TERRAPOWER, LLC TRAVELING WAVE REACTOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Hejzlar, Pavel,Petroski, Robert,Cheatham, Jesse,Touran, Nick,Cohen, Michael,Truong, Bao,Latta, Ryan,Werner, Mark,Burke, Tom,Tandy, Jay,Garrett, Mike,Johnson, Brian,Ellis, Tyler,Mcwhirter, Jon,Odedra, Korean Nuclear Society 2013 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.45 No.6

Energy security is a topic of high importance to many countries throughout the world. Countries with access to vast energy supplies enjoy all of the economic and political benefits that come with controlling a highly sought after commodity. Given the desire to diversify away from fossil fuels due to rising environmental and economic concerns, there are limited technology options available for baseload electricity generation. Further complicating this issue is the desire for energy sources to be sustainable and globally scalable in addition to being economic and environmentally benign. Nuclear energy in its current form meets many but not all of these attributes. In order to address these limitations, TerraPower, LLC has developed the Traveling Wave Reactor (TWR) which is a near-term deployable and truly sustainable energy solution that is globally scalable for the indefinite future. The fast neutron spectrum allows up to a ~30-fold gain in fuel utilization efficiency when compared to conventional light water reactors utilizing enriched fuel. When compared to other fast reactors, TWRs represent the lowest cost alternative to enjoy the energy security benefits of an advanced nuclear fuel cycle without the associated proliferation concerns of chemical reprocessing. On a country level, this represents a significant savings in the energy generation infrastructure for several reasons 1) no reprocessing plants need to be built, 2) a reduced number of enrichment plants need to be built, 3) reduced waste production results in a lower repository capacity requirement and reduced waste transportation costs and 4) less uranium ore needs to be mined or purchased since natural or depleted uranium can be used directly as fuel. With advanced technological development and added cost, TWRs are also capable of reusing both their own used fuel and used fuel from LWRs, thereby eliminating the need for enrichment in the longer term and reducing the overall societal waste burden. This paper describes the origins and current status of the TWR development program at TerraPower, LLC. Some of the areas covered include the key TWR design challenges and brief descriptions of TWR-Prototype (TWR-P) reactor. Selected information on the TWR-P core designs are also provided in the areas of neutronic, thermal hydraulic and fuel performance. The TWR-P plant design is also described in such areas as; system design descriptions, mechanical design, and safety performance.

Toward laboratory blood test-comparable photometric assessments for anemia in veterinary hematology

Kim, Taehoon,Choi, Seung Ho,Lambert-Cheatham, Nathan,Xu, Zhengbin,Kritchevsky, Janice E.,Bertin, Francois-René,Kim, Young L. SOCIETY OF PHOTO-OPTICAL INSTRUMENTATION ENGINEERS 2016 JOURNAL OF BIOMEDICAL OPTICS Vol.21 No.10

TerraPower, LLC Traveling Wave Reactor Development Program Overview

PAVEL HEJZLAR,Rovert Petroski,Jesse Cheatham,Nick Touran,Michael Cohen,Bao Truong,Ryan Latta,Mark Werner,Tom Burke,Jay Tandy,Mike Gattett,Brian Johnson,Tyler Ellis,Jon Mcwhirter,Ash Odedra,Pat Schweig 한국원자력학회 2013 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.45 No.6

