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Featured researches published by Matthias Englert.


Science & Global Security | 2017

Accident Scenarios Involving Pebble Bed High Temperature Reactors

Matthias Englert; Friederike Frieß; M. V. Ramana

ABSTRACT Proponents of high temperature gas cooled reactors argue that the reactor type is inherently safe and that severe accidents with core damage and radioactive releases cannot occur. The argument is primarily based on the safety features of the special form of the fuel. This paper examines some of the assumptions underlying the safety case for high temperature gas cooled reactors and highlights ways in which there could be fuel failure even during normal operations of the reactor; these failures serve to create a radioactive inventory that could be released under accident conditions. It then describes the severe accident scenarios that are the greatest challenge to high temperature gas cooled reactor safety: ingress of air or water into the core. Then, the paper offers an overview of what could be learned from the experiences with high temperature gas cooled reactors that have been built; their operating history indicates differences between actual operations and theoretical behavior. Finally, the paper describes some of the multiple priorities that often drive reactor design, and how safety is compromised in the process of optimizing other priorities.


The Nonproliferation Review | 2013

Nuclear Fusion Power for Weapons Purposes

Giorgio Franceschini; Matthias Englert; Wolfgang Liebert

Fusion reactors have the potential to be used for military purposes. This article provides quantitative estimates about weapon-relevant materials produced in future commercial fusion reactors and discusses how suitable such materials are for use in nuclear weapons. Whether states will consider such use in the future will depend on specific regulatory, political, economic, and technical boundary conditions. Based on expert interviews and the political science literature, we identify three of these conditions that could determine whether fusion power will have a military dimension in the second half of this century: first, the technological trajectory of global energy policies; second, the management of a peaceful power transition between rising and declining powers; and third, the overall acceptance of the nuclear normative order. Finally, the article discusses a few regulatory options that could be implemented by the time fusion reactors reach technological maturity and become commercially available; such research on fusion reactor safeguards should start as early as possible and accompany the current research on experimental fusion reactors.


Archive | 2015

Nuclear Fuel Chain: Uranium Resources and Associated Risks

Wolfgang Liebert; Matthias Englert

Already in the 1950s King Hubbert pointed out the limited availability of fossil and uranium resources for energy usage. Many agree that reserves of oil will become scarce within this century and that to meet the world’s increasing demand for energy while simultaneously mitigating climate change, carbon intensive fossil fuels must be replaced by decarbonized energy sources. Thus, at least theoretically, nuclear energy could play a relevant role in the future energy system. However, uranium still is the main source material for all nuclear programmes world-wide and one should carefully examine its future availability before investing in a nuclear renaissance. Furthermore, uranium enrichment, a technology necessary to fuel today’s nuclear reactors, can be used to produce highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons. This sensitive technology is already a cause of conflict in the international arena due to the fear that additional states get access to the bomb (nuclear proliferation).


Science & Global Security | 2014

Plutonium Disposition in the BN-800 Fast Reactor: An Assessment of Plutonium Isotopics and Breeding

Moritz Kütt; Friederike Frieß; Matthias Englert

According to the Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement, which was signed in 2000 and amended in 2010, Russia and the United States agree to dispose of 34 tons of excess weapon plutonium each. Russia plans to use the plutonium as fuel in its sodium-cooled fast reactors BN-600 and BN-800. This article analyzes BN-800 core models with and without breeding blankets for the plutonium isotopic vector in spent fuel, plutonium production in breeding blankets, breeding ratios for different plutonium concentrations in fuel, and possible annual material throughput. It finds that any spent fuel in the core contains less than 90 wt% plutonium-239, but using breeding blankets the reactor can be configured to be a net producer of plutonium, even with a breeding ratio below one, and that plutonium produced in blankets will be weapon-grade.


Archive | 2012

Kernwaffen – Das Zusammenspiel von Kernenergienutzung und Atombombe

Matthias Englert

Eine der grosten Bedrohungen der internationalen Sicherheit besteht in der Existenz und Weiterverbreitung von Kernwaffen. Selbst zwanzig Jahre nach dem Ende des Kalten Krieges befinden sich immer noch etwa 20.000 Sprengkopfe in den aktiven Arsenalen der Kernwaffenstaaten. Auch nahm die Zahl der Kernwaffenstaaten uber die Jahrzehnte zu. Dabei gehen die zivile und militarische Nutzung der Kernenergie seit Entdeckung der Kernspaltung Hand in Hand. Oft kommen dieselben Technologien und Materialien sowohl beim Bau von Kernwaffen als auch bei der zivilen Kerntechnik zum Einsatz – man spricht daher von Dual-Use-Technologien. Und auch das spaltbare Material hat einen solchen ambivalenten Charakter. Dieses Kapitel vermittelt Grundlagen uber Kernwaffen, spaltbare Materialien und deren weltweite Bestande. Es informiert uber Dual-Use-Technologien und den Zusammenhang zwischen Kernwaffen und der zivilen Kernenergienutzung.


Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section A-accelerators Spectrometers Detectors and Associated Equipment | 2006

Neutronics calculations for the assessment of proliferation risks associated with spallation neutron sources

Matthias Englert; Christoph Pistner; Wolfgang Liebert


Mrs Bulletin | 2012

Is nuclear fission a sustainable source of energy

Matthias Englert; Lindsay Krall; Rodney C. Ewing


Archive | 2010

STRONG NEUTRON SOURCES IS THERE AN EXPLOITABLE GAP

Matthias Englert; Wolfgang Liebert


Annals of Nuclear Energy | 2015

Proliferation issues related to fast SMRs

Friederike Frieß; Moritz Kütt; Matthias Englert


Archive | 2013

POSSIBLE PROLIFERATION RISKS OF FUTURE TOKAMAK FUSION REACTORS

Matthias Englert; Fabio Balloni; Wolfgang Liebert

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Wolfgang Liebert

Technische Universität Darmstadt

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Moritz Kütt

Technische Universität Darmstadt

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Friederike Frieß

Technische Universität Darmstadt

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Lindsay Krall

Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company

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