LLC
Advanced Traveling-Wave Reactors
A Path to Carbon-Free,
Proliferation-Resistant, Energy Security
American Association for the Advancement of Science
21 February 2010
Renewables are Great,
But They Face Interesting Challenges
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Low capacity factors for wind and
solar
Need for spinning reserve increases
cost, complexity
Little prospect for large increases to
hydropower
Large increases to biomass-fueled
electricity will compete for cropland
with biofuels, human food,
and animal feed
Source: EIA 2009 Annual Outlook
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Capacity Factors
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Goal: 25% Electricity from
Renewables by 2025
2008
Renewable
sources
394 TWh (9.5%)
Biomass: 60
Solar: 2
Geothermal: 17
Wind: 53
Hydro: 262
Required growth in nameplate capacity:
2025
Renewable sources
Electricity generation
from renewables:
1,219 TWh (25%)
9,462%
616%
410%
Geothermal:
122
Wind: 366
Hydro: 300
Sources: EIA 2009 Annual Outlook, TerraPower
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Solar: 195
285%
Biomass: 232
Major Grid and Siting Challenges
2025
Renewable sources
Biomass: 232
Solar: 195
Electricity generation
from renewables:
1,219 TWh (25%)
Geothermal:
122
Wind: 366
Hydro: 300
18,586 km2
new solar farms
10,085 km2
new wind farms
Sources: NREL
EIA 2009
wind,
Annual
solar Outlook,
area calculators
TerraPower
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Major Grid and Siting Challenges
18,586 km2
new solar farms
10,085 km2
new wind farms
OHIO
MINNESOTA
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Nuclear Faces Challenges As Well
Nuclear Infrastructure Today is Complex and Expensive
Uranium mining
and milling
Conversion to
uranium hexafluoride
Long-term
geologic
repository
Actinide fuel
fabrication
Uranium enrichment
Fuel fabrication
Depleted
uranium
storage
Reprocessing
Spent fuel storage
Nuclear power
generation
Use Unenriched Uranium as Fuel
Many Steps Then Become Unnecessary
Uranium mining
and milling
Conversion to
uranium hexafluoride
Long-term
geologic
repository
Actinide fuel
fabrication
Uranium enrichment
Fuel fabrication
Depleted
uranium
storage
Reprocessing
Spent fuel storage
Nuclear power
generation
A Simpler, More Secure and Economical
Nuclear Energy System
Depleted uranium storage
Fuel fabrication
Long-term geologic repository
(with greatly reduced
waste volumes)
Nuclear power generation
(with half-century refueling)
Spent fuel storage
(with greatly reduced
waste volumes)
Each 14-ton canister of
depleted uranium can
generate 60 million
megawatt-hours of
electricity…
…enough to power six million
households at current U.S.
rates of consumption for a
year.
The existing U.S. stockpile of
700,000 metric tons
represents a national energy
reserve that could last for
many centuries.
TWRs can convert these
38,000 cylinders of “waste”
to about
$100 trillion worth
of electricity.
The TerraPower Team
Distinguished and Growing
(former affiliation)
Physics Modeling
Chuck Whitmer (Microsoft)
Ehud Greenspan, UC Berkeley
Pavel Hejzlar (MIT)
Rod Hyde (LLNL)
*John Nuckolls, Director Emeritus of LLNL
Robert Petroski, MIT
Nick Touran, (UM)
*Thomas Weaver, LLNL
*Lowell Wood (LLNL)
*George Zimmerman, LLNL
Engineering
and Design
Charles Ahlfeld (Savannah River Site)
Tom Burke (FFTF)
Bill Bowen, CBCG (FFTF)
Tyler Ellis (MIT)
Mike Grygiel, CBCG (FFTF)
David Lucoff (FFTF, Texas A&M, INEEL)
Jon McWhirter, (U.S.N., UT)
Ash Odedra (ITER)
William Stokes, President of CBCG
Alan Waltar (TAMU, FFTF, PNNL)
Josh Walter (Purdue)
James Waldo, CBCG (EBR-II, FFTF)
and 20+ other collaborators
* Winners of DOE’s
E.O. Lawrence Award
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Materials/Fuels
Development
Kevan Weaver (INL)
Ken Czerwinski, UNLV
Sean McDeavitt, TAMU
Ron Klueh (ORNL)
Ning Li (LANL)
Jacopo Buongiorno, MIT
and other collaborators
The TerraPower Team
Business and Technology
• Bill Gates
• Nathan Myhrvold
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Founder and CEO of Intellectual Ventures,
former CTO of Microsoft
John Gilleland
Formerly VP at Bechtel, Director of ITER, and
Sr. VP at General Atomics
David McAlees
Former co-chair of Siemens Nuclear Division
Roger Reynolds
Former CTO of Framatome ANP/AREVA
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The First TerraPower Reactors
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Fueled mainly by depleted uranium, a byproduct
of uranium enrichment
Small amount of enriched uranium is used to start
the reaction
Just one fuel load lasts for decades
No reprocessing
Reactor is sealed and below grade
Near zero proliferation risk
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Advanced
Traveling-Wave Reactors
Making Fuel and Burning It
in One Pass, in One Place
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The Traveling-Wave Reactor (TWR)
• Waves make, and then burn, fissionable
material as they travel across the core.
