Advanced Fast Reactor Systems

A three-year research project is supported by the Nuclear Energy Research Initiative of the Department of Energy. Its objective is to develop risk-informed design development and evaluation tools that take into account safety, economics, licensability, and proliferation resistance. These tools are applied to a number of design alternatives to identify opportunities to reduce the cost of the sodium-cooled fast reactor while maintaining a high level of safety and proliferation resistance. The intent is to assist DOE in its planning purposes, in the development of technical requirements to be imposed on the industrial design organization, in the identification of research needs, and in assessing the technology risk of alternatives.

The project is led by MIT and includes The Idaho State and The Ohio State Universities. Professor Apostolakis is the Principal Investigator. Dr. Hejzlar and Professors Driscoll, Golay, Kadak, and Todreas are leading individual tasks and contribute to the overall direction of the project. A Review Group consisting of senior representatives from General Electric Company, and Argonne, Idaho, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories provides guidance and access to relevant information.