Dual Fluid has received Dr. Lassina Zerbo, the chairman of the Rwandan nuclear regulatory authority and personal advisor to the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, in Berlin. In a productive exchange with the President of Dual Fluid, Dr Armin Huke, CEO Dr Götz Ruprecht and Chairman of the Board Dr Peter Kürpick, the next steps for realising the demonstration reactor in Rwanda were determined. The project, which has been progressing successfully since the contract was signed, marks an important milestone for Dual Fluid and for Rwanda’s future energy supply.
During the meeting, the technical and logistical aspects of the next project phases were defined. The planned demonstration reactor is a joint project that aims to realise the vision of a sustainable and innovative energy infrastructure. This pioneering project could make Rwanda a trailblazer for advanced energy solutions in Africa and around the world. Dual Fluid is contributing technological expertise and innovative strength, while Rwanda is providing a supportive environment and strong partner structures for the realisation of the project.
CEO Götz Ruprecht: ‘The meeting with Mr Zerbo has further strengthened the strategic partnership and the trusting cooperation between Dual Fluid and Rwanda. Dual Fluid and Rwanda are proud of this cooperation and look forward to the upcoming construction of the demonstration reactor. The project will be a pioneering step towards a sustainable and secure energy future for Africa.’
Dual Fluid, the Canadian-German nuclear technology company, has commissioned the Technical University of Dresden, the Technical University of Munich, and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) to carry out extensive safety-related simulations using a virtual reactor model. The work shows that the reactor reacts promptly, stably and benignly to changes in operating conditions.
A working group at the Chair of Hydrogen and Nuclear Energy Technology (WKET) at TU Dresden, led by Prof. Antonio Hurtado and Dr. Carsten Lange, carried out stability analyses of different reactor variants. For one model variant, it was shown that the reactor behaves stably in all considered operating conditions. Further work strongly suggests that this is also the case for other model variants.
Under the leadership of Prof. Rafael Macián-Juan, the Technical University of Munich and PSI were commissioned to calculate so-called transients in a preliminary assessment, using special reactor system codes. Transients are time-varying operating conditions that may be intended during normal operation but can also occur in the event of an accident. In all the scenarios studied, the reactor was shown to respond promptly, stably, and benignly (without large variations) to changes in operating parameters. This is a clear indication of the ability of a Dual Fluid reactor to fully autoregulate. The TU Munich carried out the calculations with different codes than the Paul Scherrer Institute. This assessment and code-to-code comparison was done as a first step in the framework of future activity for the licensing preparation. There will be more studies for a full safety evaluation required by licensing authorities.
All models and raw data resulting from the three collaborations are available to Dual Fluid so that future comparable analyses can be easily performed.
The Government of Rwanda, represented by the Rwanda Atomic Energy Board (RAEB), has today signed an agreement with Dual Fluid, a Canadian-German nuclear technology company, to collaborate on the development of a demonstration Dual Fluid nuclear reactor in Rwanda. The demonstration reactor is expected to be operational by 2026 and the subsequent testing of the technology is to be completed by 2028.
The Government of Rwanda has agreed to provide the site and infrastructure for the project, while Dual Fluid is responsible for the technical implementation of the partnership. Further, Rwandan scientists will be given practical training in the field of nuclear technology.
Dual Fluid aims to realize an entirely new type of nuclear fission, based on liquid fuel and lead coolant, that could exponentially increase the performance of current nuclear power. The new reactors can be used to produce electricity, hydrogen, and synthetic fuels at costs below those of fossil fuels.
RAEB CEO, Fidel Ndahayo: “In order to meet the growing energy demand of its population, to boost the development of its industrial sector, and to build an economy that is resilient to climate change, Rwanda is looking at nuclear energy to add to its energy generation mix. In the spirit of remaining a ‘proof-of-concept’ destination as a strategy to accelerate the integration of innovative technologies, Rwanda is establishing strategic partnerships with start-up companies involved in the design and development of small modular nuclear reactor technologies. The Dual Fluid technology has nuclear safety design features that make it accident-free. The technology will produce relatively low amounts of radioactive waste that will be safely managed, in line with existing international waste management standards.
Dual Fluid CEO Götz Ruprecht: “Time is a critical factor for us. After years of detailed preparation and concept improvement, we are now convinced that we have found an ideal partner for the first realization of our groundbreaking technology. The reason why Dual Fluid chose to invest in Rwanda is its highly favorable governance and business environment that has already attracted major international players. Our demonstration reactor will show that a better, far more efficient way of generating nuclear energy is possible and within reach in the near future.”
