Presented By: Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences
NERS Colloquium: Professor Ning Li, Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation
Can We Make Nuclear Energy Relevant in Time to Mitigate Climate Change?
Ning Li, Ph.D.
Co-Founder and Senior Advisor
Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation
Abstract: Nuclear energy industry has been in stagnation and decline for over 30 years in US and many parts of the world. It is an energy source in crisis, and we are responsible.
The R&D, the reactor engineering and designs have been operating on the outdated and mistaken assumptions that uranium is rare and high conversion reactors are needed. We pursued neutron and conversion efficiency at the risks to the investments, operators, public and environment, and sacrificed capital efficiency and asset safety that are essential for marketplace.
Nuclear fuel is where most of the energy and radioactivity are in reactors. By nature it has extremely high energy density. But we do have design choices in coolant, total power and power density. Recognizing the extreme differences between nuclear and chemical fuels, we can design, fabricate and protect nuclear fuel before it becomes radioactive, and design the reactor so that it is meltdown proof in the best case scenario, or won’t damage the fuel and release large quantities of radioactivity in the worst case scenario.
Learning from other industries in which major innovations have been successfully introduced, and based on our research on fully ceramic micro-encapsulated fuel, we developed a gas cooled micro modular reactor that can meet the safety criteria for all and are economically attractive in entry markets. We can bootstrap into new nuclear in years, not decades, and have the potential to quickly scale up with global impact on mitigating climate change.
This presentation will outline the thought process, the proposed approach, and the progress and outlook of the development and demonstration.
Bio: Dr. Ning Li is a co-founder and senior advisor of Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation, a US company dedicated to the development and commercialization of advanced nuclear energy based on innovations on fuel and micro modular reactor. He was a Distinguished Professor and the Dean of College of Energy, Xiamen University, a member of the Expert Committee for the State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (working with Westinghouse to build the world’s first AP1000s and develop new designs), a senior advisor and Director for Asia Development of TerraPower, a research affiliate of MIT, and the Industrial Fellow for Civilian Nuclear Programs at LANL. Dr. Li has extensive R&D experiences in nuclear energy and fuel cycle technologies, and was a planner, leader and participant in a number of US DOE civilian nuclear energy programs, including Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems, Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative and Accelerator-driven Waste Transmutation. His R&D interests and efforts extend to advanced materials, fabrication, power conversion, long-life core or travelling-wave reactors, and power generation technologies and systems in general, including renewables, storage, efficiency and integrated systems.
Dr. Li maintains strong academic and international collaborations, and publishes widely with over 220 technical papers and reports. Dr. Li is a co-founder and the President of the New Energy Industry Alliance since 2013, a recipient of the 2006 Asian American Engineer of the Year Award and 2010 Scientific Chinese Person of the Year Award.
Co-Founder and Senior Advisor
Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation
Abstract: Nuclear energy industry has been in stagnation and decline for over 30 years in US and many parts of the world. It is an energy source in crisis, and we are responsible.
The R&D, the reactor engineering and designs have been operating on the outdated and mistaken assumptions that uranium is rare and high conversion reactors are needed. We pursued neutron and conversion efficiency at the risks to the investments, operators, public and environment, and sacrificed capital efficiency and asset safety that are essential for marketplace.
Nuclear fuel is where most of the energy and radioactivity are in reactors. By nature it has extremely high energy density. But we do have design choices in coolant, total power and power density. Recognizing the extreme differences between nuclear and chemical fuels, we can design, fabricate and protect nuclear fuel before it becomes radioactive, and design the reactor so that it is meltdown proof in the best case scenario, or won’t damage the fuel and release large quantities of radioactivity in the worst case scenario.
Learning from other industries in which major innovations have been successfully introduced, and based on our research on fully ceramic micro-encapsulated fuel, we developed a gas cooled micro modular reactor that can meet the safety criteria for all and are economically attractive in entry markets. We can bootstrap into new nuclear in years, not decades, and have the potential to quickly scale up with global impact on mitigating climate change.
This presentation will outline the thought process, the proposed approach, and the progress and outlook of the development and demonstration.
Bio: Dr. Ning Li is a co-founder and senior advisor of Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation, a US company dedicated to the development and commercialization of advanced nuclear energy based on innovations on fuel and micro modular reactor. He was a Distinguished Professor and the Dean of College of Energy, Xiamen University, a member of the Expert Committee for the State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (working with Westinghouse to build the world’s first AP1000s and develop new designs), a senior advisor and Director for Asia Development of TerraPower, a research affiliate of MIT, and the Industrial Fellow for Civilian Nuclear Programs at LANL. Dr. Li has extensive R&D experiences in nuclear energy and fuel cycle technologies, and was a planner, leader and participant in a number of US DOE civilian nuclear energy programs, including Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems, Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative and Accelerator-driven Waste Transmutation. His R&D interests and efforts extend to advanced materials, fabrication, power conversion, long-life core or travelling-wave reactors, and power generation technologies and systems in general, including renewables, storage, efficiency and integrated systems.
Dr. Li maintains strong academic and international collaborations, and publishes widely with over 220 technical papers and reports. Dr. Li is a co-founder and the President of the New Energy Industry Alliance since 2013, a recipient of the 2006 Asian American Engineer of the Year Award and 2010 Scientific Chinese Person of the Year Award.
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