The Leading Advanced Nuclear Project: Natura Resources sponsored Molten Salt Research Reactor at ACU’s NEXT Lab

Rusty Towell

Director of NEXT Lab and Professor of Engineering and Physics

Abstract:

Abilene Christian University’s Nuclear Energy eXperimental Testing (NEXT) Lab is working to design, license and build the leading advanced reactor project. The Molten Salt Research Reactor (MSRR) is a 1 MWth liquid fueled molten salt reactor sponsored by Natura Resources. To support the design, licensing, and deployment of the MSRR extensive R&D labs have been set up at ACU to test a variety of salt systems and chemical analysis. The NRC has issued ACU a Construction Permit to begin building the reactor in the Dillard Science and Engineering Research Center in Abilene. An introduction to this project, our mission, team, and status will be presented.

Bio:

Dr. Rusty Towell is the founding director of ACU’s Nuclear Energy eXperimental Testing (NEXT) Lab which is building the first university advanced reactor in the country. Rusty has a BS degree in Engineering Physics from ACU where he has been a professor for the past 25 years. He earned a Ph.D. in nuclear physics from The University of Texas. He served in the U.S. Navy as an instructor at the Naval Nuclear Power School and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship with Los Alamos National Laboratory working at Brookhaven National Lab. For the past 37 years, Rusty has worked at many different national labs on several international research projects. His over 500 publications have been cited more than 50,000 times.