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Title: A Summary of the Department of Energy's Advanced Demonstration and Test Reactor Options Study

Journal Article · · Nuclear Technology

An assessment of advanced reactor technology options was conducted to provide a sound comparative technical context for future decisions by the Department of Energy (DOE) concerning these technologies. Strategic objectives were established that span a wide variety of important missions and advanced reactor technology needs were identified based on recent Department of Energy and international studies. A broad team of stakeholders from industry, academia and government was assembled to develop a comprehensive set of goals, criteria and metrics to evaluate advanced irradiation test and demonstration reactor concepts. Point designs of a select number of concepts were commissioned to provide a deeper technical basis for evaluation. The technology options were compared on the bases of technical readiness and the ability to meet the different strategic objectives. Using the study’s evaluation criteria and metrics, an independent group of exerts from industry, universities and national labs scored each of the point designs. Pathways to deployment for concepts of varying technical maturity were estimated for the different demonstration systems with regard to cost, schedule and possible licensing approaches. Furthermore, this study also presents the tradeoffs that exist among the different irradiation test reactor options in terms of the ability to conduct irradiations in support of advanced reactor research and development (R&D) and to serve potential secondary missions.

Research Organization:
Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC07-05ID14517; AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1465795
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1784217
Journal Information:
Nuclear Technology, Vol. 199, Issue 2; ISSN 0029-5450
Publisher:
Taylor & Francis - formerly American Nuclear Society (ANS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 19 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Figures / Tables (14)