Dual Fluid Energy

Overview

Dual Fluid Energy (DFE) was incorporated in Vancouver in January 2021 in order to commercialize the DFE technology. With its long experience in the nuclear sector and nuclear friendly culture, Canada is an ideal place to develop Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) using DFE technology. Our team of high ranking experts from nuclear physics, technology and engineering disciplines is gathered from a number of academic institutions and corresponding industries. Over the course of the last decade the team has been working on the development of DFE technology with the ultimate goal of becoming a world leading manufacturer of nuclear power plants, with R&D centres and fabrication sites in Canada.

The original dream at the dawn of the civilian nuclear era was that nuclear energy would be the ultimate solution to the world´s energy needs by producing electricity “too cheap to meter” (Lewis Strauss, Chairman of the US Atomic Energy Commission, 1950). We are looking forward to growing our company to fulfill the original dream of a clean, safe and abundant energy source that will ensure a low-carbon future benefiting Canada and the world.

Nuclear power today utilizes fuel rods which are a construct from the early days of nuclear technology. With fuel rods, only a very small fraction of the uranium is utilized, leaving the vast majority of it to be disposed of as waste. Existing reactor concepts that use a single liquid for fuel and cooling utilize the fuel better than fuel rods. However, if the same fluid is used for fuel and cooling the efficiency of both is compromised.

Instead of solid fuel rods or a single fuel/coolant liquid, the Dual Fluid Reactor (DFR) uses two separate fluid loops: One contains the fuel and the other circulates the coolant. This design results in a core that is much more compact in size than current reactors. A more compact core allows the use of structural materials that were previously economically unfeasible for reactor core use. These materials can handle much higher temperatures which enables our reactor to run at 1000°C and at atmospheric pressure. Running at such conditions offers a truly new dimension in terms of performance and efficiency.

The fundamental physics of the DFR core ensures that our reactor is safe because it is inherently self-regulating. If the temperature increases the nuclear fuel expands, and as a result the nuclear activity automatically subsides and the temperature of the core drops on its own. Additional passive safety measures are included with the addition of melting fuse plugs. If the temperature in the fuel loop exceeds safe limits for any reason, the plugs will melt and the fuel is drained into separate, sub-critical containers where it will cool by convection.

A Dual Fluid reactor can use any fissionable material to burn as fuel, including natural Uranium, depleted Uranium, Thorium or processed nuclear waste from current reactors. When it is combined with the Dual Fluid Energy Recycling Plant (DFE-RP), it will not leave behind long-lived nuclear waste. DFE-RP is a new concept that is based on a DFE proof of concept study funded and reviewed by the Ministry for Economics of the German federal government. The study contains waste management scenarios as well as functional and quantitative descriptions of the DFE-RP technology. DFE-RP performs precise partitioning of the spent fuel utilizing thermal separation without additional waste streams. It is also designed to process fuel elements from reactors of earlier generations. Recycled actinides are transmuted in the hard neutron spectrum of DFE reactors. Centralized DFE-RPs can serve multiple DFE SMR power plants, in this combination geological storage facilities become obsolete. The cost of processing reactor waste using DFE-RPs is competitive with the currently cheapest option – the use of geological storage for unprocessed waste.

The following characteristics of DFR:

• smaller, high energy density core,
• passive safety,
• atmospheric pressure operation.
• ability to burn any fissionable material,
• simpler design and build costs,

make DFR a platform for an SMR that no other current nuclear reactor design can compete with.

DFE has developed a business model which shows that a version of our SMRs will be economically competitive with large, coal fired power plants. This will allow DFE based SMRs to be introduced into the marketplace as a replacement to existing fossil fuel power plants and assist with CO2 reduction goals. Swift introduction into the marketplace is achieved through our flexible, modular development program. Manufacturing can be directed into various tracks to accelerate serial production and fleet deployment.

In our modern world the demand for electricity from low emission sources is constantly on the rise. At Dual Fluid Energy we believe that the original dream can be achieved so that economies worldwide can continue to grow, yet at the same time we protect our planet. Our design is patented, and is fundamentally different to everything we have ever known as nuclear power. We are creating fifth generation nuclear power: intelligent, highly efficient and safe.

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