29.10.2018 troels schönfeldt, ceo tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · troels schönfeldt, ceo. the...

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29.10.2018 [email protected] Troels Schönfeldt, CEO

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Page 1: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

29.10.2018

[email protected] Schönfeldt, CEO

Page 2: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

The fundamental equation of prosperity

Page 3: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

Good news everyone!

More and more people are getting access to electricity.

Page 4: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

Bad news everyone!

We are destroying the planet…

Page 5: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

The dilemma

same population density

Satellite image of poverty7 billion people today - 9 billion in 2050

Despite serious effortsglobal CO2 emissions continue to rise

By The New York Times | Source: Global Carbon Project (2017)

Page 6: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

We will:Enable the free market to fight the runaway GHG-emission and eliminate energy

poverty.

By:Commercializing a scalable, cheaper-than-coal, dispatchable energy source

(by the mid-2020s)

Page 7: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

Molten Salt Reactor (MSR)A fundamentally different class of nuclear reactor which has been built and operated 3+ timesOur design: 1. CANNOT be used for nuclear weapons2. Burns waste from conventional reactors3. CANNOT meltdown or explode

Page 8: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

Safety-by-physics rather than safety-by-engineeringFuel and coolant is the same, i.e. loss of coolant = loss of power Cannot meltdown

Atmospheric operating pressure No risk of pressure explosions

No explosive gas production No risk of gas explosions

Chemical stability in liquid No dangerous radioactive gasses

Thermodynamic equilibrium control Walk-away safe

Due to the inherent safety, MSRs are economically superior to conventional nuclear

Page 9: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

Liquid fuel

This result in a list of upsides, e.g.:• Higher power density• Output temperature is the maximum temperature

(LWR fuel is ~2000°C, but the output is 300°C)• Homogeneous burnup• Residual decay heat is diluted• An exceptionally fast temperature response

(it’s “self regulating”)• Does not depend on in-reactor heat exchange – thus can be

optimized for “other” features than surface area (next slide)

Page 10: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

Optimal configuration

LWRs

CMSR

Page 11: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

Proprietary ultra compact design

Westinghouse LWR SMR600/225 MW

Downscaled IMSR300/125 MW

Seaborg CMSR250/100 MW

250 MWth,in a 20’ container,

50 ton, 35 m3

NuScale LWR160/50 MW

Page 12: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

Seaborg Technologies16 employed – with 8 PhDs and people from 4 continents(plus some students - BSc, MSc and PhD)

We specialize in the tech:- World leading in MSR physics- Chemical experiments started.- Hopefully a new lab online soon

We are engaged with the East Asian supply chain to:- “To jointly Develop, License and Manufacture Seaborg’s CMSRs”

We are in dialogue with a potential customer:- Interested in 10-15 units by the late 2020s

Funding sources:~ Mainly from private investors~ Geared by public funding (both DK and EU)~ Some revenue

Page 13: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

2015 2016 2017

We have gone fromimpossible to extremely hard to very hard

Page 14: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

Backup slides

Page 15: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

But nuclear is failing

Page 16: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

But why?

We cannot simply blame 3-mile, Chernobyl or Fukushima

Page 17: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

1: LWRs1: Inherently unstable systems• 300°C liquid water at 300 bar pressure• 2500°C in fuel center

- Cooling MUST never fail• Zirconium cladding

- high temperature catalyst• H2 gas from hydrolysis• Control very operator dependent

- Balancing act

Page 18: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

2: Solid fuel

1: Inherently unstable systems2: Severity of accidents• Produces large amounts of TRUs• Pu, TRU and fission products are free

radicals(Easily reacts with with atmosphere or water)

• Very volatile in environment- High solubility in water- Many are gasses

• Easily biologically consumed(cesium and iodine)

Page 19: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

Safety becomes the focus

No focus on efficiency or market fit

Innovation in safety => complexity=> Costs, risk and delays!

Size becomes the economy of scale=> Poor market fit and massive upfront investments

They promised too-cheap-to-meter, but didn’t deliver…

Page 20: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

From WNE – the two main activities

Senior VP for safety @ Orano (2018)

Page 21: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

In conclusion:

The nuclear industry did it wrong, and has become the largest barrier to worldwide deployment of nuclear power

Page 22: 29.10.2018 Troels Schönfeldt, CEO tsc@seaborg · 2018. 11. 5. · Troels Schönfeldt, CEO. The fundamental equation of prosperity . Good news everyone! More and more people are getting

Crash course in waste-burning

Processing

Back to re-enrichment(it’s already 1.1% U235)

Wasteburn

Thorium

The FPs can be stored on a “intermediate” depot (a few hundred years). This is handled and stored routinely, e.g in the medical sector. Some are valuable rare earth elements, others have important medical applications – these could be extracted.Pu and TRU can be reused in new Seaborg units.

U233 and Th is important to start future “thorium reactors”.