Energy security is a topic of high importance to many countries throughout the world. Countries with access to vast energy supplies enjoy all of the economic and political benefits that come with controlling a highly sought after commodity. Given the desire to diversify away from fossil fuels due to rising environmental and economic concerns, there are limited technology options available for baseload electricity generation. Further complicating this issue is the desire for energy sources to be sustainable and globally scalable in addition to being economic and environmentally benign. Nuclear energy in its current form meets many but not all of these attributes. In order to address these limitations, TerraPower, LLC has developed the Traveling Wave Reactor (TWR) which is a near-term deployable and truly sustainable energy solution that is globally scalable for the indefinite future. The fast neutron spectrum allows up to a ~30-fold gain in fuel utilization efficiency when compared to conventional light water reactors utilizing enriched fuel. When compared to other fast reactors, TWRs represent the lowest cost alternative to enjoy the energy security benefits of an advanced nuclear fuel cycle without the associated proliferation concerns of chemical reprocessing. On a country level, this represents a significant savings in the energy generation infrastructure for several reasons 1) no reprocessing plants need to be built, 2) a reduced number of enrichment plants need to be built, 3) reduced waste production results in a lower repository capacity requirement and reduced waste transportation costs and 4) less uranium ore needs to be mined or purchased since natural or depleted uranium can be used directly as fuel. With advanced technological development and added cost, TWRs are also capable of reusing both their own used fuel and used fuel from LWRs, thereby eliminating the need for enrichment in the longer term and reducing the overall societal waste burden. This paper describes the origins and current status of the TWR development program at TerraPower, LLC. Some of the areas covered include the key TWR design challenges and brief descriptions of TWR-Prototype (TWR-P) reactor. Selected information on the TWR-P core designs are also provided in the areas of neutronic, thermal hydraulic and fuel performance. The TWR-P plant design is also described in such areas as; system design descriptions, mechanical design, and safety performance. Energy security is a topic of high importance to many countries throughout the world. Countries with access to vast energysupplies enjoy all of the economic and political benefits that come with controlling a highly sought after commodity. Given thedesire to diversify away from fossil fuels due to rising environmental and economic concerns, there are limited technologyoptions available for baseload electricity generation. Further complicating this issue is the desire for energy sources to besustainable and globally scalable in addition to being economic and environmentally benign. Nuclear energy in its currentform meets many but not all of these attributes. In order to address these limitations, TerraPower, LLC has developed theTraveling Wave Reactor (TWR) which is a near-term deployable and truly sustainable energy solution that is globally scalablefor the indefinite future. The fast neutron spectrum allows up to a ~30-fold gain in fuel utilization efficiency when compared toconventional light water reactors utilizing enriched fuel. When compared to other fast reactors, TWRs represent the lowestcost alternative to enjoy the energy security benefits of an advanced nuclear fuel cycle without the associated proliferationconcerns of chemical reprocessing. On a country level, this represents a significant savings in the energy generationinfrastructure for several reasons 1) no reprocessing plants need to be built, 2) a reduced number of enrichment plants need tobe built, 3) reduced waste production results in a lower repository capacity requirement and reduced waste transportation costsand 4) less uranium ore needs to be mined or purchased since natural or depleted uranium can be used directly as fuel. Withadvanced technological development and added cost, TWRs are also capable of reusing both their own used fuel and used fuelfrom LWRs, thereby eliminating the need for enrichment in the longer term and reducing the overall societal waste burden. This paper describes the origins and current status of the TWR development program at TerraPower, LLC. Some of the areascovered include the key TWR design challenges and brief descriptions of TWR-Prototype (TWR-P) reactor. Selectedinformation on the TWR-P core designs are also provided in the areas of neutronic, thermal hydraulic and fuel performance. The TWR-P plant design is also described in such areas as; system design descriptions, mechanical design, and safetyperformance.

Structure-activity relationship of capsaicin analogs and transient receptor potential vanilloid 1-mediated human lung epithelial cell toxicity.

Thomas, Karen C,Ethirajan, Manivannan,Shahrokh, Kiumars,Sun, Hao,Lee, Jeewoo,Cheatham, Thomas E,Yost, Garold S,Reilly, Christopher A Williams Wilkins 2011 The Journal of pharmacology and experimental thera Vol.337 No.2

