Timothy Ott's Presentation on the Advancements of nuclear power. Presented as an assignment for Thomas Edison State College's NUC-495 Class.

1. THE PAST, PRESENT, AND POTENTIAL
FUTURE OF THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY
PART 3
ADVANCEMENTS IN SAFETY AND REGULATIONS
Group A:
Robert Astudillo, Timothy Ott, Whitney Ward
Nuclear Energy Engineering Technology Capstone NUC-495-OL
Professor Adam Geesey

2. OBJECTIVES
 Describe the basics of nuclear safety
 Describe “Passive” safety features
 Overview of the Westinghouse AP1000 Passive Containment
Cooling system
 Describe plant upgrades and retrofits
 Describe New Nuclear plant designs and ideas
 Identify proposed nuclear waste disposal methods

3. TECHNOLOGICAL SAFETY
ADVANCEMENTS
 the three basics of nuclear safety are;
 to control reactivity
 to cool the fuel
 contain radioactive substances

4. MINI MODULAR REACTORS

5. “PASSIVE” SAFETY FEATURES
 Reactor Safety still maintained with No operator action even if;
 Coolant leaks
 Loss of electrical power
 Operators evacuate the plant

6. WESTINGHOUSE AP1000
For a more detailed description on how this works go to
http://ap1000.westinghousenuclear.com/station_blackout_home/passivecontainmentcooling.html

7. VISUAL DEMONSTRATION OF THE
PASSIVE CONTAINMENT COOLING
SYSTEM

8. OLDER PLANT UPGRADES
 Retrofitted with more reliable and cost effective digital
instrumentation and control systems
 All plants have installed earthquake sensors to auto shutdown the
reactor
 Retrofitted with better plant materials to minimize radioactive
wastes.
 Upgraded shielding and containment structures

9. NEW NUCLEAR PLANT DESIGNS AND
IDEAS
 Thorium based fuel
 Can be dissolved into flouride mixture
 Lightbridge company has designed a thorium based fuel assembly
 Bill Gates funding traveling wave reactor project
 Uses “waste Uranium” and Thorium to convert into fissionable elements

10. NEW NUCLEAR PLANT DESIGNS AND
IDEAS(CON’T)
 Modular Mini Reactors
 Self contained
 Can be put into underground bunkers
 Designed to be stacked together or can work separately
 Supports supply and demand fluctuations in power grid

11. NUCLEAR WASTE DISPOSAL
 Currently no designated long term waste storage collection facility
in U.S.
 Nuclear plants forced to keep spent fuel in large suppression pools.
 All of U.S. current spent fuel waste could be stored in a building the size of a
Wal-Mart superstore
 Current nuclear fuel assembly designs only use about 2% of their potential
energy.
 Some scientist propose a “Strategic Uranium Reserve” for future generations
use.

13. NUCLEAR WASTE DISPOSAL (CONT.)
 Reprocessing of spent fuel to generate much less waste (95%)
 Waste Disposal processes still being researched
 Geologic sites being researched
 Land based subductive waste disposal method being closely
looked at by U.S.

14. LAND BASED SUBDUCTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL

15. FUEL REPROCESSING EXAMPLE:
 Japan Atomic Energy Agency Tokai Research Development Center

16. CONTINUOUS ORGANIZATIONAL
IMPROVEMENT
 Always improving processes and work practices
 Nuclear policy enforcement agencies help ensure reactor safety
through auditing and surveillance programs
 Improved training programs

17. PLEASE CONTINUE ON TO PART 3

18. REFERENCES
 http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_14/b4222070137297.ht
m
 http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Safety-and-Security/Safety-of-
Plants/Safety-of-Nuclear-Power-Reactors/#.UXiBDbWG2So
 http://nuclearpowertraining.tpub.com/h1019v2/css/h1019v2_45.htm
 http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/nuclear/4-advanced-
nuclear-fission-technologies#slide-3
 http://www.pnra.org/NSAP%20Seminar/Presentations/Session5/Presentaion
%20%20Tahir%20Khaleeq.pdf
 http://www.americanenergyindependence.com/nuclearwaste.aspx
 http://www.iaea.org/About/history.html
 http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/history.html
 http://www.jaea.go.jp/english/04/tokai-cycle/02.htm