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GEMSTAR
Green Energy-Multiplier
Sub-critical, Thermal-spectrum,
Accelerator-driven, Recycling Reactor
GEMSTAR
R. Bruce Vogelaar
Virginia Tech
October 28, 2011
APS - DNP
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GEMSTAR
The Inconvenient Truth
Al Gore
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GEMSTAR
Global Warming is happening now
A
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GEMSTAR
nuclear energy will probably be
confirmed in most of today's nuclear
countries as a low carbon energy source
needed to limit imports of oil and gas and
to meet fast growing energy needs
Carre previous talk
and everyone puts a brave face on it;
sans any other alternative for the past 40
years
LEUFueledLightWaterSmallModularReactors
Potentialforincreasingtherateofintroduction ofultrasafeaffordablenuclear
powerintimetomeetcleanenergyemissionreductiongoals
U.SIndustrial&RegulatoryBase
Commercial(LWR,LEU)fuel
FactoryBuiltModules[learningvs.economyofscale]
PotentialHighThroughput
QualityControl
~U.S.NavyIndustrialbase
NRCLicensable LWR,LEUfuel,Safety,Security
Lowerearlyutilitycapitalcosts reduceutilityfinancialrisk.
(13)$Bvs $10B
Game
Changer
PotentialLEU/LWDesigns/Concepts
mPower 125MW(e)[x4]B&W+Bechtel
NuScale 45MW(e)[x12]+NewportNews+ElectricBoat+Fluor
Westinghouse 200MW(e)
Holtec 140MW(e)
fromVicReis(Oct2011)
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GEMSTAR
but there are other
inconvenient truths
Waste
long-lived fission products and
actinides
bury in Yucca Mountain? (now cancelled!)
burn with accelerators?
burn in next generation reactors?
store on sitecurrent practice
Weapons Proliferation
enrichment
reprocessing
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GEMSTAR
Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA)
of Core Damage Frequency (CDF)
E
v
e
n
t
s
/
R
e
a
c
t
o
r

-
Y
e
a
r
Safety
SMR claim 10
-8
events per reactor-year
thats 1 event in 1,000,000 reactors over 100 years
is there a credibility issue?
A
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GEMSTAR
current prices for electricity
(estimated by Black and Veatch, Overland Park, Kansas)
cents/kwh
Coal without CO
2
capture 7.8
Natural gas at high efficiency 10.6
Old nuclear 3.5
New nuclear 10.8
Wind in stand alone 9.9
Wind with the necessary base line back-up 12.1
Solar source for steam-driven electricity 21.0
Solar voltaic cells; higher than solar steam electricity
*NYT, Sunday (3/29/09) by Matthew Wald
GEM*STAR: 4.5 per kWh with natural uranium fuel
Cost
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GEMSTAR
Paradigm Shift
Reprocessing
Thermal
Reactors
Enrichment
Natural
Uranium
Fast
Reactors
Geologic
Storage
Liquid Fuel
Recycling Reactor
With
supplemental neutrons
Natural uranium or
LWR spent fuel
Geologic
Storage
End-of-life waste remnant reduced
by x10 and delayed by centuries
No enrichment, no reprocessing
GEMSTAR
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GEMSTAR
what would an accelerator based
nuclear energy deployment look like
Uranium
Ore
Enrichment
Fuel
Fabrication
Advanced
Burner
Reactor
Fuel
Separation
Transmutation
Fuel
Fabrication
Fission Products and Process Losses
Light
Water
Reactor
High-
Level
Waste
Repository
Low-
Level
Waste
Disposal
Storage
Strontium, Cesium and Uranium
Transmutation
Reprocessing
Recycling
Liquid-fuel
Subcritical
Reactor
reduce and defer waste
Fluorination
Accelerator or fusion neutrons
GNEP
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GEMSTAR
The cost of neutrons has dropped dramatically
1.00E+05
1.00E+06
1.00E+07
1.00E+08
1.00E+09
1.00E+10
1.00E+11
1.00E+12
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
Year
N
e
u
t
r
o
n

c
o
s
t

(
$

p
e
r

g
r
a
m
)
Electrostatic tandem
with stopping length
deuterium target
LAMPF with
W target
SNS with
Hg target
GEM*STAR
with U target
Electron linac with
W target
~40 grams of neutrons will produce 1GWe for one year
($432M @ 5 /kWh)
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GEMSTAR
Proton Driven Sub-Critical System
E
electiic
= E
theimal
p
t
= (E
beam
+ E
fission
)p
t
= _E
beam
+
E
beam
e
n
me
f
] p
t

= E
beam
_1 +
e
f
e
n
m] p
t

= E
wall
p
a
_1 +
e
f
e
n
m] p
t

net electiic powei out
powei on taiget
=
E
electiic
- E
wall
E
wall
p
a
= _1 +
e
f
e
n
m] p
t
-
1
p
a

t
m
E
wall
E
beam

a
E
electric
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GEMSTAR
f
n
t
a

