About this Abstract |
Meeting |
MS&T23: Materials Science & Technology
|
Symposium
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Ceramics for New Generation Nuclear Energy System Application
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Presentation Title |
Metal Hydride Moderators: A Historical Perspective of Their Design and Implementation |
Author(s) |
Aditya P. Shivprasad, Caitlin A Kohnert, Tyler Smith, Thomas J Nizolek, Joseph R Wermer, Vedant K Mehta, Michael Cooper, Nolan Regis, James Robert Torres, Alexander Long, Sven Vogel, Erik Luther, Holly Trellue, Christopher Matthews, Tarik A Saleh, Venkateswara Rao Dasari |
On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Aditya P. Shivprasad |
Abstract Scope |
Micro nuclear reactors are being designed to produce power for applications such as terrestrial and space nuclear power generation. Metal hydride moderators enable smaller reactor designs because they improve fuel utilization. Yttrium hydride and zirconium hydride exhibit higher thermal stability than many other metal hydrides, which enables high temperature operation and more efficient power conversion. Despite these advantages, there are technical challenges to the use of metal hydrides in nuclear reactors. These issues primarily relate to the difficulties in fabricating these materials in complex geometries, hydrogen containment at high temperatures, and hydrogen redistribution.
This presentation will focus on the technical challenges associated with implementing metal hydride moderators in nuclear reactors. Historical solutions will be presented and related to current efforts at Los Alamos National Laboratory to solve these problems, such as metal hydride fabrication methods, characterizing high-temperature properties, hydrogen barrier development, and determining hydrogen speciation at extreme conditions. |