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The Traveling Wave Reactor is the manifestation of the work of many theorists in the field of nuclear energy. The ‘lighting’ of a mass of fertile nuclear fuel, resulting in a controlled wave of nuclear power, has the potential to efficiently use nuclear fuel in a never-before manner. The presentation will address the need for large amounts of electricity in the future, the basics of the Traveling Wave Reactor, the genesis of TerraPower, key present technological challenges faced by the program, and the efforts in place to overcome these challenges.
Dr. Jon McWhirter, P.E., has over 20 years of analytical and experimental experience with alkali metal systems. His professional career spans the military (US Navy Nuclear-Trained Submarine Officer), academic (Idaho State University and St. Martin’s University), government (Naval Shipyard Nuclear Engineer), foreign (International Fellow at the MONJU Fast Breeder Reactor Plant in Japan), and commercial (TerraPower, LLC) activities. His specific expertise is in liquid metal fluid flow, heat transfer, and magnetohydrodynamics and other applications of magnetic fields. In his twelve years at TerraPower, LLC, Jon has been the Lead Engineer for various manifestations of the Traveling Wave Reactor Main Heat Transport and Steam Generation systems. He has also invented several flow control and reactivity control devices for sodium-cooled nuclear plants.