Ehud Greenspan
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Ehud Greenspan Professor-In-Residence Department of Nuclear Engineering Email: gehud@nuc.berkeley.edu |
Education
B.Sc. Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Technion, Israel, 1961
M.Sc. Nuclear Science and Engineering, Technion, Israel, 1963
Ph.D. Nuclear Science and Engineering, Cornell University, 1966
Field of specialization
Nuclear reactor theory, design and analysis.
Research Interests
Conception, design and analysis of advanced (primarily, Generation-IV) nuclear reactors and advanced nuclear fuel cycles. Specific objectives are: Improving the sustainability of nuclear energy by increasing the utilization of the uranium and thorium fuel resources; minimizing the amount and radiotoxicity of the nuclear waste; improving proliferation resistance of nuclear energy along with improving the safety and economics of nuclear reactors.
Improving computational methods for the nuclear design and optimization of multiplying systems (e.g., reactor core design; criticality safety analysis), radiation shields, fusion energy systems, and radiation therapy systems (e.g., systems for boron neutron capture therapy).
Current Research Activities
The advanced reactors and fuel cycle (AFRC) group is presently researching three innovative nuclear energy systems:
Fluoride-salt cooled High temperature Reactors (FHR). The R&D of the FHR is led by Prof. Peterson. The role of the ARFC group is to develop accurate, yet efficient, software for the FHR core performance simulation and to apply this software to search for the optimal core, reflector and control system design of both a commercial FHR and an experimental FHR. The ARFC group is also planning experiments that will help to validate the computer codes and nuclear data in use for the FHR nuclear design.
Breed-and-Burn (B&B) liquid metal cooled fast reactors. A B&B reactor is a breeder reactor that converts into fissile fuel a significant fraction of the fertile feed fuel and then fissions a significant fraction of the bred fissile fuel without fuel reprocessing. B&B reactors can offer uranium utilization that is between 50 to 120 times that of LWRs. The amount of electricity that could be generated in B&B fast reactors using the presently available depleted uranium stockpiles (nuclear “waste”) is the equivalent of between 8 to 20 centuries of the total present US demand of electricity.
Fuel-self-sustaining thorium-fueled Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWR). This project objective is to assess the feasibility of designing cores that could be installed in an ABWR reactor vessel and breed when using thorium for the primary fertile fuel. If successful, this project will open a new option for developing a sustainable nuclear energy economy that is based on the BWR technology rather than on sodium-cooled fast reactor technology. The University of Michigan, MIT and BNL collaborate with UCB on this project.
Recently completed research projects include: design of nuclear battery type transportable reactors for proliferation-resistant, safe and secure energy for developing countries and remote sites; study of improvement possibilities in the performance of light water reactors using hydride fuel; development of efficient approaches for transmutation of nuclear waste in molten salt and other reactors; design of highly compact fission-multiplied accelerator neutron source for medical and industrial applications; and nuclear design optimization methods development and their application.
Selected Recent Publications
S.G. Hong, E. Greenspan and Y.I. Kim, “The Encapsulated Nuclear Heat Source (ENHS) Reactor Core Design,” Nuclear Technology, 149, 22 – 48, January 2005
M. Fratoni and E. Greenspan, “Transmutation Capability of Molten Salt Reactors Fed with TRU from LWR,” Proc. Third Workshop on Advanced Reactors With Innovative Fuels - ARWIF-2005, Oak Ridge, TN, February 16-18, 2005
E. Greenspan, P. Hejzlar, H. Sekimoto, G. Toshinsky and D. Wade, "New Fuel Cycle and Fuel Management Options in Heavy Liquid Metal Cooled Reactors," Nuclear Technology, 151, 177-191, August 2005
E. Greenspan, M. Fratoni, F. Ganda, F. Ginex, D. Olander, N. Todreas, P. Diller, P. Ferroni, J. Malen, A. Romano, C. Shuffler, J. Trant, B. Petrovic and H. Garkisch, “Hydride Fuel for LWRs—Project Overview,” Nuclear Engineering and Design, 239, 1374-1405, 2009
F. Ganda and E. Greenspan, “Analysis of Reactivity Coefficients of Hydride Fuelled PWR Cores,” Nuclear Science and Engineering, 164, 1-32, January 2010
F. Ganda, J. Vujic, E. Greenspan and K.N. Leung, “Accelerator-Driven Sub-Critical Multiplier for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy,” Nuclear Technology, 172, 302-324, December 2010
M. Fratoni and E. Greenspan, “Search for Equilibrium Core Composition Methodologies for Pebble Bed Reactors,” Nuclear Science and Engineering, 166, 1-16, September 2010
M. Fratoni and E. Greenspan, “Neutronic feasibility assessment of liquid salt cooled pebble-bed reactors,” Nuclear Science and Engineering, 168, 1–22, May 2011
F. Ganda, J. Vujic and E. Greenspan, “Thorium Self Sustaining BWR Cores,” Proceedings of ICAPP’11, Nice, France, May 2-5, 2011
E. Greenspan and F. Heidet, “Energy Sustainability and Economic Stability with Breed and Burn Reactors,” Progress in Nuclear Energy, 53, 794-799, 2011
F. Heidet and E. Greenspan, “Neutron Balance Analysis for Sustainability of Breed and Burn Reactors,” Nuclear Science and Engineering, 171, 13-31, May 2012
Supported Research
““Multi-Recycling in Liquid-Metal-Cooled Fast Reactors without Chemical Processing,” funded by DOE NEUP from 10/2009 to 9/2012. Prof. Vujic is co-PI.
“Fuel-Self-Sustaining Thorium Boiling Water Reactors,” funded by DOE NEUP from 10/2011 to 9/2014. Prof. Vujic is co-PI. Collaborators: University of Michigan (co-PI: Downar), MIT (co-PI: Kazimi), BNL (co-PI: Todosow)
“Fluoride-Salt-Cooled High-Temperature Reactors for Power and Process Heat,” funded by DOE NEUP IRP from 2011 to 2014. Prof. Per Peterson is UC Berkeley PI.
“Advanced Burner Reactor for TRU Transmutation with Breed & Burn Blanket for Improved Economics and Resource Utilization.” supported by DOE NEUP from 8/2012 to 8/2015. Prof. Vujic is co-PI. Collaborator: ANL (co-PI: Taiwo)
