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Mark Peters: Building on a strong foundation
Summer at the American Nuclear Society carries with it a sense of renewed momentum as the incoming president takes office and starts making plans for the year ahead. This has been particularly true in the last few years, as nuclear energy moves into a new era marked by broader public interest, stronger policy support, and a growing sense of possibility across the field. Mark Peters, the Society’s 72nd president, shares that optimism—and he is focused on turning it into results.
Rei Kimura, Kazuhito Asano
Nuclear Technology | Volume 210 | Number 8 | August 2024 | Pages 1496-1502
Note | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2299899
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A novel microreactor, called MoveluXTM, was previously proposed that utilizes heat pipes as the primary heat transfer device and calcium hydride as the moderator. In this core design, the moderator temperature is the critical core operation limit because at high temperatures above 800°C, the hydrogen dissociates from the calcium hydride. The core temperature distribution, therefore, was previously evaluated. However, this evaluation did not consider gamma heating in the core and assumed that power was produced only in the fuel region. By contrast, the moderator region has a power density under realistic conditions due to gamma heating. Thus, the present work considers gamma heating in the core power distribution calculation and evaluates the impact on the moderator temperature. The power density of gamma heating was 1/10th that of the fuel region and around 1/100th that of the core thermal power. This increased the temperature of the moderator by 10 K from the case without considering gamma heating. In addition, this temperature distribution difference did not have an impact on the core criticality. In conclusion, considering the gamma heating, concerns regarding the core design are not suggested.