5/3/2010 Colloquium - Robert Schleicher

Robert Schleicher General Atomics

Event Info

Title:  EM2: Pushing Nuclear Technology into the 21st Century

Date: May 3, 2010
Location: 3105 Etcheverry Hall
Time: 4-5pm

Abstract

EM2 is an effort by General Atomics to utilize new materials and processes to address the principal challenges to nuclear power in the U.S., i.e., economic competitiveness, financial risk, waste disposition and non-proliferation. EM2 is a He-cooled fast reactor with a high-speed, gas-turbine power conversion system. It utilizes a new fuel system to achieve a very good neutron economy, which gives it a long core life with multi-fuel capability. Fuels can include used LWR fuel w/o reprocessing, depleted-U, Th, LEU, wPu and end-of-cycle EM2 fuel with some fission product removal. If successful, EM2 closes the fuel cycle w/o conventional reprocessing and reduces the waste essentially to fission products. EM2 introduces a number of technical challenges that suggest new approaches to nuclear research and development.

Speaker Biography

Bob Schleicher is a senior scientist at General Atomics, where he has worked in the fission, inertial and magnetic fusion and high-power laser groups. He has contributed to many innovative concepts in the nuclear energy and high power laser fields with the recurrent theme of improving efficiency and resource utilization. He is the project leader for EM2. His personal mission is to motivate new scientists and engineers to undertake the challenge of innovating new solutions to energy-related problems.