The NRL received funding for its proposal to contribute irradiation data to enable digital twinning of molten salt reactors through ARPA-E's Generating Electricity Managed by Intelligent Nuclear Assets (GEMINA) program. The GEMINA program "aims to develop digital twin technology for advanced nuclear reactors and transform operations and maintenance (O&M) systems in the next generation of nuclear power plants." More information about GEMINA can be found here.

MIT received funding for two additional proposals, one in partnership with EPRI. Click here to view all funded proposals.

Summary of the NRL's funded proposal:

Generation of Critical Irradiation Data to Enable Digital Twinning of Molten-Salt Reactors

Molten salt reactors (MSRs) produce radioactive materials when nuclear fuel is dissolved in a molten salt at high temperature and undergoes fission as it flows through the reactor core. Understanding the behavior of these radioactive materials is important for MSR design and for predicting and reducing O&M costs. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will use its nuclear research reactor to provide data to determine how radioactive materials are generated and transported in MSRs. Digital twins of MSRs will require this critical data, which is currently unavailable. MIT’s project will irradiate molten salts containing fuel in materials planned for molten salt reactor construction while monitoring the released radioactivity.