Reliable and deployable energy sources play a central role in overcoming many of the challenges that humanity will face in the coming decades. As the climate crisis worsens, the world is urgently looking for sustainable, carbon neutral and reliable energy sources to power our homes, industries and transportation systems. Among the various options, nuclear energy stands out as the frontrunner, offering a compelling combination of carbon-free power generation, efficiency and versatility. While large nuclear power plants can generate significant amounts of electricity with low greenhouse gas emissions, their operation is optimized for base load operation. Small modular reactors offer the potential for flexible deployment, improved safety features and less nuclear waste compared to conventional large power plants but feature same inherent inadaptability as existing large scale NPPs.
Based on Charles Darwin’s principle that the ones who survive are the ones most adapt to change, we aim at performing research and development of the DARWIN platform — Dispatchable Adaptive Reactor With Interchangeable componeNts. The DARWIN platform provides adaptability to the rapidly evolving landscape of energy production and is a versatile platform designed to facilitate transitional technologies. DARWIN will be designed so that its reactor core and secondary systems can be adapted to suit specific needs, be it for electricity production, direct heat, radiolysis, flood pumping, waste management, isotope production, desalination and hydrogen production.
The project will first aim to understand the current energy needs and the need of alternative reactor utilization. Based on these needs a set of variable reactor assemblies will be designed that will address four predicted module designs: a fast response module, high neutron flux module, high temperature module and a natural nuclear fuel module. In the culmination of the project, fundamental reactor design quantalities such as criticality, control, cooling, waste and assembly interconnectivity will be addressed.