Ep 16: Don Wolf, Advanced Reactor Concepts

Episode Content: The ARC origen story through resurrection of a decades old nuclear prototype EBR-2 A technical discussion on "closing the fuel cycle", "breeding", "electrochemical refining" The advantages of ARC from a Waste, Cost, Safety and matching market conditions A discussion of sodium and "pool type" vs "loop type" design A discussion of metallic uranium fuel vs uranium oxide Negative reactivity feedback characteristics enabled by neutron leakage Historical examples of this style reactor's inherent safety features A quick comparison of the four metal fuel designs ARC, PRISM, OKLO, and TERRAPOWER Nuclear economics and how to balance economies of scale vs diseconomies of scale Advantages of the Canadian Licensing Regime: 2 stages & risk-based approach