Symposium on Nuclear Everywhere

Event: Nuclear Everywhere? How new technologies, regulations and policies may finally make the use of nuclear energy mainstream and ubiquitous
Date: Tuesday, March 28, 2023 - 09:00 to Wednesday, March 29, 2023 - 12:30
Location: MIT Campus, Building 34, Room 101 (50 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139)
Map: Symposium Map - QR Code (Enter 34 in search bar)

PROGRAM

TUESDAY, MARCH 28

8:30-9:00 – CHECK-IN (Building 34-101 Lobby)

9:00-9:20 – Greetings

    Ben Forget, Associate Dept. Head, Nuclear Science and Engineering, MIT
    Bob Armstrong, Director, MIT Energy Initiative

9:20-9:50 – Symposium Intro & Objectives

    Jacopo Buongiorno, Director, Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems (CANES), MIT

KEYNOTE
9:50-10:10 – Will SMRs succeed? Requirements for new nuclear technologies in the market place 

    Maria Korsnick, President and Chief Executive Officer, NEI

SESSION 1: New Markets and Applications
Chair: John Parsons, Senior Lecturer, Sloan School of Management, MIT

    10:10-10:30 – Nuclear hydrogen is already here (Ugi Otgonbaatar, Director of Technology Strategy, Constellation)
    10:30-10:50 – Nuclear biofuels: a potential game changer (Charles Forsberg, Principal Research Scientist, MIT)

10:50-11:10 – COFFEE BREAK

11:10-12:30 – Nuclear energy comes to campus. A panel-style discussion on decarbonization of college campuses and technology microreactors.
Chair: Lance Snead, Director of Strategic Development, Nuclear Reactor Laboratory, MIT

    Panelists:
    Jean Paul Allain, Head, Nuclear Engineering Dept., Penn State University
    Seungjin Kim, Head, Nuclear Engineering Dept., Purdue University
    Rusty Towell, Professor, Engineering and Physics Dept. and Director, NEXT Lab, Abilene Christian University
    Caleb Brooks, Associate Professor of Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering, UIUC
    Yasir Arafat, MARVEL Chief Designer, Idaho National Laboratory
    Janine Helwig, Director of Utilities, MIT

LUNCH
12:30-1:30 –  "The Kärnfull Way – Lessons learned from the Nordics"

    Speaker: John Ahlberg, Founder, Kärnfull Group

SESSION 2: Enabling Technologies
Chair: Koroush Shirvan, Associate Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, MIT

    1:30-1:50 – Advanced Manufacturing, Passive Safety Systems, Compact heat exchangers, state-of-the-art BOP (Koroush Shirvan, MIT)
    1:50-2:10 – Advanced Fuels and Moderators (Ellen Cerreta, Associate Laboratory Director, Physical Sciences, Los Alamos National Laboratory)
    2:10-2:30 – Life cycle assessment of graphite including disposal (Lance Snead, Nuclear Reactor Laboratory, MIT)

2:30-2:50 – COFFEE BREAK

    2:50-3:10 – 2D and 3D seismic isolation of buildings and equipment (Andrew Whittaker, Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Buffalo)
    3:10-3:30 – Technology synergies with fusion (Steve Zinkle, Professor of Nuclear Engineering, University of Tennessee at Knoxville)

4:15-5:30 – MIT REACTOR TOUR AND SIMULATOR

BANQUET DINNER at Samberg Center
6:00-9:30 – "Re-Establishing U. S. Leadership in Nuclear Energy"

Speaker: Rian Bahran, Assistant Director, Nuclear Technology & Strategy, White House Office of Science, Technology and Policy (OSTP)

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29

SESSION 3:  Regulations, Policy and Geopolitical Context

9:00-10:45 – Is the US Government doing enough to enable a substantial expansion of the domestic nuclear industry? A panel-style discussion on nuclear R&D, regulations and export.
Chair: Lin-wen Hu, Senior Scientist, Nuclear Reactor Lab, MIT

    Panelists:
    Alison Hahn, Director for Nuclear Reactor Deployment, Office of Nuclear Energy, US Department of Energy
    Jeff Chamberlin, Assistant Deputy Administrator, Office of Material Management and Minimization, NNSA
    John Kotek, Senior Vice President, Policy Development and Public Affairs, NEI ​
    Rita Baranwal, Chief Technology Officer, Westinghouse Electric Company
    Edward Blandford, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer, Kairos Power

10:45-11:00 – COFFEE BREAK

11:00-12:30 – Fuel and waste: where do we stand?  A panel-style discussion on HALEU, new fuel forms and HLW management for existing and new nuclear reactors
Chair: Haruko Wainwright, Assistant Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, MIT

    Panelists:
    Monica Regalbuto, Director, Nuclear Fuel Cycle Strategy, Idaho National Laboratory
    David Sassani, National Technical Director, Spent Fuel and Waste Science and Technlogy, Sandia National Laboratories
    Jose Reyes, Chief Technology Officer, NuScale
    Bret van den Akker, Director of Fuel Cycle Innovation, USNC
    Jorge Narvaez, General Engineer, Office of Integrated Waste Management, US Department of Energy

12:30 – Adjourn

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