Koroush Shirvan isn’t a zoologist, but he’s well acquainted with moose, bison, cobras, and falcons, to name a few.
Like anyone working in the world of advanced research on nuclear power, this assistant professor in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Nuclear Science & Engineering department deals daily in initialisms and acronyms, which for Shirvan include MOOSE, BISON, COBRA, FALCON, and dozens more.
One of Shirvan’s areas of expertise is accident-tolerant fuels (ATF), and he served as the executive director of an Integrated Research Project (IRP) titled, Development of Accident Tolerant Fuel Options For Near-Term Applications. The multi-institution project was funded by the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP).
At the outset, the project was framed with a clear understanding that it wasn’t intended to find one magical answer about which ATF concept was the best. Rather, the objective was to take the necessary, practical step of understanding the different ATF concepts, develop computational tools, and set out a pathway that leads to a down-select process.
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Goldner, in turn, has high praise for Shirvan, the “powerhouse” universities on the team, and Framatome’s role in providing the base material for coatings. “If you are looking for a poster child of something that has worked well, this one is it,” Goldner said.
Indeed, Framatome’s involvement was vital and required high levels of trust and cooperation in navigating the process, technical and legal considerations.
View the full story at the official Nuclear Energy University Program site.