Clean Core Thorium Energy: Unlocking the potential of nuclear power by transforming today’s existing reactors into advanced systems.
Mark Nelson of Radiant Energy is an amazing communicator. I'm a fan, following him on Twitter, where he goes by the handle EnergyBants...
https://twitter.com/energybants
...and the many podcasts he's joined, such as his appearances on DECOUPLE.
As an example of what Mark might typically get up to, Radiant Energy wrote a nice little report, "Life Extension and Restoration of Germany’s Reactors. Can it Be Done?" (Answer: Yes.) https://www.radiantenergygroup.com/reports/life-extension-and-restoration-of-germany-s-reactors-can-it-be-done
On 2022-10-13 (Oct 13th, 2022) Mark announced at Thorium Energy Alliance Conference #11, that a new type of nuclear fuel, ANEEL, was "waiting to go into a test reactor TODAY."
ANEEL combines HALEU (High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium) with Thorium to address some of the disadvantages of heavy-water reactors such as CANDU.
I'm Canadian. Canada makes CANDU... or at least is actively refurbishing them. I'd very much like to see a CANDU constructed in my home province of Alberta. To say I'm excited about this is an understatement, as I think ANEEL makes it more likely Alberta will one day be generating clean energy from a CANDU.
Canadians don't need ANEEL. We can keep running CANDU on natural uranium, and soon start recycling the used fuel in Molten SSR-W. But, gee isn't it great to have options! Love me some options.
(Alberta is still the signed-the-SMR-MOU province without an SMR plan. While I'd love to see a MSR deployed here, I'll also fight for a CANDU.)
Prose from the presentation slides follow...
Clean Core changes the smallest component (fuel pellet) of a reactor system with world-leading safety and a modular core that can be refuelled during operation.
Meltdowns like those suffered at TMI or Fukushima Daiichi cannot occur in a PHWR, making it an excellent choice for countries to deploy and Clean Core to focus on.
Clean Core’s fuel requires no modifications to the PHWR platform. Instead, Clean Core will be replacing the natural uranium fuel pellets with our proprietary fuel pellets.
Each one-centimeter ANEEL fuel pellet can power a household for a year.
~10% Reduced Operating cost through fuel.
~88% Reduced Waste management and storage.
Improved Safety: Proliferation resistance & accident tolerance.
(Does Mark Nelson proclaim this is "accident tolerant fuel"? No he does not, because he's NOT an idiot, and is aware of downside to the industry when such phrases are used... However, ANEEL does happen to be... accident tolerant fuel. Let's just keep this between us.)
Without modifying a reactor, Clean Core’s ANEEL fuel provides significant cost & performance benefits to the PHWR (including CANDU) platform.
Mehul Shah: Founder & CEO Executive with 3 decades of experience scaling major multinational enterprises. Seed investor & strategist responsible for Clean Core’s business development.
Elina Teplinsky: Legal Counsel Partner in Pillsbury’s Energy & International Nuclear Projects practices. Internationally recognized expert in nuclear trade & export control issues.
Dr. Paul Chan: Head of Technology RMC of Canada Professor and award-winning Canadian nuclear scientist. Oversees R&D strategy and acts as the technical point-of-contact for ANEEL Fuel.
Dr. Koroush Shirvan: Head of Fuel Design MIT Professor and internationally recognized nuclear fuel and design expert. Oversees ANEEL Fuel performance and multi-physics simulation capability.
From regulators to technologists, each member of Clean Core’s team is a leader in their respective field and an invaluable asset to the success of the ANEEL fuel.
Inside Baseball
I had no idea Mark was about to speak about Thorium Energy Alliance, or even Kirk's video. Personally, I appreciate and 99% agree we're focusing too much on technology... I'd already been making an effort in person-to-person outreach, not because I see it as the lowest-hanging-fruit, but because I felt I personally had no real idea how average people respond to my own enthusiasm for nuclear.
99% of the viewers on my YouTube channels are male, but 1/3 of the visitors to my table were female. Huh. ("Stand-Up For Nuclear / Canadians For Nuclear Energy" table in Calgary.)
The downside of Mark's very directly speaking-to-TEAC11-attendees message, is that I think it is a bit too inside baseball for a general audience. Which isn't to say this video can't go viral or reach a lot of people. (Hope, hope, hope.)
But I'm expecting after I'm done editing TEAC11 talks, I'll return to ANEEL and see if there's a less-TEAC11-specific version (or two) that can be also created.
I have some playful back-and-forth between Dr. Stephen Boyd and Mark Nelson regarding Th-MSR vs ANEEL captured. Have not reviewed that footage yet, but I asked them to try a comedic angle... we tried something different.
More to come.
(Image stolen from Dr. Chris Keefer's "We CANDU It!" podcast.)