Abstract
During the recent pandemic, the world has grown more sensitized and concerned about climate change as expressed by the outcomes of the recent COP26 and COP27 conferences in 2021 and 2022, respectively. The mission of the many participant nations was to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels in the generation of electricity, or to embrace a decarbonization process. That is, most nations are committed to rely more and more on clean energy sources such as solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermic and, of course, nuclear. At this moment the USA still has the world largest fleet of light water reactors (92) which currently produce approximately 50% of the clean electricity consumed in the country. Recent legislation in the USA has provided funds to the private sector to prevent the premature shutdown of operating commercial nuclear power plants. The goal of the US Department of Energy is not only to keep existing nuclear plants operating but also to build new capacity through advanced reactors including micro reactors, small modular reactors, and larger scale Gen III and Gen IV reactors. It is argued that the commercialization of accident tolerant fuels (ATF) in the next quinquennium may contribute to the life extension of current light water reactors.
Biography
Dr. Raul B. Rebak is a corrosion research scientist at General Electric Research in Schenectady, New York since 2007. Previously he was the lead for materials corrosion testing in the Yucca Mountain Project at the University of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Raul has more than 30 years’ experience in environmental degradation processes of materials in many fields including nuclear power, oil & gas, energy storage, healthcare, transportation, and aerospace. Raul is a Fellow of both NACE International and ASM International.