Reference parameters:
e
f
200 MeV / fission
e
n
19 MeV / neutron (for 1 GeV protons on Uranium)
m 15 fissions / neutron

t
44% thermal to electric conversion

a
20% accelerator efficiency
G = 65 (ie: 1MW
target
65 MW
e
net output)
note: a 10% accelerator efficiency only lowers this to 60
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GEMSTAR
a

Design criteria: large m (fissions per neutron),

limiting the need to maximize
a
(accelerator efficiency)
uranium fuel (un-reprocessed LWR spent fuel is actually better)
molten salt eutectic
improved neutron utilization & target design
This is what the GEM*STAR project achieves.
Results in multiple advantages over existing (or
planned) nuclear energy systems.
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GEMSTAR
Solid Fuel Issues
volatile fission-
product build-up
within cladding
much more centrally
peaked for driven
systems
non-uniform fuel
consumption
thermal shock due to beam trips (~800320)
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GEMSTAR
Molten Salt Eutectic Fuel
ThF
4
UF
4
LiF : UF
4
LiF
850
950
1050
750
650
1111
o
1035
o
845
o
568
o
565
o
500
o
490
o
550
Uranium or Thorium
fluorides form eutectic
mixture with
7
LiF salt.
High boiling point low
vapor pressure
Proven in ORNL
MSRE reactor
using Modified
Hastelloy-N
(
235
U,
239
Pu,
233
U)
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GEMSTAR
consider a clear liquid which releases heat when
exposed to light, eventually turning a dark purple
Initial fill
with continuous feed-and-bleed beginning here
color and heat output remains
constant indefinitely
equilibrated isotope fractions
throughout core and throughout time
increasing light exposure
feed
bleed
fast internal mixing
10
-6
less volatile fission-product
build-up in core
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GEMSTAR
For 50 years, and even today, people argue for fast-spectrum systems.
Why?
Faster burn-up of heavy actinides.
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GEMSTAR
BUT:
smaller difference between delayed and prompt criticality.
higher energy-density cores (to keep neutrons fast)
(meaning LOCA accidents much more difficult; translate higher cost)
still once-through due to build up of fission products
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GEMSTAR
But Using Thermal Spectrum
0.01 0.2 eV
highest tolerance for fission products:
spin structure and resonance spacing reduces
capture cross-section at thermal energies:
-fission (
239
Pu)
-capture (f.p.)

151
Sm (transmuted rapidly to low
c
nuclei)

135
Xe (continuously removed as a gas)
more than compensates for slower fission of
heavy actinides (which are burned anyway)
~ 100 (vs ~ 10 @ 50 keV)
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GEMSTAR
extracts many times more fission energy,
without additional long-lived actinides
Feed material:
LWR spent fuel 20 GWy
Acc 1 40 GWy
Acc 2 60 GWy
etc
major reduction and deferral of waste
Relative Waste
after 2 passes
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GEMSTAR
Recycling
first pass
(40+ years)
second pass
(40+ years)
each can be used
to start another
pre-equililbrated
core every 5 years
subsequent passes (fusion n source?)
40 years worth of LWR spent fuel
under-core
interim storage
under-core
interim storage
under-core
interim storage
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GEMSTAR
Existing Proton Beam Power
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GEMSTAR
Target Considerations
GEM*STAR Internal Target
diffuse (or multiple) beam spots
molten salt used for heat removal
high neutron yield from uranium
(but minimize target fission)
spent target fluorinated and used as fuel
minimize impact on local reactivity
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GEMSTAR
-0.005
0.000
0.005
0.010
0.015
0.020
0.025
0.030
0
30
60
90
120
150
180
210
240
270
300
330
360
0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00
F
l
u
e
n
c
e

(
n
/
b
)
N
e
t

E
l
e
c
t
r
i
c

P
o
w
e
r

O
u
t

/

P
o
w
e
r

o
n

T
a
r
g
e
t
Fissioned Fraction (%)
Fuel: Natural Uranium (MCNPX)
GEM*STAR Split Design
Traditional Graphite (0.6 ppm B)
Fluence
equiv. to a LWR
burning 0.5% of
natural uranium
running at peak gives 91%
Pu-239 plutonium
running at x60 gives 70%
Pu-239 plutonium
A
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GEMSTAR
0.000
0.005
0.010
0.015
0.020
0.025
0.030
0.035
0.040
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50
F
l
u
e
n
c
e

