Title:

Recycling of Nuclear Fuel: Challenges and Opportunities for the Future

Speaker:

Dr. Mikael Nilsson

Affiliation:

University of California - Irvine

When:

Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 11:00:00 AM   Add to Calendar

Where:

Boggs Building, Room 3-47, 3rd FL

Host:

Dr. Farzad Rahnema
farzad@gatech.edu
(404) 894-3731

Abstract

In the world today, nuclear energy comprises ~15% of the total electricity mix. This power source produces no CO2 during the operation of the plants and can provide bulk power to industry and households 24/7. Concerns about CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) have caused the world demand of nuclear power to rise. With increasing interest in nuclear energy, we are facing a problem of sharing the readily available uranium resources. To increase the energy utilization and decrease the radiotoxicity of the waste advanced concepts for fuel reprocessing are being investigated on a global scale. A successful advanced nuclear fuel cycle, require one or several chemical separations steps to fractionate the different elements in spent fuel. In this presentation some methods and technologies available today will be discussed as well as future directions. The current research carried out at UC Irvine on this topic will be presented.

Biography

Dr. Mikael Nilsson joined the department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at University of California – Irvine in January 2009. His expertise is in the field of nuclear energy and nuclear waste treatment, and encompasses both the fundamental and applied aspects of the field. Dr. Nilsson specializes in separations technologies as they apply to the reprocessing of spent fuel from nuclear reactors. Dr. Nilsson also studies the effects of degradation by radiation on solvents and chemicals used for nuclear waste management. Dr. Nilsson received both his M.S. degree in chemical engineering (2000) and a Ph.D. in nuclear chemistry (2005) from Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden.