflection of the fact that the proj- Mason said the facility staff have recently clear power, Richter said. The second is con- ect has very full congressional support,” Ma- shifted their planning focus from design, servation and efficiency, particularly in the son said. “This is our peak funding year. In which is now fairly stable, to planning for the United States, which is the least energy effi- ’03 we drop off to $225 million and flatten installation and the hand-off from partner labs cient of the industrialized societies. (Richter out. Our eventual operating budget will be to Oak Ridge. He said he expects this next said the United States uses twice as much en- about $150 million a year. So, from a politi- phase to begin next spring. ergy per dollar as Japan, and one-and-a-half cal funding point of view, we’re over the times as much as Europe.) hump.... The need for transmutation He noted that nuclear power is the only “We still have an awful lot in front of us in Nobel laureate Burton Richter, chair of a source of electricity that can immediately start terms of getting it done. Nevertheless, the fact Nuclear Energy Research Advisory Commit- replacing large amounts of carbon-based pow- that we’ve now finished off a year where our tee group on accelerator transmutation of er. “We can have reliable baseload systems funding was $278 million, going into a year waste, and director emeritus of the Stanford with the current generation of light-water re- with $291 million means there’s an awful lot Linear Accelerator Center, said that transmu- actors. You could, if you wanted, expand the going on now in terms of procurements for tation is important and worth researching be- total amount of energy by 2050 by a factor of hardware, awards for construction of build- cause of the energy five. That requires a coordinated effort to de- ings, real tangible stuff that gives us confi- problems throughout sign simple, modular, medium-sized, next- dence that we’re going to get done.” the world. “The generation reactors, and that is going on now. The project design is about 70 percent com- world’s energy prob- The Generation IV program I hope is going to plete. Overall, the project is about one-third lems are not solvable come up with something that’s economic and complete, and that includes all the R&D ac- in an environmentally efficient.” tivities and the design work. In terms of the tolerable way if we Richter, however, pointed out the usual actual construction, though, the project was keep the same pattern stumbling block of the public’s irrational fear about 15 percent complete through the end of of carbon-based ener- of radiation. “Every time I show this, people September, Mason said. The total project cost gy supplies as we’re are startled,” Richter said, showing a new is $1.4 billion. using now. That is to- view graph. “You get 240 millirem per year Mason said that significant site construc- tally unsustainable,” from natural radiation, but 40 millirem of tion activities are under way, with good prog- Richter Richter cautioned. His that comes form the radioactivity in your ress on all of the technical components from presentation focused on why transmutation is own body. . . . There’s a significant amount the front end through the superconducting needed. of radiation that comes in the radioactive linac, ring, target, and instruments. Richter said carbon-based energy supplies potassium and carbon that’s used to produce Initial cost and design estimates have been cannot be scaled up to meet the growing you. On the average, you get 60 millirem accepted for the last two instruments (a world population or the projected increase in from medical [procedures]. You get practi- small-angle neutron scattering instrument per capita gross national product in the de- cally nothing from nuclear power plants. and a powder diffractometer) of five total veloping world, nor can they prevent drastic You get about the same amount from coal- that are being built as part of the construc- global climate change. “Without a change in fired power plants, but nobody ever express- tion project. “Each one of those [five instru- how we get our primary power, we’re head- es any concern about [radiation from] coal- ments] has outstanding performance that eas- ing for an economic catastrophe, an envi- fired plants.” ily outstrips anything, typically by factors of ronmental catastrophe, or both,” said Richter cited a study from the journal Risk 20 to 100 in terms of raw throughput,” Ma- Richter, who won the Nobel Prize for physics Analysis that detailed the public health im- son said. in 1976. pacts of various forms of power generation. On the site, the linac tunnel, which is the Much of the problem is due to develop- Nuclear power was ranked second to wind first accelerator structure, is now greater than ments occurring in the underdeveloped world, power in having the fewest public health im- 75 percent complete, and the target building he said. Only industrialized societies, howev- pacts—and both were far better than coal and foundation is under way. “The target building er, have both the technology and resources to oil. “If you want to deploy renewable power is the most complicated building on the site,” carry out the essential research and develop- and have a minimum impact on human health,

