Publications Archive

A key research and development element of the NGNP is determining the irradiated and non-irradiated material properties of nuclear grade graphite used as the core structural material.

A key research and development element of the NGNP Graphite Development Program is the Advanced Graphite Capsule Experiments.

A key element of the NGNP is irradiation of new fuel being developed to support next generation reactors in the United States.

Post-irradiation examination (PIE) and safety testing are essential elements of the NGNP Fuel Development and Qualification Program.

Fission product transport and source term modeling activities address the transport of fission products produced within the coated particles to the exclusion area boundary that will provide a technical basis for source terms under normal and accident conditions. The technical basis will be codified in design methods (computer models) validated by experimental data.

A key research and development element of the NGNP is fuel development and qualifi - cation. The NGNP/Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Fuel Development and Qualifi cation Program was established to provide a baseline fuel qualifi cation data set in support of the licensing and operation of a HTGR. Gas-reactor fuel performance demonstration and qualifi cation comprise the longest duration research and development tasks for HTGR feasibility. The baseline fuel form is to be demonstrated and qualifi ed for a peak time-averaged fuel centerline temperature of 1250°C.

The NGNP Design Methods and Validation Program will ensure that all reactor systems are safe and compliant by providing advanced tools for the NGNP reactor design and analysis activities. Most of these tools are already available and consist of a mixture of commercial software and software written by the national laboratories. Where existing tools are deemed inadequate for simulating HTGR behavior, new methods and codes will be developed.

According to the Department of Energy (DOE), the strategic goal of the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Project is to broaden the environmental and economic benefits of nuclear energy technology by demonstrating its applicability to industry sectors not currently served by commercial light water reactors.

Large R&D program needed to qualify fuel, materials and methods for NGNP

Recognizing the co-dependent nature of licensing and technical issue resolution, the project team is developing a Licensing Specification to further define project strategy and direction

This document describes research sponsored by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). This publication is a corporate document that should be cited in the literature in the following manner: The Next Generation Nuclear Plant: The Case for Utility Interest. EPRI, Palo Alto, CA 2008. 1016759.

Challenges can be met, in part by directing the heat from the NGNP to extract kerogen from our large U.S. oil shale deposits, thereby opening up fossil fuel reserves greater than those remaining in the Middle East.

NGNP can provide high-temperature process heat that can be used as a substitute for the burning of fossil fuels for a wide range of commercial applications.

One key potential NGNP application is the clean conversion of coal deposits into cleaner burning gas-based fuels.

NDMAS provides fuel and materials data storage, qualifications and delivery of analysis information for fuel and materials irradiation experiments underway or planned for NGNP.

Post-Irradiation Experiment Planning for the Next Generation Nuclear Plant Fuels Development Program Paul Demkowicz, INL Robert Morris, ORNL

Status of the First Advanced Gas Reactor Fuel Irradiation Experiment in the Advanced Test Reactor David Petti Laboratory Fellow Director VHTR Technology Development Office INL

Mining Process and Product Information from Pressure Fluctuations within a Fuel Particle Coater

he helium-cooled, graphite-moderated Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) has become the centerpiece of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) program.

One key long-standing issue that must be overcome to fully realize the successful growth of nuclear power is to determine other benefits of nuclear energy apart from meeting the electricity demands.

The Next Generation Nuclear Power/Advanced Gas Reactor (NGNP/AGR) Fuel Development and Qualification Program included the design, installation, and testing of a 6- inch diameter nuclear fuel particle coater to demonstrate quality TRISO fuel production on a small industrial scale.

The operation of pebble bed reactors, including fuel circulation, can generate graphite dust, which in turn could be a concern for internal components; and to the near field in the remote event of a break in the coolant circuits.

A practical methodology is developed for the determination of spectral zones in Pebble Bed Reactors (PBR). The methodology involves the use of spectral indices based on few-group diffusion theory whole core calculations.

Data from a scaled model of a portion of the lower plenum of the helium-cooled very high temperature reactor (VHTR) are under consideration for acceptance as a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) validation data set or standard problem. A CFD analysis will help determine if the scaled model is a suitable geometry for validation data.

A major element of the Next Generation Nuclear Plant(NGNP)/Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Fuel Development and Qualification Program is developing fuel fabrication processes to produce high quality uranium-containing fuel kernels,

The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP)/Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Fuel Development and Qualification Program includes a series of irradiation experiments in Idaho National Laboratory’s (INL’s) Advanced Test Reactor. TRISOcoated particles for the first AGR experiment, AGR-1, were produced at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in a two inch diameter coater.