About Rwanda Atomic Energy Board
Created in 2020, the mission of the Rwanda Atomic Energy Board (RAEB) is to promote the peaceful use of atomic energy for sustainable socio-economic development.
RAEB is responsible for advising the Government on issues relating to atomic energy, promoting the peaceful use of atomic energy, establishing partnerships with national, regional and international entities in the field of atomic energy, promoting and supporting the construction and maintenance of nuclear energy installation for the purposes of production of electric energy and other atomic energy application, supervising and managing the acquisition and use of nuclear fuel, managing nuclear waste, providing guidance on research for the peaceful use of nuclear materials, providing guidance on handling and mining of radioactive minerals, collaborating with institutions of higher learning and research institutes for the purposes of conducting research in matters related to peaceful use of atomic energy science and technology and engaging in research and development activities in matters related to atomic energy or peaceful purposes.
About Dual Fluid
Dual Fluid is a Canadian-German nuclear company founded in 2021. It is creating an entirely new type of nuclear reactor that provides emission-free electricity and hydrogen, reduces today’s energy costs, and burns nuclear waste.
Dual Fluid differs from other new nuclear concepts by its high efficiency: the nuclear fuel is utilized up to a hundred times better than in today’s light water reactors. The operating temperature of 1000° C enables new heat applications.
The Dual Fluid operating principle, based on different fluids for fuel and cooling, is described in scientific publications and protected by patents. Dual Fluid Energy Inc. was incorporated as a public company in Vancouver, Canada, in January 2021 to bring the Dual Fluid technology to serial production status. The prototype of a Dual Fluid reactor is to be launched within this decade.
Media contacts
RAEB
Yves Butera
yves.butera@raeb.gov.rw
+250 788674848
Dual Fluid
Lisa Rass
lisa.rass@dual-fluid.com
+49 1577 1911784
The Canadian-German nuclear technology company Dial Fluid has opened a laboratory in Berlin-Wedding to lay the practical foundations for the realization of its novel Dual Fluid reactor. This includes a setup for testing different fuel mixtures at very high temperatures.
The innovation of the Dual Fluid Reactor lies in the liquid fuel, which circulates in the reactor core at 1000°C and is cooled by liquid lead. This new principle, which represents a new dimension of performance and economy in nuclear technology, is protected by patents. In order to systematically test the properties of possible metallic fuel mixtures, Dual Fluid has developed a robot-controlled test setup. Various material mixtures are heated to 1000°C by induction and then poured out. In this way, melting temperatures and flow properties can be accurately determined. The system will first be operated and calibrated with non-nuclear substitutes before mixtures of uranium and chromium are investigated.
The laboratory also houses a polymer model of the first Dual Fluid Reactor, which can be used to simulate the filling of the core with fuel. In addition, a “double-loop” for lead based on the Dual Fluid principle will be installed, which can be used to verify thermohydraulic calculations for the reactor’s lead cycle.
CEO Götz Ruprecht: “With each practical experiment, we gain experience and knowledge that flows directly into the development and ideally complements the ongoing calculations of our academic partners. Our laboratory space in Wedding brings us much closer to the realization of our reactor”.
About Dual Fluid
Dual Fluid is creating an entirely new type of nuclear reactor that provides emission-free electricity and hydrogen, reduces today’s energy costs, and is inherently safe.
Dual Fluid differs from other new nuclear concepts by its high efficiency: the nuclear fuel is utilized up to a hundred times better than in today’s light water reactors. The operating temperature of 1000° C enables new heat applications.
The Dual Fluid operating principle, based on different fluids for fuel and cooling, is described in scientific publications and protected by patents. Dual Fluid Energy Inc. was incorporated as a public company in Vancouver, Canada, in January 2021 to bring the Dual Fluid technology to serial production status. The prototype of a Dual Fluid reactor is to be launched within this decade.
Media contact
Lisa Rass
lisa.rass@dual-fluid.com
+49 1577 1911784
The Canadian-German nuclear technology company Dual Fluid will collaborate in future with TRIUMF, Canada’s particle accelerator centre and one of the world’s leading research centers for subatomic physics. To this end, both parties have recently signed a memorandum of understanding.
