Advancing sCO2 Power Systems and Components for MSRs

Statement of the Problem or Situation that is Being Addressed: Small modular reactors require compact, reliable, and efficient components and systems to maintain their small footprints and be economically competitive. New component and system designs are needed to meet this requirement within the context of a high temperature, radiation, and potentially corrosive environment. Advanced materials and manufacturing approaches offer a route to highly complex components from resilient materials, but further development and demonstration are required. Statement of how this Problem or Situation is Being Addressed: This project focuses on the development of an efficient power cycle for small modular reactors, specifically compact, versatile, and efficient heat exchangers that could be deployed for molten salt, liquid metal, or potentially water-cooled reactor designs. The base design concept will be developed and optimized for the appropriate scale and expected operating temperatures. Design complexity necessitates new manufacturing approaches, as it would be impossible to create with traditional technologies. An additive manufacturing (AM) approach is being developed to generate tungsten-based components for the nuclear environment. In addition to developing AM process conditions, a specific mixture of powders is being pursued to address challenges in achieving high density, defect-free parts with refractory metals via AM. Phase 1 will optimize the heat exchanger design and perform iterative modeling of the AM process to rapidly down select the most promising process parameters. These will be tested in Phase II, with the end goal of producing and demonstrating a prototype heat exchanger. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: The proposed work aims to deliver a resilient material and efficient power system for small modular reactors. The design is targeting 40-60 MWe molten salt and liquid metal designs, but can be easily scaled to larger or smaller designs and potentially other coolants. This is a critical enabling step for this versatile clean power source. The success of this approach would likely expand to applications in other components and system, as well as other industries, such as aerospace/hypersonics, defense, manufacturing, and many more.