USNIC-Argonne Special Technical Symposium 

Technology & Process Innovation in Advanced Reactor Economics

The U.S. Nuclear Infrastructure Council and Argonne National Laboratory Present:

A Special Technical Symposium Focusing on the Economics of
Advanced Reactors.

January 28-29, 2014 at Argonne National Laboratory, just outside of Chicago, IL.

The goal of this symposium is to bring nuclear visionaries and innovators together with entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to discuss methods for improving the cost and deployment timeframe of advanced reactors. Specifically this group is intended to engage in a discussion of practical ideas and concepts that have the potential of significantly improving the economics of advanced reactor design, deployment, and operations.

You are invited to be a part of this discussion and to submit your concepts and ideas that will help drive this lowered cost objective. Everyone who submits a relevant idea or concept that follows the guidelines [below] will have their two page paper incorporated into the online proceedings that will be published on the symposium special events website. (You do not need to attend the symposium to have your idea included in the proceedings.)

Background: The future of the U.S. nuclear energy industry and its important contribution to the nation’s energy security, economic prosperity, and clean energy future, hinges on strengthening its global competitiveness. This in turn depends upon invigorating the nuclear energy technology portfolio to drive down the upfront investment costs while improving safety and also supporting key government objectives such as non-proliferation. This is especially relevant today since multiple nations are seriously challenging the U.S. technological lead by deploying advanced reactors.

Advanced reactor technologies are of primary importance since they hold the promise of significantly reducing both up front investment costs and electricity production costs, while simultaneously offering multiple options for building inherently safer systems with reduced proliferation risks.

Who: Nuclear enthusiasts from industry, academia, government, finance, and entrepreneurial ranks are encouraged to be recognized and place your ideas and concepts on the table.

Proposed Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Maximizing Power Generation Efficiency In Overall Plant Design
• Innovative Low Cost High Efficiency Reactor Design Concepts
• Balance Of Plant Innovations For Lowering Capital Costs
• Innovative Operations And Maintenance Strategies
• Power Generation And Co-Generation Innovations
• Maximizing Fuel Utility
• New Materials With High Likelihoods Of Nuclear Application
• Innovative Regulation And Policy Strategies That Could Lower Licensing Costs
• Establishing Business Demand For New Nuclear Power
• Lowering Risk In Nuclear Finance Models
• Economic Opportunities For Innovative Uses Of Nuclear Power
• Reducing The Environmental Protection Zone

Advance Agenda: 

11:00am	Panel 1: Current Concepts (General Atomics, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, Gen4 Energy) Moderator: David Blee, USNIC Dr. Robert Schleicher Vice President & Senior Scientist General Atomics Brett Dooies Safety Analysis Engineer GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy  Dr. Finis Southworth Executive Committee, NGNP Industry Alliance; Chief Technology Officer AREVA  Robert Prince CEO Gen4 Energy, Inc.
12:30pm	Lunch
1:30pm	Panel 2: Overarching Issues (Capital Costs, O&M, Fuel Cycle Strategies, Licensing Timeframes, Demonstration, and Deployment) Moderator: Dan Fraser, ANL Kevin Weaver Director of Technology Integration TerraPower® Dr. Ashley E. Finan Sr. Project Manager, Energy Innovation Project Clean Air Task Force Dr. Michael Laufer Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Nuclear Engineering University of California, Berkeley Dr. Taek K. Kim Manager, Reactor and Fuel Cycle Analysis Section Nuclear Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory
3:00pm	Break
3:30pm	Special Address: The Imperativeness of Advanced Reactors Llewellyn King Executive Producer White House Chronicle
4:00pm	Panel 3: Overarching Issues Part II Moderator: Dan Fraser, ANL Jack Grobe Executive Director Exelon Nuclear Partners Russ Wilcox Co-Founder and CEO Transatomic Power Inc. Paul Murray Technology and Integration Manager AREVA Federal Services Amir Kouhestani CEO lakeChime PPRS, Inc.
6:00pm	Networking Reception & Dinner Reception featuring Atomic Wine brought to you by Paul Dickman proprietor

 

Wednesday, January 29th

10:30am	Panel 6: Government / Private Sector Collaboration Moderator: David Blee, USNIC Anna Bradford Branch Chief, Division of Advanced Reactors U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of New Reactors Craig Welling Deputy Director of Advanced Reactors Technology U.S. Department of Energy Ted Quinn ANS Past President Longenecker and Associates Paul Dickman Senior Policy Fellow Argonne National Laboratory
12:00pm	Closing Charge & Discussion: How To Move Forward Dr. Dan Fraser Senior Fellow USNIC; Principal Architect, Argonne National Laboratory David Blee Executive Director, U.S. Nuclear Infrastructure Council
1:30pm	Optional Tour of Argonne* Large scale reactor cavity cooling experiment for advanced reactor designs Advanced Photon Source (APS) *Please indicate if you would like to participate in a tour when you register. *Please note that if you would like to preorder lunch at Wednesday’s morning registration for the tour the 401 Grill can only take cash payments.

How to Submit: Write a two page (maximum) summary of your idea or concept that includes the following explicitly titled sections and email a pdf copy to Gayle Maloney at gmaloney@anl.gov:

• Title: Articles will be listed by title so choose wisely.
• Summary: A brief summary of the idea or concept.
• Innovativeness: What makes your idea or concept innovative?
• Economic Potential / Time Frame: How can this idea or concept reduce the costs of nuclear power? What is a reasonable time frame for implementing your idea or concept?
• Challenges / Overcoming the Challenges: What is the biggest barrier to implementing your idea or concept? How can this barrier be overcome?
• Competition: What are the main competitors to your idea or concept?
• Other key points

Selection of Presenters: From these submissions a limited number (~20) of contributors will be selected by November 30 to present and have their ideas discussed at the Symposium. These selections will be made by the organizing panel and will be based on 

1. Practical economic relevance
2. Innovativeness

This is the place to bring your ideas and have them discussed and published. Workshop registration is limited to ~150 persons so register early.  

If you have any questions please contact Caleb Ward at caleb.ward@outlook.com or by phone (202) 270-1690 or Dan Fraser at fraser@anl.gov or by phone (630) 252-3769.

Register Now!