AIKEN - A group that includes 16 universities from across the Southeast has submitted a plan to the U.S. Department of Energy to build a nuclear research reactor at Savannah River Site.
In a proposal dated April 27, the group, which includes the Universities of Georgia and South Carolina and the Georgia Institute of Technology, described a modern reactor capable of research beyond what is being done at the existing 26 university reactors in the United States.
The consortium of schools, called SUNRISE, or Southeast Universities Nuclear Reactor Institute for Science and Education, submitted its proposal after the federal agency formally requested new nuclear research ideas earlier this year.
The group also asked for $450,000 to complete its design.
The agency's request for ideas from universities is one of the more significant advances for SUNRISE since the group came together in 2002 with hopes of creating a regional teaching reactor for the Southeast.
There are research reactors close to the Aiken-Augusta area at North Carolina State University, the University of Florida and University of Maryland, but the SUNRISE reactor would service the entire region, the proposal states.
Still, members of the group, which includes the Savannah River and Oak Ridge national laboratories and four corporate partners, the Economic Development Partnership for Aiken and Edgefield counties and Citizens For Nuclear Technology Awareness, say it's premature to talk long-term.
"It's really in what I'd call the embryonic stage at this point," said Dr. Todd Wright, who is the director of Savannah River National Laboratory.
The DOE, which did not immediately respond to requests to identify other groups that expressed interest in new research, hasn't said how it will proceed with proposals.
"I think what (the DOE) is suggesting is that they're interested in this area, and I think it has something to do with increased enrollment" at engineering schools, Dr. Wright said. "I think the demand for trained nuclear engineers is going to go up over the next decade."
In 1998, fewer than 500 students in the United States were enrolled in nuclear engineering classes, down from 1,500 in 1992, according to the DOE.
However, that number has climbed back to 1992 levels, which the DOE attributes to its cooperation with universities to bolster engineering programs.
U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett, R-S.C., said the research reactor would be a perfect fit for a proposed energy park at the site, which the DOE is expected to decide on in coming weeks.
Mr. Barrett said he expected "to get a yes" on the park, which ideally would be built near the national lab and could be home to a research reactor, hydrogen research or commercial reactor.
SRS is one of six sites being considered for a commercial reactor by NuStart, a group of four large power companies.
The United States has 103 nuclear reactors, which produce 20 percent of the country's electricity, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute.
SUNRISE members and industry experts said there was little connection between the possibility of a research reactor at SRS and its chances of landing a commercial reactor, though it wouldn't hurt.
"There is certainly an interest and a demand for new nuclear reactors in the Carolinas," said Mitch Singer, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute. "And it's certainly viable that a new commercial reactor could take advantage, I guess you could say, of surplus of brainpower at a research reactor using next generation technology."
The SUNRISE consortium's proposal isn't limited to SRS. It's a design that could and should be implemented at other universities across the country, members said.
The group's proposal also isn't limited to teaching students how to run a new wave of commercial reactors. The reactor would allow graduate students and private sector researchers to test the strength of materials, welds and even create radioactive isotopes for medical uses.
Though details of the plan, such as cost, might be too far off to calculate, if SRS were selected for a research reactor, the plan would inevitably call for dormitories and additional research laboratories.
"There would be study at a high level, unlike any reactor built in the U.S. to date," Dr. Wright said.
Reach Josh Gelinas at (803) 648-1395, ext. 110, or josh.gelinas@augustachronicle.com.
Power Sources
A proposed nuclear research reactor at Savannah River Site would train future engineers to run commercial reactors. There are 103 licensed reactors in 31 states that produce 20 percent of the country's electricity.
- Georgia has two commercial reactors, one in Waynesboro and another in Baxley, which account for 27 percent of the state's electricity.
- South Carolina has four commercial reactors in Clover, Seneca, Hartsville and Jenkinsville. Combined, the reactors account for 54.5 percent of the state's electricity, the second largest percentage in the country. Only Vermont, which gets 74 percent of its electricity from nuclear energy, uses more.
Source: Nuclear Energy Institute
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