The Lead-Cooled Fast Reactor: Concepts for Small and Medium Sized Reactors for International Deployment

COLLOQUIUM
Monday, April 7, 2008

“The Lead-Cooled Fast Reactor: Concepts for Small and Medium Sized Reactors for International Deployment”

Presented By

Dr. Craig Smith

Lawrence Livermore Chair Professor, Department of Physics, Naval Postgraduate School

With limited existing industrial and grid infrastructures in the developing world, there is an important need for future nuclear energy systems that can provide small or moderate increments of electric power (10-700 MWe) on small or immature grids. Lead-cooled systems offer several key advantages in meeting such goals. In this presentation, the motivation for the development of such small and medium sized reactors (SMRs) is discussed, and the characteristics, potential, and outstanding needs for research, development, and demonstration of lead-cooled systems are reviewed. The features of current concepts for lead-cooled reactors, including SSTAR and ELSY are presented, and the current development status of both projects is discussed.