Learning from the Past to Build a Brighter Future
“Enabling a world powered by safe, clean and plentiful fusion energy
while leading discoveries in plasma science and technology.”
How can past successes and failures shape the future?
Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) and Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs)
Boiling Water Reactors
 Brainchild of
Samuel Untermyer II
and brought to the
market through a
collaboration of
General Electric and
the Idaho National
Laboratory.
 Heat produced by
the reactor core
causes water to boil.
The produced steam
is directly used to
drive a turbine and
then condensed.
Pressurized Water Reactors
 Utilizes a two-loop
system, preventing
the primary coolant
from spreading any
possible radioactivity.
 Originally designed
at the Oak Ridge
National Laboratory,
several hundred
PWRs are used for
marine propulsion
due to their stability
and the insistence of
Admiral Hyman
Rickover.
“Admittedly, one man by himself cannot do the job. However, one man can
make a difference... We must live for the future of the human race, and not for
our own comfort or success.”
Hedging our bets with multiple research paths.