K-State Professor Hitesh Bindra has received a nearly $800,000 grant to investigate safety in horizontally oriented micro-scale nuclear reactors designed for shipping in standard-sized containers.
Bindra will lead the three-year project, "Investigating heat transfer in horizontally oriented HTGR under normal and PCC conditions," for the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering.
Bindra leads the project, a coordination of colleagues from other institutions, including Idaho State University, City College of New York and the Idaho National Laboratory. Industrial advisors from Framatome and the Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation will support the project team.
Microreactors are a new class of nuclear reactors that are factory-fabricated, rated to less than 20 megawatts and designed to be transportable for delivering heat and power to different destinations. Helium-cooled microreactors are currently undergoing design improvements to fit in a standard-sized shipping container, making them more accessible and convenient.
"This project will investigate the new design aspects for the horizontally oriented reactors and evaluate their potential to achieve passive safety features," Bindra said. "Unlike currently operating nuclear reactors, these helium-cooled microreactors are expected to be autonomously controlled and can ensure passive long-term heat removal under all off-normal conditions, making them inherently safe."
Bindra, a Steve Hsu keystone research scholar and associate professor in the K-State Alan Levin Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, came to KSU in spring 2014 and established the Nuclear Energy Systems Transport (Nu-EST) Laboratory.
Research in Bindra’s lab uses innovative experimental and computational tool to understand micro to macro scale transport of matter and radiation.