Speaker
Description
The Fast Modular Reactor (FMR) is a 100 MWt (44 MWe) Gas-cooled Fast Reactor (GFR) being developed by General Atomics Electromagnetic System (GA-EMS). The goal is to develop a safe, flexible, economic, and dispatchable power source to the US and international electricity market by the mid-2030s. The technologies selected for the FMR to achieve these goals include: fast neutron spectrum that provides a long (>10 years) fuel cycle; helium coolant that is an inert gas with that does not chemically interact with any reactor component; conventional uranium dioxide (UO2) fuel which is the most well-known; silicon carbide (SiC) composite (SiGA®) cladding and internal structures which are exceptionally radiation tolerant; and closed Brayton cycle that provides a very high thermal efficiency (>42%). The reactor was specifically designed with passive safety features, including high-temperature in-core materials and reactor vessel cooling system (RVCS) consisting of cooling panels of naturally-circulating water. The passive safety of the core was confirmed for the unlikely abnormal accident of depressurized loss of forced cooling (DLOFC). The power maneuvering and load-following capability of the FMR was verified by a plant simulator, that incorporates the reactor kinetics and the power electronics of the power conversion system. During load-following operation, the variation of the core temperature is kept to a minimum by design.
The conceptual design of the plant has been supported via a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy.
| Country OR International Organization | USA |
|---|---|
| Email address | ron.faibish@ga.com |
| Confirm that the work is original and has not been published anywhere else | YES |
