April 2026
Designing Advanced Fuels for the Next Generation of Nuclear Reactors
Samrat Choudhury, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Mississippi.
One of the great challenges mankind faces in this century is to develop alternative technologies to meet our daunting energy needs in an environmentally sustainable way. With world-population predicted to be nine billion by the year 2050, various energy analyses conclude that even with most aggressive energy conservation our energy needs are expected to double by 2050 and triple by the end of this century. Among the various sustainable energy alternatives, nuclear energy is the most proven one (with 16% of world energy and 18-20% of US energy is supplied through nuclear energy) with very small carbon footprint. Currently, nuclear fuel can only be used until about 6 to 8 % burn-up, reducing the efficiency of nuclear fuel as well as increasing generation of nuclear waste. These factors limit the wide adaption of nuclear energy. To generate exceedingly high throughput of nuclear energy to meet our energy needs as well as to reduce generation of nuclear waste would require rapid discovery and subsequent qualification of advanced fuels for next generation of fission reactors.
Tuesday, April 21, 2026, 6:00pm - 7:00pm
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