The collaboration between Dual Fluid and TRIUMF is intended to advance the development of a Small Modular Reactor (SMR) based on Dual Fluid technology. The goal of the new reactor concept is to use processed nuclear waste as fuel, and to exponentially increase the performance of today’s nuclear power production technologies.
As part of the MOU, the two partners will focus on materials research to address several challenges inherent to nuclear power, including the identification of materials that can withstand the high demands in the reactor core, which operates at temperatures of 1000 ° C and produces highly radioactive and corrosive conditions. This research will leverage TRIUMF’s world-leading materials irradiation facilities (the Proton and Neutron Irradiation Facilities, PIF & NIF) and metallurgical testing capabilities. Collaboration is also planned on detector development and reactor core imaging.
Ahmed Hussein, Chief Research Officer of Dual Fluid, said “The collaboration with TRIUMF is a major milestone for us, as the planned material testing is crucial for further development. Given TRIUMF’s expertise, we cannot imagine a better partner.”
“TRIUMF is very pleased to be engaging with Dual Fluid on this exciting project,” said Kathryn Hayashi, CEO of TRIUMF Innovations, TRIUMF’s commercialization arm. “The world is looking increasingly to nuclear power as a major opportunity for energy generation, and TRIUMF is uniquely poised to advance these technologies through materials characterization at our leading-edge facilities and with support from our wide-reaching international network of subatomic physics research expertise. Our agreement with Dual Fluid also spotlights the strategic advantages that TRIUMF can enable for scientific collaborations between Canada and countries around the world.”
About Dual Fluid
Dual Fluid is creating an entirely new type of nuclear reactor that provides emission-free electricity and hydrogen, reduces today’s energy costs, and is inherently safe.
Dual Fluid differs from other new nuclear concepts by its high efficiency: the nuclear fuel is utilized up to a hundred times better than in today’s light water reactors. The operating temperature of 1000° C enables new heat applications.
The Dual Fluid operating principle, based on different fluids for fuel and cooling, is described in scientific publications and protected by patents. Dual Fluid Energy Inc. was incorporated as a public company in Vancouver, Canada, in January 2021 to bring the Dual Fluid technology to serial production status. The prototype of a Dual Fluid reactor is to be launched within this decade.
Media contact
Lisa Rass
lisa.rass@dual-fluid.com
+49 1577 1911784
Dual Fluid, the Canadian-German nuclear technology company, has been named a Deep Tech Pioneer by Hello Tomorrow, the world’s largest deep tech network. This advances the company to the second round of competition, from which the world’s most innovative and promising companies will be chosen in March.
The Deep Tech Pioneers, selected from over 4000 applicants, will attend the Hello Tomorrow Global Summit 2023 (Paris, March 9-10). Dual Fluid aims to provide abundant, low-emission, low-cost energy within a decade using modular reactors. The basis for this is a new type of nuclear fission that uses liquid fuel. A prototype for the patented concept, which is unique in nuclear technology, will be available by the end of the decade. The company is currently looking for a site for its first small-scale reactor, which will demonstrate the dual fluid principle in reality for the first time.
The creators of the Hello Tomorrow network, founded in 2011, want to help new, transformative ideas achieve a faster breakthrough. Their mission is to accelerate the traditional technology transfer model of moving solutions from the lab to the market by actively bringing together startups, industry leaders, investors and scientists.
Press contact: Lisa Rass
(+49) 1577-1911784
media@dual-fluid.com
About Dual Fluid
Dual Fluid is creating an entirely new type of nuclear reactor that
Dual Fluid differs from other new nuclear concepts by its high efficiency: the nuclear fuel is utilized up to a hundred times better than in today’s light water reactors. The operating temperature of 1000° C enables new heat applications.
The Dual Fluid operating principle, based on different fluids for fuel and cooling, is described in scientific publications. There is worldwide patent protection, including in the USA, Canada, the EU, and Japan.
Dual Fluid Energy Inc. was incorporated as a public company in Vancouver, Canada, in January 2021 to bring the Dual Fluid technology to serial production status. The prototype of a Dual Fluid reactor is to be launched within this decade.
The Canadian-German nuclear technology company Dual Fluid is now cooperating with the Technical University of Munich and the Swiss Paul Scherrer Institute. The goal of the project is a safety report in preparation for licensing.
