Date/Time
Date(s) - 27/11/2024
10:30 am - 11:30 am

Location
Physics and Astronomy Department

ABB 102

Speaker: Dr. Kirk Atkinson

Title: Associate Professor and Associate Industrial Research Chair
Ontario Tech University
Dr. Atkinson Profile Link

Title: From submarines to SMRs

Abstract:

In the postwar period, as West versus East jockeyed for global dominance, the nuclear submarine was born. Powered (mostly) by pressurized water reactors, independent of air, submarines were capable of remaining submerged for months at a time, the invisible threat providing a deterrent to potential enemies. The technological progress that facilitated this is, in large part, why, across the world, civil nuclear energy generation looks as it does today – dominated by light water reactors. Recently, with averting the climate crisis front of mind, we hear much about the promise of small modular reactors. Most people see SMRs as something new, nuclear skeptics using this to lobby against them, but really, how they work, are manufactured, and in some cases operated, is often just borrowing from seven decades of experience making reactors for undersea applications.
This seminar will explore the history of nuclear propulsion, how this has influenced civil nuclear energy, and how the lessons learned apply today. Importantly, this silent success story should provide some degree of confidence in the deployability of SMRs in Canada, and around the world.