(
n
/
b
)
N
e
t

E
l
e
c
t
r
i
c

P
o
w
e
r

/

P
o
w
e
r

o
n

T
a
r
g
e
t
Additional Fission Fraction (%)
GEM*STAR split design
Traditional Graphite
100 * keff + 50
Fluence
feed LWR
spent fuel
fission
product
fraction
Super
Critical
Fuel: un-reprocessed Light-Water-Reactor spent fuel
running at x140 gives
45% Pu-239 plutonium
A
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GEMSTAR
GEMSTAR System
no enrichment; no reprocessing; can burn
MANY fuels (pure, mixed, including LWR
spent fuel) with no redesign required
A
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GEMSTAR
High Temperature MS
Advantages over LWRs
no high-pressure containment vessel
34% 44% efficiency for thermal to electric
conversion (low-pressure operation)
match to existing coal-fired turbines, enables
staged transition for coal plants, addressing
potential cap-and-trade issues
synthetic fuels via modified Fischer-Tropsch
methods very attractive (much more
realistic than hydrogen economy)
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GEMSTAR
GEMSTAR
potential to transform the nuclear
policy landscape:
not a niche, but rather base-line capable
(green) energy source
reduce US dependence on imported oil via
cost-competitive synthetic fuel production
exportable technology (non-proliferating)
current once-through-U, supplieruser US
policy towards developing countries not viable;
GEM*STAR provides a real alternative
(especially towards India, whose Th program
is based on a proliferation susceptible technology)
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GEMSTAR
What are the obstacles?
GEM*STAR uses liquid fuel but NRC is only
comfortable with solid fuel, despite MSRE success
Existing commercial deployed fleet of LWRs
Engineers in nuclear industry have little experience with
accelerators; physicists using accelerators have little
experience with nuclear power plants little
cooperation in base programs (vague talk about a
distant ATW application)
current focus (in US) only on existing and new
modular reactors (scaled down versions of existing
deployed technology)
A
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GEMSTAR
advantages seem clear
however:
DOE NE Report to Congress, April 2010, Nuclear Energy
Research and Development Roadmap does not include the word
accelerator even once.
DOE Science (HEP & NP) ADS Report (September 17, 2010)
Finding #2: Accelerator-driven sub-critical systems offer the potential for safely
burning fuels which are difficult to incorporate in critical systems, for example
fuel without uranium or thorium. [ WHY not U ??? ]
Finding #3: Accelerator driven subcritical systems can be utilized to efficiently
burn minor actinide waste.
Finding #4: Accelerator driven subcritical systems can be utilized to generate
power from thorium-based fuels
MIT Energy Initiative;OBamas Blue Ribbon Panel
100 year horizon, no new direction, yet continue DOE-NE funding at current level
DOE NE thinking about an ADS demonstration in 2050
(ie, when Im 90 )
ADS Technology Readiness Assessment
Transmutation
Demonstration
IndustrialScale
Transmutation
Power
Generation
FrontEnd System Performance
Reliability
Accelerating
System
RFStructureDevelopment
andPerformance
LinacCostOptimization
Reliability
RF Plant Performance
CostOptimization
Reliability
Beam Delivery Performance
Target Systems Performance
Reliability
Instrumentation
and Control
Performance
Beam Dynamics Emittance/halo
growth/beamloss
Latticedesign
Reliability RapidSCLFaultRecovery
SystemReliabilityEngineering
Analysis
34
Green: ready, Yellow: may be ready, but demonstration
or further analysis is required, Red: more development is
required.
A
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GEMSTAR
Table was based on outdated criteria, permitting modest R&D but
deferring ADS for power to distant future.
helps motivate Intensity Frontier (ie: Project X at Fermilab);
but higher efficiency via higher-power beams is not a requirement;
$100s of millions are going into solar and wind which have far greater outages.
DOE-NE: It takes about 20 years to validate any new fuel system, so 2050
is the earliest one might imagine for ADS.
based on input from solid-fuel manufacturers;
but consider how this might change if a new system actually addressed waste,
proliferation, LWR spent fuel usage, and safety (thus becoming politically,
publicly, and financially desirable).
Table1:RangeofParametersforAcceleratorDrivenSystemsforfourmissions
describedinthiswhitepaper
Transmutation
Demonstration
Industrial
Scale
Transmutation
IndustrialScale
PowerGeneration
withEnergyStorage
IndustrialScalePower
Generationwithout
EnergyStorage
BeamPower 12MW 1075MW 1075MW 1075MW
BeamEnergy 0.53GeV 12GeV 12GeV 12GeV
Beamtrips(t>5min) <50/year <50/year <50/year <3/year
Availability >50% >70% >80% >85%

A
D
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GEMSTAR
People (and agencies) are legitimately
afraid that if they blink theyll lose what
they already have.
How to proceed in this environment?
ARPA-E: nothing nuclear at all
NEUP: low relevance
start with liquid transport fuel demonstration
using other green energy (~$7M);
transition it to nuclear (GEM*STAR)
A
D
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GEMSTAR
ADNA (Accelerator Driven Neutron Applications, Inc)
commercial project for liquid transportation fuel
generate funds for demonstration facility
GEM*STAR Consortium
continue to engage funding agencies and raise
awareness (DOE, ARPA-E, DTRA, NSF, NNSA, Foundations, Federal and State governments, etc)
Virginia research facility
Powerful motivation for existing and NEWmulti-
disciplinary research avenues