Larry Townsend: Barge transporting of modular reactors

摘要

Generation IV nuclear plants are to be modular, have increased safety margins, be suitable for local electrical grid requirements, be competitive in the marketplace, have applications beyond power generation, and be relatively affordable to build. The first part of that collection of assets—modularity—comes with an attachment—transportability—i.e., how does a modular part, big in size and weighing many tons, get to a plant site? The Department of Energy decided to study that question and received assistance from university researchers who investigated transport issues for different types of next-generation designs. Larry Townsend, professor in the Nuclear Engineering Department at the University of Tennessee (UT), investigated the transport of light-water designs, while UT's Larry Miller handled the liquid-metal concept and Andy Kadak, Professor of the Practice, Nuclear Engineering, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), researched the gas reactor concept. Townsend talked about reactor modularity and transportation issues with Rick Michal, AW Senior Editor.