<P>Activation of intracellular transient receptor potential vanilloid-1 (TRPV1) in human lung cells causes endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, increased expression of proapoptotic GADD153 (growth arrest- and DNA damage-inducible transcript 3), and cytotoxicity. However, in cells with low TRPV1 expression, cell death is not inhibited by TRPV1 antagonists, despite preventing GADD153 induction. In this study, chemical variants of the capsaicin analog nonivamide were synthesized and used to probe the relationship between TRPV1 receptor binding, ER calcium release, GADD153 expression, and cell death in TRPV1-overexpressing BEAS-2B, normal BEAS-2B, and primary normal human bronchial epithelial lung cells. Modification of the 3-methoxy-4-hydroxybenzylamide vanilloid ring pharmacophore of nonivamide reduced the potency of the analogs and rendered several analogs mildly inhibitory. Correlation analysis of analog-induced calcium flux, GADD153 induction, and cytotoxicity revealed a direct relationship for all three endpoints in all three lung cell types for nonivamide and N-(3,4-dihydroxybenzyl)nonanamide. However, the N-(3,4-dihydroxybenzyl)nonanamide analog also produced cytotoxicity through redox cycling/reactive oxygen species formation, shown by inhibition of cell death by N-acetylcysteine. Molecular modeling of binding interactions between the analogs and TRPV1 agreed with data for reduced potency of the analogs, and only nonivamide was predicted to form a 'productive' ligand-receptor complex. This study provides vital information on the molecular interactions of capsaicinoids with TRPV1 and substantiates TRPV1-mediated ER stress as a conserved mechanism of lung cell death by prototypical TRPV1 agonists.</P>

Bioreduction of Hydrogen Uranyl Phosphate: Mechanisms and U(IV) Products

Rui, Xue,Kwon, Man Jae,O’Loughlin, Edward J.,Dunham-Cheatham, Sarrah,Fein, Jeremy B.,Bunker, Bruce,Kemner, Kenneth M.,Boyanov, Maxim I. American Chemical Society 2013 Environmental science & technology Vol.47 No.11

<P>The mobility of uranium (U) in subsurface environments is controlled by interrelated adsorption, redox, and precipitation reactions. Previous work demonstrated the formation of nanometer-sized hydrogen uranyl phosphate (abbreviated as HUP) crystals on the cell walls of <I>Bacillus subtilis</I>, a non-U<SUP>VI</SUP>-reducing, Gram-positive bacterium. The current study examined the reduction of this biogenic, cell-associated HUP mineral by three dissimilatory metal-reducing bacteria, <I>Anaeromyxobacter dehalogenans</I> strain K, <I>Geobacter sulfurreducens</I> strain PCA, and <I>Shewanella putrefaciens</I> strain CN-32, and compared it to the bioreduction of abiotically formed and freely suspended HUP of larger particle size. Uranium speciation in the solid phase was followed over a 10- to 20-day reaction period by X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (XANES and EXAFS) and showed varying extents of U<SUP>VI</SUP> reduction to U<SUP>IV</SUP>. The reduction extent of the same mass of HUP to U<SUP>IV</SUP> was consistently greater with the biogenic than with the abiotic material under the same experimental conditions. A greater extent of HUP reduction was observed in the presence of bicarbonate in solution, whereas a decreased extent of HUP reduction was observed with the addition of dissolved phosphate. These results indicate that the extent of U<SUP>VI</SUP> reduction is controlled by dissolution of the HUP phase, suggesting that the metal-reducing bacteria transfer electrons to the dissolved or bacterially adsorbed U<SUP>VI</SUP> species formed after HUP dissolution, rather than to solid-phase U<SUP>VI</SUP> in the HUP mineral. Interestingly, the bioreduced U<SUP>IV</SUP> atoms were not immediately coordinated to other U<SUP>IV</SUP> atoms (as in uraninite, UO<SUB>2</SUB>) but were similar in structure to the phosphate-complexed U<SUP>IV</SUP> species found in ningyoite [CaU(PO<SUB>4</SUB>)<SUB>2</SUB>·H<SUB>2</SUB>O]. This indicates a strong control by phosphate on the speciation of bioreduced U<SUP>IV</SUP>, expressed as inhibition of the typical formation of uraninite under phosphate-free conditions.</P><P><B>Graphic Abstract</B> <IMG SRC='http://pubs.acs.org/appl/literatum/publisher/achs/journals/content/esthag/2013/esthag.2013.47.issue-11/es305258p/production/images/medium/es-2012-05258p_0006.gif'></P><P><A href='http://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/es305258p'>ACS Electronic Supporting Info</A></P>