Database of Previous Research Supporting Microreactor Designs

Technical Report · Sat Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1824207· OSTI ID:1824207

Sabharwall, Piyush ^[1]; McClure, Patrick ^[2]; Rao, D. V. ^[2]; Kennedy, Rory ^[1]

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1. Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

This report provides a list of previous research supporting microreactor designs. For the purposes of this report, a “microreactor” will be defined as a reactor designed to produce less than 20 MW thermal while ensuring that the system is factory manufacturable, transportable (via truck, rail, or aircraft), and maintains neutronic simplicity (e.g., external controls) that can enable safe operation under semiautonomous or autonomous operation. The 20 MW thermal limit is based on the U.S. Department of Energy limit for a Hazard Category 2 (per 10 CFR 830 and DOE-STD-1027). Above the Hazard Category 2 limit, licensing activities would be required to be more detailed and robust. This does not eliminate higher-than-Hazard Category 2 reactors from consideration, but an increase in requirements typically means increased cost and time for development. Similarly, neutron simplicity is vital for minimizing the number of on-site operators; in turn, this enhances cost-competetiveness. Complicated designs do not eliminate reactors from inclusion in this report.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 1824207
• Report Number(s): INL/EXT-18-51298-Rev.000
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
Microreactors