In June 2013, the DOE announced it intended to provide a total of $3.5m in funding to address certain technical challenges associated with designing, constructing, and operating advanced reactors in the future. Again, as noted in the preceding section, these R&D projects for SFRs and HTGRs would have applicability to A-SMR versions of these types of reactor. The partnerships associated with the $3.5m include a 20 percent private cost share arrangement upon successful negotiation. The following descriptions [13] identify the four responsible organizations and a summary of the scope of the four projects:

• General Atomics — will conduct R&D on silicon carbide composite material, which could act as a safe and reliable material for fuel rod cladding in advanced reactor designs. Better understanding of silicon carbide composite material will help incorporate this material into such designs and support future licensing efforts.

• General Electric Hitachi — will develop high-temperature insulation materials and robust analysis tools to help design and manufacture electromagnetic pumps for liquid metal-cooled reactors. Electromagnetic pumps have fewer moving parts than traditional mechanical pumps, thus improving reliability and safety, while reducing maintenance needs.

• Gen4 Energy — will conduct R&D on natural circulation designs for advanced nuclear reactors that utilize a lead bismuth coolant. The project will develop computer models that will help visualize natural circulation flow and integrate it into safe, reliable reactor designs.

• Westinghouse Electric Company — will conduct analysis on sodium thermal hydraulics to support advanced nuclear reactor design. The project will provide analytical tools to help quantify heat exchanger performance and improve component engineering for sodium — cooled reactor designs.