Working closely with models has its challenges, said a Virginia Tech professor, but these are exciting times to be researching for the future of nuclear power.
With a recent grant for almost $500,000 from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, researchers at Virginia Tech will work to improve computer models that are used to study the safety of nuclear power plants, said Yang Liu, associate professor of nuclear engineering.
“The NRC, as a government agency, they want to evaluate what happens if there’s a power outage, if there’s a flood, or an earthquake,” Liu said. “But to get an answer, they cannot do experiments. They cannot just break a pipe or turn off the power, because that’s very dangerous.”
So, computer codes are used to simulate conditions in nuclear reactors and evaluate the safety of power plants in various scenarios, he said. By knowing how a nuclear reactor might react to any number of conditions, safety can be improved.
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“This research project is very fundamental… It will improve nuclear industry safety in general,” Liu said. “It will improve the current understanding of the physical phenomena, and improve the code.”
Liu is director of the Multiphase Flow and Thermal-Hydraulics Laboratory at Virginia Tech, where he is leading graduate students in developing new measurement techniques for bubble nucleation and droplet dynamics, among other research efforts.
“The research project that Virginia Tech is performing for NRC is essentially we take some experiment data using a laboratory-scale facility,” Liu said. “Then we’ll use the data to benchmark the models, which will be used for NRC to evaluate the safety of nuclear power plants.”
Once ready, the new computations are expected to greatly improve measurement accuracy compared to current methods, according to the grant application.
Nuclear power plants are among the safest and most secure facilities in the world, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. About 19% of total electricity generated in the United States comes from nuclear power, according to 2021 data from the US Energy Information Administration.
But accidents at nuclear power facilities can adversely affect people and the environment, making safety central to their design, location and operations.
“This is a very exciting opportunity for Virginia Tech, for our nuclear engineering program,” Liu said. “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done.”
And beyond Blacksburg, it’s an exciting time for Virginians interested in clean energy advancements, he said.
“Clearly the governor is in support of nuclear power, which accounts for a large portion of the carbon-free energy generated in Virginia,” Liu said. “We’re very glad… we just don’t know the details yet.”
In a plan released by the Virginia Department of Energy this October, Gov. Glenn Youngkin said Virginia needs to go all-in on innovation in nuclear and various other forms of generating clean energy.
“Energy innovation will not just honor our calling to environmental stewardship,” Youngkin wrote. “It will deliver economic development and job creation opportunities across the Commonwealth, including in Southwest Virginia, where this plan calls for launching a commercial small modular nuclear reactor in the next 10 years.”
Nuclear power accounts for about 14% of the state’s total power capacity. A further 50% of that capacity is natural gas, according to 2021 data included in the recent state energy plan.
Two nuclear power stations in Surry and Louisa counties produce roughly 95% of the state’s reliable, clean energy, the plan said.
Southwest Virginia could become a site for a nuclear power station.
With an advancement in nuclear fusion announced by scientists earlier this week in California, Liu at Virginia Tech said he is glad to work in a field that has such potential to positively impact the future of energy production.
“We need to go nuclear to reduce carbon emissions and bring clean energy into the state,” Liu said. “That’s going to benefit the future generations.”
A major landmark in clean energy creation has been achieved via a nuclear fusion experiment. Researchers at the US’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) achieved fusion ignition on 5 December 2022. It is hoped the landmark breakthrough at LLNL’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) will pave the way for advancements in national defense and the future of clean power. The milestone is also known as scientific energy breakeven which refers to the point where the fusion experiment produced more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it. Fusion is the process by which two light nuclei combine to form a single heavier nucleus, releasing a large amount of energy. This first-of-its-kind feat will provide invaluable insights into the prospects of clean fusion energy. Achieving this would be a game-changer for efforts to achieve President Biden’s goal of a net-zero carbon economy. However, many advanced science and technology developments are still needed to achieve simple, affordable IFE to power homes and businesses so abundant clean energy may be a little way off yet.
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