Sodium Fast Reactor Thermal-Hydraulics at Oklo

Career Conversations will be held from 4:00-5:00 PM in 3107 Etcheverry Hall

Abstract: In this talk, I will give an overview of Oklo’s approach and technologies related to sodium fast reactors and discuss my background. Then, I will discuss thermal-hydraulics in more detail, ranging between subchannel, systems, and source term analyses. I will note significant test campaigns, some lesser known benefits of liquid metal coolants, and interesting phenomena and modeling strategies. I will conclude with some career advice and notes on what we are looking for in recent graduates.

Bio: James McCay oversees high, low, and intermediate fidelity thermal-fluids and source term analyses at Oklo. Before joining Oklo, he worked as a computational fluid dynamics analyst across several industries, including architectural engineering and oil & gas processing. He earned a B.S. in Engineering Physics from UC Berkeley and an M.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from UC Davis.