10/15/2024
By Zhiyong Gu
Chemical Engineering Seminar
Title: "Future of Nuclear Power: Replacing All Fossil Fuels"
Name: Dr. Charles Forsberg, Principal Research Scientist, Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Time: Thursday, Oct. 17, 3:30 to 4:45 p.m.
Location: Shah Hall 301
Abstract: We describe a roadmap using three sets of technologies to enable base-load nuclear reactors to replace all fossil fuels in a low-carbon world. The technologies integrate nuclear, wind, solar, hydroelectricity and biomass energy sources. Base-load nuclear reactors with large-scale heat storage enable dispatchable electricity to the grid. The low-cost heat storage enables buying excess wind and solar electricity to charge heat storage for later electricity production while providing assured generating capacity. Nuclear hydrogen production facilities at the scale of global oil refineries produce hydrogen to replace natural gas (gaseous fuel) as a chemical feedstock and heat source. Single sites may have tens of modular reactors produced in a local factory to lower costs by converting to a manufacturing model for reactor construction. Nuclear heat and hydrogen convert cellulosic biomass into drop-in liquid hydrocarbon biofuels to replace fossil-fuel gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and hydrocarbon feed stocks for the chemical industry. External heat and hydrogen inputs increase the quantities of biofuels that can be produced per unit of cellulosic feedstock, thus assuring sufficient biomass feed stocks to replace all crude oil without major impacts on food and fiber prices. The biofuel production system enables the removal of large quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere that is sequestered as carbon char in the soil while recycling plant nutrients (potassium, phosphorous, etc.) to assure agricultural and forest sustainability.
Bio: Dr. Charles Forsberg is a principal research scientist at MIT. His research areas include fluoride salt cooled High Temperature Reactors (FHRs) and utility scale heat storage including Firebrick Resistance Heated Energy Storage (Electrified Thermal Solutions), 100 GWh Crushed Rock Ultra large Stored Heat (CRUSH) systems and nuclear assisted biofuels production. He teaches the fuel cycle and nuclear chemical engineering classes.
Before joining MIT, he was a Corporate Fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He is a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society (ANS), a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and recipient of the 2005 Robert E Wilson Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers for outstanding chemical engineering contributions to nuclear energy, including his work in waste management, hydrogen production and nuclear renewable energy futures. He received the American Nuclear Society special award for innovative nuclear reactor design.
Dr. Forsberg earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota and doctorate in Nuclear Engineering from MIT. He has been awarded 12 patents and published over 300 papers.