Abstract
Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is at the forefront of the nation’s advanced reactor R&D effort. Advanced reactor are a promising form of baseload carbon free energy generation and several studies are expecting them to play a critical part in US decarbonization plans. The seminar presentation will be divided in two parts. The first will provide an overview of R&D activities at the lab in support of advanced reactor development efforts. The timeline for forthcoming reactor demonstrations efforts at INL and elsewhere will also be presented. The second part of the seminar will discuss the new ‘multiphysics modeling & simulation’ capabilities being developed at INL as part of the ‘MOOSE’ ecosystem. These tools are being developed primarily to model the complex physics in advanced reactors, but can also be employed to wider engineering applications. They represent a paradigm shit in multi-disciplinary engineering analysis, but enabling the tight coupling of various physical phenomena in nuclear reactors.
Bio
Dr. Abdalla Abou-Jaoude, is the Advanced Reactor Research Integrator at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). He is leading several projects across 7 Department of Energy (DOE) programs and is a recognized expert on advanced reactor technology. His main three focus areas are: (1) advanced modeling & simulation, (2) molten salt technology, and (3) nuclear technoeconomics. On modeling & simulation, Dr. Abou-Jaoude leads the National Reactor Innovation Center’s (NRIC) Virtual Test Bed (VTB), and is the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) campaign point of contact to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). On the Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) side, he is the confirmatory analysis technical lead for the Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment (MCRE) to be built at INL, he manages work packages for various DOE campaigns and Integrated Research Projects (IRP) on multiphysics simulation of MSRs, and led the first ever fueled chloride salt irradiation in history. On nuclear technoeconomics, Dr. Abou-Jaoude is the activity lead for the Systems Analysis & Integration (SA&I) campaign on advanced reactor technoeconomic assessment, he manages a project for the Integrated Energy System (IES) campaign on developing advanced reactor cost data for hybrid systems, another for the Microreactor Program (MRP) on developing detailed cost estimates for microreactors, and a fourth for the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) on creating a database of reference advanced reactor cost estimates.
Previously at INL, Abdalla has been involved in various aspect of advance reactor designs, notably for Molten Salt Reactors, Sodium Fast Reactors (namely the Versatile Test Reactor), Nuclear Space Thermal Propulsion, and heat-pipe based microreactors. He also previously supported a private-public partnership with a U.S. utility to evaluate hydrogen-cogeneration options at nuclear power plants. He graduated with a doctorate in Nuclear Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2017 and was the INL Deboisblanc Distinguished Postdoctoral Associate in 2018. He obtained a MEng in Mechanical with Nuclear Engineering from Imperial College London in 2013.
