Identifying Best Performance Scenarios For Micro Nuclear Reactors During Grid Disruption

Carlan Ivey; Michael Kay; Kristin Thoney-barletta; Thom Hodgson; Brandon Mcconnell

Identifying Best Performance Scenarios For Micro Nuclear Reactors During Grid Disruption

Abstract

Micro Nuclear Reactors (MNRs) are an emerging innovation in nuclear technology as small, portable, and self-sufficient reactor units in the size of a standard 40-foot shipping container. An MNR functions as a "nuclear battery," where each unit can power load capacities from 500 kilowatts (kW) to 5 megawatts (MW) over the lifetime of 1–10 years. This technology may deploy by the end of the 2020 decade, so private and government organizations have prepared for potential operational use for energy resilience. This research develops an emergency grid disruption timeline with MNR deployments to respond and recover grids after severe weather events. This response integrates a series of models for transportation networks, power distribution, and decision strategies that utilize MNR capabilities while using real-world disruption events within the past decade for scenarios. The study then seeks to analyze the performance of MNRs when using different deployment strategies for emergency grid disruption response. First, this research investigates the trade-offs between time and cost in the emergency grid disruption timeline when integrating MNRs. This research also explores the conditions of disruption scenarios that contribute to the best MNR performance in grid recovery.

Keywords

Supporting Institution

The fourth author was supported in part by a grant from the Center for Additive Manufacturing and Logistics (CAMAL).

Thanks

The authors benefited greatly from thoughtful suggestions from Dr. Russell E. King both during research and the writing of this paper. A special thanks to Dr. Biays Bowerman and Dr. Susan Peppers for their mentorship of the first author.

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Query Processing and Optimisation , Modelling and Simulation , Planning and Decision Making

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Carlan Ivey This is me
United States

Michael Kay
0000-0002-1359-8270
United States

Kristin Thoney-barletta This is me
0000-0002-8374-8633
United States

Thom Hodgson This is me
0000-0002-8077-4780
United States

Brandon Mcconnell ^*
0000-0003-0091-215X
United States

Publication Date

December 20, 2024

Submission Date

November 5, 2024

Acceptance Date

November 17, 2024

Published in Issue

Year 2024 Volume: 1 Number: 2

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA28MS37BZ

Cite

RIS / Bibtex

APA

Ivey, C., Kay, M., Thoney-barletta, K., Hodgson, T., & Mcconnell, B. (2024). Identifying Best Performance Scenarios For Micro Nuclear Reactors During Grid Disruption. Transactions on Computer Science and Applications, 1(2), 78-89. https://izlik.org/JA28MS37BZ