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The Opportunity of Global Nuclear Innovation

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SPEAKER:
RACHEL SLAYBAUGH, PH.D.

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR,
DEPT. OF NUCLEAR ENGINEERING
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

DATE/TIME:
MON, 04/25/2016 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM
LOCATION:
3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL
Spring 2016 Colloquium Series
Abstract:

To expand our ability to improve global health, the environment, and prosperity, a new level of innovation in nuclear energy is needed because nuclear must be an integral component of our low carbon strategy. However, nuclear faces both technical and non-technical challenges that prevent it from contributing as much as it could. This talk covers some of these challenges, what it might look like if we overcome those challenges, and some actions being taken in the U.S. to make this possible. Specifically, we’re building a pipeline:
1. To train university students and professionals in nuclear innovation to shift the mindset of the workforce by starting a Nuclear Innovation “Bootcamp” program.
2. To support startups and companies developing new ideas so they have a higher chance of success by building Nuclear Innovation Centers.
3. To allow private companies to access publicly-developed resources to lower the cost and technology barriers to success through the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear, or GAIN.

These initiatives, supported by appropriate legislative changes and international engagement, can create a new set of opportunities for global nuclear innovation.

 

About the Speaker:

Rachel Slaybaugh is an assistant professor of nuclear engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley, Prof. Slaybaugh’s research program is based in computational methods and applied to existing and advanced nuclear reactors, nuclear non-proliferation and security, and shielding applications.

Prof. Slaybaugh is also developing programs to train and inspire the next generation for nuclear innovation. She received a BS in nuclear engineering from Penn State in 2006, where she served as a licensed nuclear reactor operator. Slaybaugh went on to the University of Wisconsin–Madison to earn an MS in 2008 and a PhD in 2011 in nuclear engineering and engineering physics along with a certificate in energy analysis and policy. Throughout her career, Slaybaugh has been engaged in Software Carpentry education and training; she is particularly interested in reproducibility in computational science.

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IAEA Activities in Support of Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems Development and Deployment

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SPEAKER:
STEFANO MONTI, PH.D.

HEAD OF THE NUCLEAR POWER TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT SECTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA)

DATE/TIME:
MON, 04/18/2016 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM
LOCATION:
3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL
Spring 2016 Colloquium Series
Abstract:

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) actively supports its Member States in the development of evolutionary and innovative nuclear reactors. With the fundamental support of its Technical Working Groups, the IAEA defines and implements multiannual programs which, in particular, are intended to help Member States in improving their capabilities in the development, design, safety analyses and deployment of nuclear power reactors.

Supporting the verification, validation and qualification of the simulation codes used for the design and safety analyses of innovative reactors is a relevant part of this program. Thanks to the information provided by the Member States, the IAEA is in the position to carry out benchmark exercises based on the experimental data gathered during the past operation of prototypes and demonstrators. Examples of such initiatives are the coordinated research projects on: SCWR Thermal-Hydraulic, HTGR Uncertainty Analysis, BN-600, Monju, Phenix, EBR-II and PFBR reactors, as well as the planned one on FFTF.

The exchange of information is also a major objective. In the frame of its Nuclear Safety Action Plan, in February 2015 the IAEA conducted the “International Experts Meeting on Strengthening Research and Development Effectiveness in the Light of the Accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant”, which was followed by a Technical Meeting on “Post-Fukushima Research and Development Strategies and Priorities”. Furthermore, after the two successful “IAEA Conferences on Fast Reactors and Related Fuel Cycles”, held in 2009 in Kyoto and in 2013 in France, the preparation of the next event, to be held in 2017 in the Russian Federation, has just started. The collection of data also allows the IAEA to publish and update status reports and technical documents, as well as to develop databases with the most up-to-date information on advanced reactor technologies. The major service offered by the IAEA in this area is the “Advanced Reactors Information System (ARIS)”, a web-accessible database that provides Member States with comprehensive and balanced information about all advanced reactor designs and concepts.

The IAEA is also committed to promote the international harmonization of many aspects of the fast reactors technology. A major example is the development – together with the Generation IV International Forum - of internationally agreed Safety Design Criteria and Safety Design Guidelines for sodium cooled fast reactors and High Temperature Gas Reactors. The ongoing CRP on “Sodium properties and safe operation of experimental facilities in support of the development and deployment of Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors (SFR) - NAPRO” is aimed at harmonizing several technical aspects of SFR research. With complementary objectives, the IAEA is developing a catalogue of existing and planned experimental facilities in support of liquid-metal cooled fast neutron systems.

Finally, the IAEA is very much committed on the education and training of the next generation nuclear engineers and researchers, and regularly organizes training courses using its large suit of PC-based NPP simulators for education.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Stefano Monti is currently the Head of the Nuclear Power Technology Development Section of the International Atomic Energy Agencyin Vienna. From May 2011 to January 2015 he covered the position of IAEA Team Leader for Fast Reactor Technology Development.

For more than 30 years he has been working on several national and international projects and programmes on advanced nuclear systems, leading a number of international research groups. As Director of Research at ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development), he was Head of the Division Reactor and Fuel Cycle Safety and Security Methods, President of the SIET company carrying out safety tests for the licensing of advanced GEN-III and SMR systems, and scientific coordinator of the Italian R&D programme on nuclear fission. He has served in a number of national and international nuclear committees, among which the Board of Directors of the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics, the Steering Committee of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, the Executive Committee of the European Sustainable Nuclear Energy Technology Platform.

He has published more than 200 papers in refereed international journals and conference proceedings. Dr. Monti holds a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Bologna (Italy).

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Here be Dragons: Mysteries of the Neutrino

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SPEAKER:
GABRIEL OREBI GANN, PH.D.

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

DATE/TIME:
MON, 04/11/2016 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM
LOCATION:
3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL
Spring 2016 Colloquium Series
Abstract:

Neutrinos are one of the most fascinating particles that occur in nature. Hundreds of millions of times smaller than the proton, the neutrino was once thought to be massless and to travel at the speed of light.  Huge strides have been made in our understanding of neutrinos in past decades, with the resolution of the solar neutrino problem providing clear evidence of neutrino oscillation and, thus, a non-zero neutrino mass – a Nobel-Prize winning discovery. This has allowed us to move beyond basic questions to a precision era, in which we can study detailed properties of these fundamental particles. This talk will introduce the SNO+ experiment, which will seek to resolve the very nature of the neutrino: is it unique among fermions as being its own antiparticle?  We will then discuss future prospects for the field, including exciting new technological developments that could permit a new kind of neutrino experiment, with a broad experimental program and wide physics reach.

About the Speaker:

Gabriel Orebi Gann attended the University of Cambridge in the UK from 2000 to 2004, where she received her BA and MSci in Natural Sciences. She went on to the University of Oxford, and was awarded her DPhil in Particle and Nuclear Physics in 2008. Her post-doctoral research was performed at the University of Pennsylvania, in Professor Klein’s research group, working on SNO and its successor, the SNO+ experiment. Gabriel joined the U.C. Berkeley faculty in 2012.