INNOVATIVE SMALL MODULAR REACTORS
The Government of Canada awards funding to a Polytechnique Montréal research project

Alain Hébert, a full professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, has been awarded an $840,000 Alliance grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), in partnership with Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), for a project that involves simulating innovative small modular nuclear reactors.

Radial representation of the fast reactor core being studied at Polytechnique Montréal's Institute of Nuclear Engineering. This type of reactor will be used to incinerate nuclear waste from Canada's existing CANDU power plants.

NSERC and NRCan have announced a total of $12.5 million in Alliance grants for 15 university-led research projects on small modular reactors (SMRs), including one being carried out at Polytechnique Montréal. In December 2020, the two federal agencies established the Alliance funding program to support Canada's Small Modular Reactor Action Plan, a national plan for the development, demonstration and deployment of SMRs for multiple applications domestically and internationally.

Canadian university researchers are studying SMR supply chain robustness, fuel supply, and radioactive waste management and reduction.

Using simulation to characterize fuel and waste

The research project, which is being led by Professor Hébert in collaboration with Guy Marleau, an associate professor in the Department of Engineering Physics, aims to characterize SMR fuel and waste using a multi-year simulation of operation and storage.

One thing the researchers are looking at is a boiling water reactor concept that uses natural circulation and passive safety systems. They're also studying a high-temperature gas reactor concept that uses fully ceramic microencapsulated fuel to ensure inherent reactor safety.

A third aspect of the simulation project focuses on a sodium-cooled fast reactor for which two types of fuel are being studied. And lastly, the researchers are studying a molten salt fission reactor concept that uses recycled nuclear waste as fuel.

The project has received a $400,000 grant from NSERC, as well as $440,000 in cash and in-kind contributions from NRCan over a four-year period.

Learn more

Professor Alain Hébert's expertise
Mechanical Engineering Department website
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council website
Natural Resources Canada website