Terrapower Nuclear Initiative

TerraPower Nuclear Initiative

July 2010

LLC

What is TerraPower Developing?

• An advanced nuclear reactor that sustains a reaction for 40‐60 years in one vessel • What are the advantages? • Less volume of waste per unit of electricity • Can burn either depleted Uranium or reactor waste • Greatly reduced risk of diversion of materials for any other purpose • Produces base load carbon‐free electricity

1 TerraPower Leadership

Business and Technology • Bill Gates‐‐ founder and CEO of Microsoft, founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation • Nathan Myhrvold‐‐ founder and CEO of Intellectual Ventures, former Chief Technology Officer of Microsoft, founder of Microsoft Research • John Gilleland‐‐ CEO of TerraPower, former CEO of Archimedes, VP at Bechtel, Director of ITER, and Sr. VP at General Atomics

Cylindrical Standing-Wave Reactor

• Wave is stationary in the lab frame; fuel is moved radially

2 The TerraPower Team

Engineering and Design Charles Ahlfeld (Savannah River Site) Tom Burke (FFTF) Bill Bowen, CBCG (FFTF) Tyler Ellis (MIT) Mike Grygiel, CBCG (FFTF) David Lucoff (FFTF, Texas A&M, INEEL) Jon McWhirter, (U.S.N., UT) Ash Odedra (ITER) Physics Modeling William Stokes, President of CBCG Chuck Whitmer (Microsoft) Alan Waltar (TAMU, FFTF, PNNL) Ehud Greenspan (UC Berkeley) Josh Walter (Purdue) Materials/Fuels Pavel Hejzlar (MIT) James Waldo, CBCG (EBR‐II, FFTF) Rod Hyde (LLNL) and 20+ other collaborators Development *John Nuckolls, Director Emeritus of LLNL Kevan Weaver (INL) Robert Petroski (MIT) Ken Czerwinski (UNLV) Nick Touran, (UM) Sean McDeavitt, TAMU *Thomas Weaver (LLNL) Ron Klueh (ORNL) *Lowell Wood (LLNL) Ning Li (LANL) *George Zimmerman, (LLNL) Jacopo Buongiorno (MIT)

* Winners of DOE’s E.O. Lawrence Award

U.S. Academic Institutions:

•Testing of irradiated materials

• Studies of fuel elements

• Benchmarking and safety analysis

•TWR plant design, cost, and schedule analysis

3 Each 14‐ton canister of …enough to power six depleted uranium can million households at generate 60 million current U.S. rates of megawatt‐hours of consumption for a year. electricity…

The existing U.S. stockpile TWRs can convert these of 700,000 metric tons 38,000 cylinders of represents a national “waste” to about energy reserve that could $100 trillion worth last for many centuries. of electricity.

4 The Current Nuclear Energy System is Complex and Expensive

Uranium mining Conversion to Uranium enrichment Fuel fabrication and milling uranium hexafluoride

Long-term Depleted geologic uranium repository storage

Actinide fuel Spent fuel storage Nuclear power fabrication Reprocessing generation

TWRs Make Many Steps Unnecessary

Conversion to Uranium mining Uranium enrichment Fuel fabrication uranium hexafluoride and milling

Long-term Depleted geologic uranium repository storage

Actinide fuel Spent fuel storage Nuclear power fabrication Reprocessing generation

5 A More Sustainable and Secure Fuel Supply

For the United States

A More Sustainable and Secure Fuel Supply

For the World

6 The First TerraPower Reactors

• Initial deployment approximately 2020 • Fueled by depleted uranium waste after initial reactor operation with enriched “starter” • Deep fuel burnup in a single pass • No reprocessing • Initial fuel load lasts for decades • Reactor is sealed and below grade

Capabilities of the Traveling-Wave Reactor (‘TWR’)

• Breeds fuel just before it burns it • Runs indefinitely on depleted uranium alone, once fission wave is launched • Produces electricity for several decades while sealed, without reloading • Could consume LWR spent fuel, reduced to metal form • Contains the entire fuel cycle in a single can

7 Breeder Reactor Physics, with a Twist

Prismatic Core Wave Travels in Lab Frame

8 Fission begins

9 10 Burning wave Breeding wave

11 12 Example of a Recent Simulation

• 13 years into reactor life Power Distribution Burnup

TWR Waste

TWRs produce far less waste than LWRs

30 Fission products Minor actinides 25 Plutonium Uranium 20

MT/GWe-yr 10

0 LWR Used Fuel TWR Used Fuel, 1st Pass TWR Used Fuel, 2nd Pass

13 Potentially Reusing Used LWR Fuel

• Existing nuclear plants in the U.S. are now storing about 60,000 MT of “spent” fuel • This inventory could power 100 TWRs, each generating 1.2 GWe, for a century • No separation of uranium or plutonium required

A Path to Zero Enrichment and Reprocessing

• Enriched starters can be phased out as TWRs are built • Fuel rods from one TWR can provide starters for other TWRs; require recladding but no chemical separation • No enrichment plants needed for all subsequent TWRs • The entire Fuel Cycle “in one can”

14 Reducing Proliferation Risk

• The unique core assures fuel supply for 40‐60 years of uninterrupted operation • Countries get energy security without the need for expensive investment in domestic fuel enrichment programs • The TWR’s sealed reactor core prevents tampering or extraction of fissile material

Designing an Ideal Nuclear System

Sustainable‐‐ • Minimizes its environmental footprint • Burns waste • Meets global energy needs indefinitely Secure‐‐ • Poses virtually no risk of weapons proliferation Safe‐‐ • Meets the highest safety standards Affordable‐‐ • Competes with existing coal power generation systems

15 31

TerraPower Guiding Objectives

• Minimize energy costs • Use huge store of inexpensive depleted uranium waste as fuel • Simplify nuclear infrastructure • Phase out mining • Reduce and eventually eliminate need for enrichment • Eliminate need for chemical separations/reprocessing of Pu to achieve energy independence • Reduce need for transport of fuel and waste • Assure availability of energy to all nations • Use huge store of inexpensive depleted uranium as fuel • Use reactor that can run for decades before needing refueling • Use reactor that can run for decades without need for any associated nuclear infrastructure

16 TerraPower Guiding Objectives

• Maximize inherent proliferation resistance • Use reactor that does not require enrichment or reprocessing infrastructure to assure energy independence • Use reactor that can run in a sealed condition for decades without need for refueling

• Offer new options for nuclear waste • Use reactor that can use light water reactor spent fuel and/or depleted uranium as fuel