INL and Purdue University collaborate on construction demonstration

A newly announced collaboration between Idaho National Laboratory's National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) and Purdue University's Applied Research Institute (PARI) will focus on demonstrating construction techniques for reducing costs and risks of new reactors. The project, which also includes the Electric Power Research Institute and the Nuclear Energy Institute, is part of the implementation of NRIC's Advanced Construction Technology Initiative (ACTI).

NRIC and ACTI: The Department of Energy established NRIC in 2019 to better enable the demonstration and deployment of a new generation of reactors. NRIC is funding and managing ACTI to oversee the development of advanced construction techniques for small modular reactors-techniques that could avoid the cost overruns and schedule slippages that have frequently occurred in the past with conventional reactor projects.

According to INL, "ACTI focuses on closing the gap between reactor R&D and commercial deployment. It addresses key construction-related costs and risks that stand alongside reactor testing and demonstration as critical barriers to commercialization."

NRIC is using ACTI to investigate, develop, and demonstrate multiple technologies for reactors, some of which have been used previously in other industries. Examples include vertical shaft construction, modular composite steel-and-concrete walling systems, advanced monitoring, and digital twin technology.

In the NRIC-PARI collaboration, engineers will demonstrate the construction of two structures: a scaled, steel-plate composite containment vessel and a reactor building. The work is meant to generate data on constructability, quality, and performance that could be used to support future design, procurement, fabrication, field erection, concrete placement, structural integrity testing, and deconstruction activities for an actual power plant.

As partners in the collaboration, EPRI will provide technical expertise in nondestructive evaluation, advanced welding, and digital twin validation, while NEI will provide advice on quality assurance and regulatory alignment.

Purdue campus: The construction demonstration will take place at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., where PARI previously has worked on innovative construction techniques for nuclear reactors. For example, PARI has participated in ACTI work by conducting stress and strength testing of a modular composite walling system.

Purdue's Robert L. and Terry L. Bowen Laboratory for Large-Scale Civil Engineering Research will contribute its know-how to the new construction demonstration. In particular, the lab will lend its expertise in advanced large-scale structural testing and its experience in industry partnerships and government regulatory collaborations.

Amit Varma, a civil engineering professor at Purdue, noted that the university's collaboration with NRIC will help support the center's "mission of providing the industry with the resources needed to move advanced reactor technology toward commercialization." He said, "Bowen Laboratory brings the large-scale testing expertise this project demands, and we're excited to help generate the data that can remove barriers to building these reactors faster and more affordably."