The Pebble Bed Reactor (PBR) is one of two concepts currently considered for development into the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP). Interest in the PBRs is due, in particular, to the concept’s inherent safety characteristics. In order to verify and confirm the design safety characteristics of the PBR, computational tools must be developed that treat the range of phenomena that are expected to be important for this type of reactor.

The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP), a very High temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (VHTR) concept, will provide the first demonstration of a closed-loop Brayton cycle at a commercial scale, producing a few hundred megawatts of power in the form of electricity and hydrogen.

The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) and other High-Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) Projects require research, development, design, construction, and operation of a nuclear plant intended for both high-efficiency electricity production and high-temperature industrial applications, including hydrogen production.

The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) will most likely produce electricity and process heat, with both being considered for hydrogen production. To capture nuclear process heat, and transport it to a distant industrial facility requires a high temperature system of heat exchangers, pumps and/or compressors.

Currently, two composites types are being developed for incore application: carbon fiber carbon composite (CFC), and silicon carbide fiber composit(SiC/SiC.)

The principal candidates being considered for this application by the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) project are Inconel 617 and Haynes 230. While both of these alloys have an attractive combination of creep strength, fabricability, and oxidation resistance a good deal remains to be determined about their environmental resistance in the expected NGNP helium chemistry and their long term response to thermal aging.

This paper is a description of the process and some of the thermal-hydraulic tools that are being readied for the evaluation of plant behavior that will be undertaken for a Generation IV Very High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (VHTR).

The experimental program that is being conducted at the Matched Index-of-Refraction (MIR) Flow Facility at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to obtain benchmark data on measurements of flow phenomena in a scaled model of a prismatic gas-cooled reactor lower plenum using 3-D Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is presented.

The Idaho National Laboratory (Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA), in collaboration with Ceramatec, Inc. (Salt Lake City, Utah, USA), is actively researching the application of solid oxide fuel cell technology as electrolyzers for large scale hydrogen and syngas production.

Currently, parallel development of three hydrogen production processes will continue until a single process technology is recommended for final demonstration in the NGNP - a technology neutral approach.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently sponsored a Phenomena Identification and Ranking Table (PIRT) exercise to identify potential safety-related physical phenomena for high-temperature reactors coupled to a hydrogen production or similar chemical plant.

The AGR-1 TRISO fuel experiment, currently underway, is the first in a series of eight fuel tests planned for irradiation in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) located at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL).

A system analysis has been performed to assess the efficiency and carbon utilization of a nuclear-assisted coal gasification process.

The United States Department of Energy’s Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Fuel Development and Qualification Program will be irradiating eight particle fuel tests in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) to support development of the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) in the United States. These AGR fuel experiments will be irradiated over the next decade to demonstrate and qualify new TRISO-coated particle fuel for use in high temperature gas reactors.

This paper describes the features of the NGNP licensing strategy that were developed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Department of Energy (DOE) in accordance with directives contained in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) that was enacted on August 8, 2005. [1] It also provides a basis for the final recommendations provided to Congress in August 2008 and includes an overview of the current NGNP project development status.

NRC Licensing Strategy Development for NGNP. HTR-2008 Conference Mark R. Holbrook, INL Trevor Cook, DOE

Global Petroleum Conference June 10 - 12, 2008 Today’s Conventional Opportunities, Tomorrow's Unconventional Innovations Reducing Overall Costs and the Environmental Footprint, and Maximizing Recovery through Innovative Technology Solutions

Global Petroleum Conference June 10 - 12, 2008 Today’s Conventional Opportunities, Tomorrow's Unconventional Innovations Reducing Overall Costs and the Environmental Footprint, and Maximizing Recovery through Innovative Technology Solutions

Global Petroleum Conference June 10 - 12, 2008 Today’s Conventional Opportunities, Tomorrow's Unconventional Innovations Reducing Overall Costs and the Environmental Footprint, and Maximizing Recovery through Innovative Technology Solutions The price of oil has reached an unprecedented high level because of the global fear that we are reaching peak oil production and may not have enough oil supply to meet the future oil demand. The plenary session explored the role of technology in increasing reserves and production while minimizing costs and the environmental footprint both in Canada and internationally. The distinguished plenary panel participants represented the jurisdictions with the bulk of conventional oil and gas resources addressed how exiting and emerging technologies will play a critical role in the sustainable development of conventional and unconventional resources.

Hydrogen Production - Hydrogen can be produced by various processes using nuclear energy as the primary thermal energy source.