January 2002 NUCLEAR NEWS 59 you either work on wind power or you work transmutation community can take right tem that can make a big impact on CO2 pro- on nuclear power. And if you work on any- now, Richter said. “It’s of interest to every- duction in the next 20 years. If the waste dis- thing else, you’re working on things that have body to solve this waste problem. Everybody posal is not addressed in a way that’s accept- a bigger health hazard.” is facing the same funding limits and the able to the public, nuclear power cannot and Turning to transmutation, Richter said there same shortage of test facilities. It’s to every- will not expand. are four goals that the process has to fulfill in body’s benefit to share the workload until “Any plans for handling waste have to go order to be useful and acceptable. commercialization of the program. . . . It through a lot of R&D. They have to develop Transmutation has to improve public safe- doesn’t make a lot of sense for Europe, Asia, an international context because nobody can ty in terms of helping meet both the Environ- and the United States to duplicate or tripli- afford this. . . . And they ought to be integrat- mental Protection Agency’s drinking water cate the full spectrum of test facilities that ed into the next-generation reactors. standard and the Nuclear Regulatory Com- are required to go from where we are to a “What that says is that transmutation R&D mission’s dose standard. Transmutation can demonstration. I think we have to get to- is not a sandbox for the science and engineer- help meet these goals by reducing toxicity of gether and we have to get a sensible interna- ing community,” he concluded. “There is a the waste. “But I like to put it in a little more tional program going. problem that has to be solved, and transmuta- colloquial way: You want to reduce the po- “So, a final word. Nuclear power, and pos- tion is a very important possibility to solve tential hazards from spent fuel to less than that sibly wind power, is the only carbon-free sys- that problem.” of uranium, from which it comes, in less than the lifetime of the pyramids,” Richter said. “The pyramids are manmade structures. They’ve been sitting there for 6000 years. I think you can convince the general public that we can build [facilities] at least as good as the TOPICAL MEETING ancient Egyptians can.” Transmutation must provide benefits for the repository program. It can do so by potential- ly simplifying the design of future storage sites, reducing the number of storage sites Nuclear criticality safety: needed per unit energy, and reducing the volume of waste that goes into the repositories. Past, present, and future “I think that people should pay attention to this because it’s part of the very important fi- FTER OPENING THE Embedded not have a chance for a direct contact with nancial question that is going to continue to Topical Meeting on Practical Imple- these people.” So he and several colleagues plague nuclear power,” he said. A mentation of Nuclear Criticality Safe- organized the heritage conferences at which Transmutation must reduce the risk of pro- ty, meeting general chair Stephen Bowman, pioneers of criticality safety were video- liferation. “In any system that involves trans- of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), taped, discussing subjects of interest in the mutation, there is in-process plutonium that turned the plenary session over to honorary field. has been separated and is in transit, from fab- chair Francis Alcorn, senior advisory engineer To explain what was meant by heritage, rication to being burned someplace. And you at BWX Technologies’ Nuclear Navy Fuel Pruvost said: “I took the arbitrary starting date really have to look at how much the increase Division. At 67 years as February 11, 1939, and ending at January in short-term risk is balanced by the reduc- of age, 36 of which he 19, 1975. The first . . . corresponds with the tion in long-term risk. That’s a policy issue. has worked in critical- publishing in Nature of the letter titled ‘Dis- And nuclear engineers and physicists are not ity safety, Alcorn said integration of Uranium by Neutrons: A New going to make that call. There are other peo- he still enjoys what he Type of Nuclear Reaction,’ by Lise Meitner ple who are going to make that call, and we does, although he prom- and Otto Frisch, in which the word fission first have to give them all the information they ised to retire some day. appeared in nuclear science context. The end- need.” The plenary looked ing point... was the last day of the Atomic Last, transmutation must improve the to the roots of the pro- Energy Commission.” prospects for nuclear power. The public’s fession, as well as at fear of long-lasting radioactive waste is jus- current issues and fu- The past versus the present tified, Richter said. “The general public has ture challenges. Al- One of the particular aims of the confer- good reasons to be skeptical about [long- Alcorn corn used the opportu- ences was to contrast the criticality safety ac- term radioactive waste]. Nothing has lasted nity to name and thank 70 people for their complishments of the Heritage period with de- hundreds of thousands of years that we know contributions to criticality safety. This very velopments since. For example, some senior of. The climate’s not the same as it was a personal nod to the past led him naturally to experts believe that current criticality safety hundred thousand years ago. Everything’s the first speaker, Norm Pruvost, of the Criti- finds itself addressing insignificant concerns different. And