EM2 is a helium-cooled fast reactor with a conversion ratio of near unity. It has a 30 year core life and is able to burn spent LWR fuel without reprocessing. An update of the technical developments in EM2 since the last Berkeley colloquium will be given. The update will include design changes and improvements as well as progress on fuel fabrication and SiC composite development. EM2 has fostered a number of spinoff technologies that are actively being pursued including SiC composite clad for LWRs, high-speed turbo-generators and EM3, a small, molten-salt cooled, autonomous version of EM2.
Dr. Schleicher is senior scientist at General Atomics, where he has been an employee for 39 years. During this time, he has been a contributor in the fission, magnetic and inertial fusion and high energy laser fields. At present, he is the project manager, co-inventor and technical leader for the EM2 nuclear reactor, an advanced helium-cooled, convert & burn, fast reactor. He has recently returned to the fission community after 20 years in other fields, and is working to cross-fertilize technologies and materials from other fields with nuclear fission. Previously, he spent 10 years developing on innovative solid-state lasers and is the co-inventor of the HELLADS, high power military laser. Prior to that time he worked in the Fusion Division and was appointed to the ITER Joint Central Team where he was responsible for tokomak electrical systems. He conducted many studies on the application of nuclear energy to non-electricity uses including desalination. He developed the DEEP cogeneration/desalination code for the IAEA, which is currently used by many nations to evaluate the use of nuclear power for desalination. He has a Ph.D. from Cornell University in Applied Physics. He is the author or co-author of over 40 articles and papers on advanced energy production technologies.
Dr. Schleicher is committed to innovation and technology advancement in the energy field. He believes that the U.S. must advance substantially new and better concepts in order to have significant influence in the direction of the global nuclear economy. He believes that new ideas are key to attracting talented young minds into the nuclear field to make these technologies a reality.
