Matthew Memmott

Matthew Memmott
Brigham Young University | BYU · Department of Chemical Engineering

About

28
Publications
2,032
Reads
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221
Citations
Additional affiliations
September 2005 - May 2009
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Position
  • Research Assistant

Publications

Publications (28)
Article
The selection of a salt species for use in a molten salt reactor MSR is a key part of any MSR design. However, many salts have sparse or no thermophysical property data sets, especially those with higher melting points. One such salt is the eutectic mixture of (NaF)0.345(KF)0.59(MgF2)0.065, or FMgNaK, and is explored here through ab initio molecula...
Article
Multi-objective optimization is proposed to address the problem of design optimality in the nuclear power plant design process. This is done via the creation/development of the Optimization and Preference Tool for the Improvement of Nuclear Systems (OPTIONS). This work details applications of multi-objective optimization methods (in Python 3) to tw...
Article
The Integral, Inherently Safe Light Water Reactor (I²S-LWR) is an innovative Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) concept being developed by a multi-institutional team led by Georgia Tech and in collaboration with Westinghouse, under the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy University Programs Integrated Research Projects (DOE NEUP IRP). The University...
Conference Paper
Multi-objective optimization is a powerful tool that has been successfully applied to many fields but has seen minimal use in the design and development of nuclear power plant systems. When applied to design, multi-objective optimization involves the manipulation of key design parameters in order to develop optimal designs. These design parameters...
Conference Paper
A passive endothermic reaction cooling system (PERCS) is proposed to provide reactor core cooling during a station blackout (SBO). During a SBO, a PWR in which PERCS has been installed has a peak reactor core outlet temperature remains below 640 K (692.3°F) for 30 days, which is well below the nominal accident core outlet temperature during a SBO....
Article
The Integral Inherently Safe Light Water Reactor (I²S-LWR) is a novel reactor design concept which aims at delivering an electric power output level comparable to that of large LWRs (approximately 1000 MWe), while at the same time achieving an overall level of safety that is enhanced with respect to large Generation III+ LWRs. One of the main safet...
Article
This analysis compares the cost of various electric grid scenarios at the national level over a one-year period. Scenarios include high renewable, zero nuclear, zero carbon, and deployment of advanced nuclear. Additionally, several carbon tax scenarios are explored in the model to further assess the cost generation if the current nuclear fleet reti...
Conference Paper
Pressurized water reactor of integral configuration (iPWR) offers inherent safety features, such as the possibility to completely eliminate large-break LOCA and control rod ejection. However, integral configuration implemented using the current PWR technology leads to a larger reactor vessel, which in turn, due to the vessel manufacturability and t...
Article
The Integral, Inherently Safe Light Water Reactor (I²S-LWR) concept seeks to significantly increase nuclear power plant safety. The project implements a safety-by-design philosophy, eliminating several initiating events and providing novel, passive safety systems at the conceptual phase. Pursuit of unparalleled safety employs an integrated developm...
Article
Nuclear power has enormous potential to provide clean, affordable baseload electricity worldwide. The events at Fukushima demonstrated, however, that nuclear safety must be enhanced in order to fully realize the latent potential of nuclear electricity. Small modular reactors, in particular, create significant safety benefits by eliminating large bo...
Article
The integral, inherently safe light water reactor (I²S-LWR) has been developed to significantly enhance passive safety capabilities while maintaining cost competitiveness relative to the current light water reactor (LWR) fleet. The compact heat exchangers of the I²S-LWR preclude boiling of the secondary fluid, which decreases the probability of hea...
Article
This article presents a collaborative system, called SCORE, useful for a multi-disciplinary team designing a new nuclear power plant (NPP). It was developed during the first phase of the I2S-LWR project (Integral Inherently Safe Light Water Reactor). SCORE enables the generation of design cards (DCs). A DC includes four main spaces (Boy, 2005): (1)...
Article