• Waves are launched with a kernel of enriched
uranium, but sustained solely by fuel made
from depleted uranium or natural uranium
• Operates with well-developed technologies
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Familiar Breeder Reactor Physics,
With a Twist
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Prismatic Core
Wave Moves Through the Fuel
Fission begins
Burning wave
Breeding wave
At steady state, the power density is
similar to that in a conventional
fast-neutron reactor
Cylindrical
Standing-Wave
Reactor
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Fuel is moved to the wave,
instead of the wave moving
through the fuel
After startup, the power
density is typical of a
conventional fast reactor
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TWRs can also run on Spent Fuel from
Light Water Reactors
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Existing nuclear plants in the U.S. are now storing
about 60,000 metric tons of “spent” fuel
Enough fuel to power 100 TWRs—each generating
1.2 GWe—for a century
No separation of uranium or plutonium required
China plans to have ~100 GWe of nuclear power
by 2020
These new reactors will expel similar amounts
of “spent” fuel by mid-century
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TWRs Large and Small
Different designs for
different markets:
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Small, modular reactors
for factory production,
flexible for applications
and markets
Gigawatt-scale TWR that
fits well within existing
plant designs
eWM fo sderdnuH
RWT raludoM
100s of MWe
Modular TWR
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eWM 82
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1,150
MW
e
RWT
CTWR
One-Gigawatt TWR
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High temperature, so high
efficiency
• 1.2 Gwe net from 3 GWt
No spent fuel pool
Physics forces a shutdown if the
temperature gets too high
Most components will be familiar
to the NRC
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Next Step: Build a Demo Reactor
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Traveling waves are feasible and stable
• Confirmed by high-fidelity computer simulations
of the nuclear physics
Nearly all pieces of the candidate design have
been validated by previous fast reactors
• EBR-II, Phénix, JOYO, FFTF, BN series and others
But we need a full-core demonstration
• Demo will verify traveling-wave behavior and
demonstrate fuel limits
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The First TWR: TP-1
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To begin operations in 2020, producing electricity for the grid
350–500 MWe capacity (900–1,250 MWt)
No refueling needed for 40 years
Mainly fueled with depleted uranium, with U235 as starter fuel
Designed to accommodate advances in fuels or materials
Also could be operated as a “standard” fast reactor
TP-1 core may be compatible with existing or planned
sodium-cooled fast reactors
International cooperation will be needed to construct and
operate TP-1
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TerraPower Reactors Approach
The Ideal
• Sustainable
• Sustainable
• Minimizes its environmental
 Phases out mining
 Burns existing and future DU
footprint
• Burns waste
• Meets global energy needs
indefinitely
and other waste as fuel
 Known fuel supplies are
sufficient for many centuries
• Safe
• Safe
• Meets the highest safety
 Uses latest safety features
• Affordable
standards
• Affordable
 Needs no reprocessing, and
• Competes with—or beats—
eventually no enrichment
existing nuclear systems
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The design provides
“ the simplest possible fuel cycle,”
says Charles W. Forsberg,
executive director of the
Nuclear Fuel Cycle Project at MIT,
“the and it requires only one uranium
enrichment plant per planet.”
TECHNOLOGY REVIEW, MARCH/APRIL 2009
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For More Details
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“Novel Reactor Designs to Burn Non-Fissile Fuels,” International Congress
on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants 2008 (ICAPP ‘08), paper 8319
“A First Generation Traveling Wave Reactor,” ANS Transactions 2008, Vol.
98, p. 738
“High Burn-Up Fuels for Fast Reactors: Past Experience and Novel
Applications,” International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants
2009 (ICAPP ‘09), paper 9178
“A Once-Through Fuel Cycle for Fast Reactors,” 17th International
Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-17), paper ICONE17-75381
“Extending the Nuclear Fuel Cycle with Traveling-Wave Reactors,” GLOBAL
2009, paper 9294
Article in press at the Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power
http://intellectualventureslab.com and TerraPowerInfo@intven.com
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