Speaker: Dr. Brian Egle, Oak Ridge National Lab
Title: Plasma Based Stable Isotope Enrichment
Abstract:
Brian Egle is an Oak Ridge National Laboratory Weinberg Fellow and a Department of Energy Oppenheimer Fellow. He currently leads an 80-person multidisciplinary team focused on advancing enrichment technology and increasing the availability of enriched stable isotopes for a broad array of applications.
Enriched stable isotopes are critical raw materials in nuclear science and engineering, with uses in advanced fission and fusion reactors, basic science, healthcare, national security, and quantum science. Gram-scale enrichment initially began with E.O. Lawrence's calutrons immediately after World War II, continuing through 1998, and is now being reinvented at Oak Ridge. The Electromagnetic Isotope Separation (EMIS) program integrates plasma physics, chemistry, material science, engineering, and operations to research, develop, and deploy flexible capacity for future applications.
The advancement of a kilogram-to-ton scale flexible enrichment technology will enable the creation of isotopically tailored nuclear materials, improving the performance of materials in the current reactor fleet as well as next-generation fission and fusion reactor designs. For instance, replacing natural gadolinium burnable poison used in the current light water reactor fleet with enriched gadolinium-157 would reduce spent fuel and save over $100 million. (EPRI 2017) The Plasma Separation Process (PSP), which employs Ion Cyclotron Resonance to selectively heat different mass-to-charge ratios, is a previously tested enrichment method scalable to the ton scale. ORNL is exploring the re-establishment of PSP technology to facilitate this next generation of large-scale isotopic applications.
Electric Power Research Institute (2017) Cost and Benefit Evaluation of Using Enriched Gadolinium, Product ID 3002010750.
Egle, B, et al., Plasma Separation Process Feasibility Study for Commercial Enrichment of Gadolinium-157. 2020, Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI).
Bio:
Brian J. Egle, PhD, is a Distinguished Scientist and Section Head at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) with over 20 years of professional experience, including 16 years as a researcher, Weinberg Fellow, and Oppenheimer Fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and five years in manufacturing as an industrial and design engineer.
Dr. Egle leads the Plasma Enrichment Science and Engineering Section, which supports the Department of Energy's (DOE) Isotope Research and Production Program. This rapidly growing mission involves complex high-hazard, secure, research and development, and production scopes of work to supply enriched stable isotopes to international user communities. The section comprises over 70 staff members, including physicists, chemists, operations specialists and engineers specializing in electrical, mechanical, nuclear, industrial, and chemical disciplines.
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