Integral pressurized water reactors are innovative reactors in which all of the components typically associated with the nuclear steam supply system of a nuclear power station are located within the reactor pressure vessel. In order to facilitate this modification in large [similar to 1000-MW(electric)] light water reactors (LWRs), compact heat exc...
Article
The Integral Inherently Safe (I²S-LWR) reactor was designed to improve the safety performance of PWR types reactors, and several design basis accidents were eliminated using innovative approaches to the I²S-LWR plant layout. However, some accidents such as station blackout (SBO), main steam line break (MSLB) type accident - the secondary hot leg br...
Patent
Full-text available
A nuclear reactor having a liquid metal or molten salt coolant in a riser space 130′, has a cylindrical containment vessel 134 with a reactor vessel 120′, at least two lobes 121, preferably three to nine lobes 121, each lobe 121 interconnected with the other lobe(s) and each containing a fast reactor core, 116′, 116″, 116″ and 116″″.
Article
The I2S-LWR design concept is currently being developed with insights gained from previous reactor risk studies. A risk-informed mindset will also support this process moving forward. Certain parameters are still open to change at this time, such as the RPV height which depends on the performance of the pressurizer and size requirement of the HHITs...
Article
The sodium fast reactor (SFR) is currently being reconsidered as an instrument for actinide management throughout the world, thanks in part to international programs such as the Generation-IV and especially the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). The success of these programs, in particular the GNEP, is dependent upon the ability of the SFR t...
Article
Rising natural gas prices and growing concern over CO[subscript 2] emissions have intensified interest in alternative methods for producing hydrogen. Nuclear energy can be used to produce hydrogen through thermochemical and/or electrochemical processes. This report investigates the feasibility of high temperature steam electrolysis (HTSE) coupled w...
Article
The Westinghouse Small Modular Reactor (SMR) is an 800 MWt (>225 MWe) integral pressurized water reactor (iPWR), in which all of the components typically associated with the nuclear steam supply system (NSSS) of a nuclear power plant are incorporated within a single reactor pressure vessel. This paper is the second in a series of four papers which...
Article
The Westinghouse Small Modular Reactor (SMR) is an 800 MWt (>225 MWe) integral pressurized water reactor (iPWR), in which all of the components typically associated with the nuclear steam supply system (NSSS) of a nuclear power plant are incorporated within a single reactor pressure vessel. This paper is the first in a series of four papers which d...
Article
Two innovative fuel concepts, the internally and externally cooled annular fuel and the bottle-shaped fuel, were investigated with the goal of increasing the power density and reducing the pressure drop in the sodium-cooled fast reactor, respectively. The concepts were explored for both high- and low-conversion core configurations and for metal and...
Article
The capabilities of the RELAP5-3D code to perform subchannel analyses in sodium-cooled fuel assemblies were evaluated. The motivation was the desire to analyze fuel assemblies with traditional (solid pins) as well as non-traditional (e.g., annular pins with internal cooling, bottle-shape) geometries. Since no current subchannel codes can handle suc...
Article
Using a RELAP5-3D subchannel analysis model, the thermal-hydraulic behavior of sodium-cooled fuel assemblies with internally and externally cooled annular fuel rods was investigated, in an effort to enhance the economic performance of sodium-fast reactors by increasing the core power density, decreasing the core pressure drop, and extending the fue...
Article
The sodium fast reactor (SFR) is currently being reconsidered as an instrument for actinide management throughout the world, thanks in part to international programs such as the Generation-IV and especially the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). The success of these programs, in particular the GNEP, is dependent upon the ability of the SFR t...
Article
Full-text available
Rising natural gas prices and growing concern over CO₂ emissions have intensified interest in alternative methods for producing hydrogen. Nuclear energy can be used to produce hydrogen through thermochemical and/or electrochemical processes. This thesis investigates the feasibility of high temperature steam electrolysis (HTSE) coupled with an advan...

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