that’s one of the driving forces cality Safety Information Resource Center while serious concerns go unattended. This is for transmutation.” (CSIRC), who described the making of a set partly due to an over-reliance on regulations Indecision and the excess of methods avail- of videos that recorded the discussions during and regulators, as opposed to the more prac- able for transmutation remains the biggest two special conferences devoted to the her- tical efforts of experts whose experience and problem for the technology. “This program itage of criticality safety. The first, the Criti- know-how have provided high standards of cannot afford to pursue all of those options. cality Heritage Video 2000 Conference, was safety for decades. There are far too many of them,” Richter cau- held September 18Ð20, 2000, at Los Alamos The pioneers selected were Hugh Paxton tioned. “And one of the challenges you face, National Laboratory (LANL), and the second and Dave Smith, of LANL, and Dixon Calli- whether you’re worrying about a European or at ORNL, May 21Ð23, 2001. He also showed han, of ORNL, who joined their respective a Japanese or an American R&D program, is two 10 minute excerpts from the many hours labs in the 1940s, and Joe Thomas, who only to reduce that number of options to something of taped discussions. came to ORNL in 1953. Some young special- that can be pursued in more depth and doesn’t Pruvost explained that they were not just ists were included at the conferences to ask spread everybody too thin. That really has to interested in preserving records and papers. the pioneers to elaborate on specific issues that be an important focus of the next six months “We decided it was also time to capture some interested them. The sessions covered a range to a year.” of the people involved [and]... we wanted of topics, including major events, like the Entering into a broad-scale international to have them in ‘three dimensions,’ particu- 1958 criticality accidents at Los Alamos and collaboration is the most beneficial step the larly for some of the young people who will Oak Ridge, and areas where the pioneers felt

60 NUCLEAR NEWS January 2002 MEETINGS some confusion existed, such as the distinc- 1978, the application of the standards has been tion between reactor safety and criticality quite successful. safety and the double-contingency principle. Other events, however, have led to more Following some interest from medical peo- regulation, notably the TMI accident in 1979 ple, sessions were added to the Los Alamos and Chernobyl in 1986, and the publication conference in which specialists with experi- of a 1986 report by the National Research ence or medical knowledge of criticality ac- Council that criticized the DOE’s handling of cidents—including the JCO incident in Japan reactor safety. According to McKamy, criti- where two people died—discussed how to cality safety, although not identified as a par- proceed in assessing the treatment for victims ticular concern, was swept up along with of criticality accidents. Another session fo- those that were, and, unfortunately, featured cused on the development of the American quite prominently in the development of new Nuclear Society standards for criticality safe- rules. ty. Other topics covered included the interac- He described the shift from the time when tion between criticality experts and opera- experienced criticality experts drove safety tional personnel, changes in the regulatory through the national consensus standards, to structure, and early calculational methods when the regulators led it. During what he used before big computers were available. called the expert period (which is close to the While the video project looked at heritage, Heritage era), the specialists tended to have the next presentation, by the Department of long careers at sites that would all have their Energy’s Jerry McKamy, took the subject to own critical mass laboratories for testing. the next phase, explaining how over the past These experts, he said, applied their test re- two decades, criticality safety arrived at its sults and experience creatively to the process- current position. In his talk, the “Evolution of es in hand. And they shared their experiences. Criticality Safety Requirements,” he began by The shift was particularly noticeable with noting that there is really only one require- the introduction of new regulations, as well as ment: Avoid criticality. of legal, civil, and criminal penalties for vio- To explain why the regulatory requirements lation of requirements. He gave examples of have expanded so much, despite there not be- “shoulds” used in guidance documents being ing a criticality incident in the United States changed into “shalls.” Regulations also be- since 1978, McKamy described how other came more complex and required more criti- drivers, including public attitudes, national cality controls. “This despite the fact that there nuclear policies, and external events, have af- were no criticality incidents since 1978,” he fected the regulatory environment. reminded the audience. Another environmen- McKamy listed the main criticality events tal change was a growth in the number of peo- in the U.S.: ple and agencies needing or wanting to be in- In 1945, the ﬁrst criticality incident (at Los formed about criticality safety procedures. Alamos). McKamy said he now has to coach his staff In 1958, the ﬁrst fatality due to a criticali- on how to present its work to various stake- ty accident. holders. The level of paperwork needed has In 1964, the second and last fatality due to grown by a factor of about 100. There was a criticality accident. also a growing compliance mentality. In 1978, the last criticality incident. “We are now trying to manage everything In 1964, McKamy said, the development of reactor-like,” he said. “We were safety driven, national consensus standards began, and as now we want to minimize liability. Then we there have been no further fatalities in the had risk acceptance, now we are risk averse.” United States and no criticality incidents since In the past, the goal had been to do something

