ABSTRACT

Energy’s Innate Features ...................................................................................................349 14.4 STAR-H2 Design Description .......................................................................................... 351

14.4.1 Reactor Design Overview ..................................................................................... 351 14.4.1.1 Reactor Core and Fuel ............................................................................ 351 14.4.1.2 Thermal-Hydraulics................................................................................ 351

14.4.2 BOP Design ............................................................................................................. 351 14.4.2.1 Intermediate Heat Transport Circuit .................................................... 351 14.4.2.2 Water Cracking Cycle ............................................................................. 351 14.4.2.3 Brayton Cycle ........................................................................................... 358 14.4.2.4 Desalination Plant ................................................................................... 359

14.4.3 Plant Safety Design ................................................................................................ 359 14.4.3.1 Overall Safety Considerations .............................................................. 359 14.4.3.2 Structure of the Defense in Depth ........................................................360 14.4.3.3 Passive Load Follow Capability ............................................................360 14.4.3.4 Passive Safety Response .........................................................................363 14.4.3.5 Beyond Design Base Events and Elimination of Need for Off-Site Emergency Response .........................................................368 14.4.3.6 Probability of Unacceptable Radioactivity Release beyond

Plant Boundaries ..................................................................................... 369 14.4.4 Fuel Cycle and Sustainability ............................................................................... 369

14.4.4.1 Fuel Cycle Technology ............................................................................ 369 14.4.4.2 Sustainability, Waste Management, and Minimum Adverse

Environmental Impacts ........................................................................ 370 14.5 STAR-H2 Development and Funding Status ................................................................. 371

14.5.1 Development Strategy ........................................................................................... 371 14.5.2 Status of R&D Funding ......................................................................................... 373

14.6 Other Battery-Type Systems for Hydrogen Production ............................................... 373 Acknowledgment ........................................................................................................................ 374 Disclaimer .................................................................................................................................... 374 References ..................................................................................................................................... 374

The secure transportable autonomous reactor for hydrogen production (STAR-H2), is an element of a proposed, sustainable global, mid-twenty-Œrst century hierarchical hub-spoke nuclear energy supply architecture. This energy architecture will use uranium as the energy resource; will use nuclear fuel, hydrogen, and electricity as the energy carriers; and will contribute to all primary energy requirements-not electricity alone. STAR-H2 power plants will operate in a Œssile self-sufŒcient (core conversion ratio equal one) mode on very long (15-20 years) refueling interval of entire core refueling cassettes, and will produce hydrogen, oxygen, and potable water to service cities and their surrounding regions under an assumed distributed electrical-generation network based  on fuel cells and micro turbines and an assumed transportation sector using hydrogen-fueled vehicles.