Presenter Bio(s)
Tyler Ellis is a project manager for TerraPower, where he works on developing and deploying new nuclear generating capacity to meet current and future energy needs. Before working at TerraPower, Ellis worked as a reactor supervisor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Nuclear Reactor Laboratory and as a nuclear engineer for the MIT Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems.
In 2007, Ellis worked with other MIT thought leaders to help shape the overall plan for the highly successful Bernard M. Gordon MIT Engineering Leadership Program. He composed plant design requirements for a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor with AREVA in France; conducted neutronic trade studies for three different nuclear electric propulsion systems at the Los Alamos National Laboratory; and explored economic, social and technical complexities in meeting the sustainability challenge in Switzerland.
Ellis earned both bachelors and master’s degrees in 2006 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the field of nuclear science and engineering. In 2008, he earned his doctorate from MIT in the same field specializing in reactor physics. In addition, Ellis won several Best Technical Session awards for reactor physics at the American Nuclear Society student conferences. He was recognized by Scientific American as a Distinguished Scholar, received the American Nuclear Society John R. Lamarsh Memorial Award and was officially commended by the governor of California. In addition to having received several other awards, he is author/co-author of more than 15 publications and technical reports.
Location
Auditorium, Campus Center, University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Event Website
http://blogs.umass.edu/nes2011/
Start Date
19-11-2011 11:40 AM
End Date
19-11-2011 12:30 PM
Description
TerraPower is moving forward with detailed plans for a sustainable, economic, and safe nuclear reactor. The Travelling Wave Reactor (TWR) – a reactor in the 500-megawatt electric range – uses unique core physics to initiate a breed and burn wave which can be completely sustained in fertile material. This process allows the TWR to convert depleted uranium waste into usable fuel as the reactor operates, providing a sustainable base-load power source. TerraPower is the first company to create a practical engineering embodiment of this previously studied concept thanks to a powerful advanced reactor modeling interface, developed in-house, which enables the analysis of traveling wave reactor technology in a way that has not been possible before. This presentation will provide more detail about the origins of the TWR, the project’s current status as well as some of the safety differences between TWRs and currently operating light water reactors.
Included in
Session G: Nuclear Power/Climate Change – TerraPower’s Traveling Wave Reactor
Auditorium, Campus Center, University of Massachusetts - Amherst
TerraPower is moving forward with detailed plans for a sustainable, economic, and safe nuclear reactor. The Travelling Wave Reactor (TWR) – a reactor in the 500-megawatt electric range – uses unique core physics to initiate a breed and burn wave which can be completely sustained in fertile material. This process allows the TWR to convert depleted uranium waste into usable fuel as the reactor operates, providing a sustainable base-load power source. TerraPower is the first company to create a practical engineering embodiment of this previously studied concept thanks to a powerful advanced reactor modeling interface, developed in-house, which enables the analysis of traveling wave reactor technology in a way that has not been possible before. This presentation will provide more detail about the origins of the TWR, the project’s current status as well as some of the safety differences between TWRs and currently operating light water reactors.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/climate_nuclearpower/2011/nov19/7