Major points from the session: A concern to preserve records and expertise Insigniﬁcant concerns vs. serious concerns A shift from being expert-driven to more regulation Challenges: Risk assessment, communication, technical competence

January 2002 NUCLEAR NEWS 61 MEETINGS productive—e.g., operate a reactor, move and contingency. “As we move more and more to she remarked. Nor is the explanation, “I in- process fuel. Criticality safety was then de- the risk-informed paradigm . . . we are chal- corporated sufficient factors of safety to re- fined, explained McKamy, as the art and sci- lenged to ensure that different approaches, es- quire at least two independent, unlikely, and ence of operating fissile systems while main- pecially quantitative in nature, are meaning- concurrent changes in process conditions be- taining subcriticality under all reasonably ful, are capable of being consistent with double fore a criticality would be possible.” One of credible conditions. The processes are not contingency, and do not distract our limited today’s challenges is “to close the under- safer in this new era, he said, but they are all NCS resources from other more valuable du- standing gap between an NCS expert and reg- more expensive. ties, such as walking the process floor.” ulator, or an NCS expert and plant manage- The next speaker, Christa Reed, also regis- Commercial demands are also presenting ment, or an NCS expert and operator, or even tered her concern about the regulation culture. challenges for NCS. As an example, she an NCS expert and the public.” While some criticality safety controls are in pointed to the drive for improved economic On human resource issues, Reed said that place to protect against a criticality, she said, performance, which has led to a demand by “technically competent staff is the single most “some, quite frankly, are in place because we process companies for more operational flex- important factor affecting success.” The sta- want to avoid regulatory violations, some are ibility (such as the use of bigger tanks, in- tistics are startling, she said: The supply of un- in place because of regulations or license re- creased throughput, etc.), and reduced mar- dergraduate nuclear engineers is at a 35-year quirements.” When these kinds of controls go gins; these present challenges to criticality low. This is coupled with an outflow of expe- wrong, nuclear criticality safety (NCS) man- experts to support and justify such measures rienced workers. Current projections indicate agers can find themselves in the “awkward po- with the current experimental data available. that 76 percent of the nation’s professional nu- sition of trying to explain why a control Another example is the push to introduce new clear work force can retire within five years. wasn’t really important to criticality safety.” and better reactor technologies, such as the She also noted that 30 percent of BWXT’s pebble bed modular high-temperature reac- NCS engineers could retire today. “The bot- New challenges tors, which requires parallel efforts for tom line is that we are losing expertise, and Reed, manager of NCS at BWXT’s Naval demonstrating criticality safety. along with it, valuable institutional knowl- Fuel Division, described the new challenges She also pointed to the challenge of im- edge. This is a reality.” faced in criticality safety and how best to re- proving communication, which is not there She also warned about the difficulty of spond to them. The ones she featured were as- just to frustrate the expert. Her favorite illus- training people in criticality safety: It cannot sessing risk, communication, and maintaining tration of how times have changed is the re- be done by checklists. “Learning criticality technically competent staff. port of an assessment that she came across in safety takes time, with guidance from an ex- An increase in understanding of risk and some old files. The assessment, which had perienced engineer.” how it is assessed is essential, Reed said, as been carried out by a criticality expert, con- But she was not totally disheartened. Reed regulation shifts from being compliance-based sisted of two sentences: “The evaluation is told the audience that like Alcorn, she also has to risk-informed and performance- based. She complete. Call me for the limits.” Jargon is a list of 70 people. “They all have 10 or less particularly pointed to the difficulty in recon- also an obvious issue. Explaining that the years of experience and are willing, capable, ciling an approach to safety based on a risk-in- analysis “applied the double contingency prin- and eager to face the challenges of today and formed assessment and the use of the double ciple” is unlikely to improve understanding, the future.”

62 NUCLEAR NEWS January 2002