New reactor concepts and safety analyzes for the Polish nuclear energy industry

Project title

Name of Beneficiary/Beneficiaries

National Center for Nuclear Research

Name of programme

Operational Program “Knowledge, Education, Development”

Competition

Interdisciplinary doctoral study programs

Project value

PLN 1,890,000.00

Funding value

PLN 1,833,300.00

Project delivery period

01.10.2018 – 31.12.2023

Our team

Prof. Mariusz P. Dąbrowski, Sc.D. – project manager
Karol Kowal, Sc.D. – scientific secretary of the project
Magdalena Kośla, M.Sc. – administrative coordinator
Jolanta Kowal, M.Sc. – financial coordinator

Results of our work

The aim of the project was to support the Center’s doctoral students pursuing research topics related to new concepts of high-temperature nuclear reactors capable of generating process heat above 550°C for the Polish chemical industry, as well as cheap hydrogen. The reactors considered in the project were a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) and a very high-temperature double-fluid reactor (DFR) the technology of which has been patented in 28 countries around the world by one of the project’s supervisors. As part of the project, a series of studies and analyses were carried out on the physical basis, design and implementation of the HTGR and DFR technologies, as well as their safety. The original research results were published in 19 articles in renowned international scientific journals (http://phd4gen.pl/publications) and presented at numerous conferences, seminars and symposia.

Issues addressed

The project contributed to the implementation of the Specific Objective of the Operational Program “Knowledge, Education, Development” (PO WER), which is to increase quality and effectiveness of education in doctoral studies. This goal was achieved by increasing quality of the study program and the success rate in the form of the number of doctoral students obtaining a doctoral degree after completing their studies. Over 60 candidates from all over the world applied for recruitment. Of the 14 project participants who were accepted to study, 10 people obtained the degree of doctor of physical sciences on schedule, and the remaining 4 people studied for no longer than 15 months.

The high quality of studies was achieved by developing and implementing a unique program of 16 interdisciplinary lectures combining reactor physics, material research and probabilistic methods of safety analysis – thanks to the work of a team of 6 professors, nuclear energy specialists, and also thanks to cooperation with foreign research centers such as the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (USA), the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm (Sweden) and the Technical University of Munich (Germany). The increase in the success rate of completing studies with a doctoral degree was achieved, among others, thanks to the introduction of monthly foreign internships in leading research centers into the study program. and possibility of direct cooperation with representatives of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) in the field of the HTGR technology and with the designers of the patented DFR reactor.

As part of the project, two international summer schools were held and the lecturers included scientists from the University of Michigan (USA), Tsinghua University (China), VTT Technical Research Center (Finland) and the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. Classes in the field of intellectual property law and patenting results of scientific work were also an important factor for the further scientific development of graduates of the PHD4GEN program.

Project beneficiaries

The results of doctoral theses were published in 19 articles in renowned international journals, partly in open access mode. The material contained in these theses is still published in journals and is also used to build test installations and design reactors. The highly specialized knowledge and skills of graduates acquired as part of the project allowed some of them to be employed at the National Center for Nuclear Research and in postdoctoral positions at foreign institutes. These people are involved in work on the development of new nuclear technologies, HTGRs and DFRs. They can also support the development of Polish nuclear energy in the area of light water technologies and small modular reactors. The experience of the lead and auxiliary supervisors, lecturers and management staff of the project will be used to implement the new National Center for Nuclear Research doctoral studies program in the discipline of Environmental Engineering, Mining and Energy, focused on reactor technologies.