The Technical University of Munich (TUM) is now involved in the development and design optimization of Dual Fluid’s fundamentally new nuclear technology. The work is led by Prof. Rafael Macián-Juan and Chunyu Liu from the Chair of Nuclear Engineering. The Swiss Paul Scherrer Institute is supporting the TUM as a contractor. TUM and Paul Scherrer Institute are working hand in hand with the Technical University of Dresden, which has already been tasked since the beginning of the year with demonstrating the power unfolding in the reactor under various operating conditions.
The participating institutes are jointly developing and evaluating methods that can demonstrate the safety of the Dual Fluid concept. Project leader Chunyu Liu: “The safety characteristics of the Dual Fluid reactor have already shown promising results in earlier computational models. It is a very exciting task to participate in the deeper safety assessment of this truly innovative concept. The Dual Fluid technology could be superior to today’s light water reactors in many respects – for example, in terms of optimal fuel utilization or efficient hydrogen production.”
CEO Götz Ruprecht on the collaborations: “We are very pleased to be working with three of the most renowned nuclear institutes in the German-speaking world. Together, we will show that nuclear fission can work in a completely different way, being more economical and safer than ever.”
Press contact: Lisa Rass
(+49) 1577-1911784
media@dual-fluid.com
About Dual Fluid
Dual Fluid is creating an entirely new type of nuclear reactor that
Dual Fluid differs from other new nuclear concepts by its high efficiency: the nuclear fuel is utilized up to a hundred times better than in today’s light water reactors. The operating temperature of 1000° C enables new heat applications.
The Dual Fluid operating principle, based on different fluids for fuel and cooling, is described in scientific publications. There is worldwide patent protection, including in the USA, Canada, the EU, and Japan.
Dual Fluid Energy Inc. was incorporated as a public company in Vancouver, Canada, in January 2021 to bring the Dual Fluid technology to serial production status. The prototype of a Dual Fluid reactor is to be launched within this decade.
The Canadian-German nuclear technology company Dual Fluid has produced a simplified polymer model of its reactor core. It is intended to demonstrate Dual Fluid’s fundamentally new nuclear fission process, based on liquid fuel and lead cooling, as realistically as possible using substitute products. The model can already provide indications of flow behavior and confirm finished calculations in reality.
The new nuclear fission by Canadian-German company Dual Fluid utilizes two liquids in the reactor core instead of fuel rods: metallic nuclear fuel, plus lead to remove the heat. The goal is a more efficient and less expensive type of nuclear power that is inherently safe. The new operating principle is now being demonstrated on two different models, one after the other. The first of these, a transparent polymer model, is operated with non-nuclear substitutes. It can provide initial indications of how the fabrication and joining processes must be carried out in the eventual power reactor. In addition, the model allows existing fluid dynamic calculations to be compared with reality. This is possible because the substitute fluid used is water. At room temperature, water exhibits similar thermohydraulic properties to the liquid metals proposed in the reactor at 1000°C.
The polymer model will be on display in the Berlin Institute for Solid State Nuclear Physics. It is identical in form, function and size to a planned ceramic model that will be operated with uranium and lead.
Press contact: Lisa Rass
(+49) 1577-1911784
media@dual-fluid.com
About Dual Fluid
Dual Fluid is creating an entirely new type of nuclear reactor that
Dual Fluid differs from other new nuclear concepts by its high efficiency: the nuclear fuel is utilized up to a hundred times better than in today’s light water reactors. The operating temperature of 1000° C enables new heat applications.
The Dual Fluid operating principle, based on different fluids for fuel and cooling, is described in scientific publications. There is worldwide patent protection, including in the USA, Canada, the EU, and Japan.
Dual Fluid Energy Inc. was incorporated as a public company in Vancouver, Canada, in January 2021 to bring the Dual Fluid technology to serial production status. The prototype of a Dual Fluid reactor is to be launched within this decade.
A recently published study concludes that small modular reactors (SMRs) produce more nuclear waste than conventional light water reactors. This is not true for Dual Fluid: The Dual Fluid reactor design produces significantly less waste than any other type of nuclear reactor due to its much better fuel utilization.
A group of researchers led by Lindsay F. Krall of the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company used licensing and patent records to study the type and amount of radioactive waste generated during operation and decommissioning of three different types of SMRs. These included a small pressurized water reactor, a conventional liquid salt reactor, and a sodium-cooled fast reactor.
The results show that the SMRs studied significantly increase the volume of nuclear waste to be disposed of. This is mainly due to the use of neutron reflectors or chemically reactive fuels and coolants. However, with Dual Fluid, the problem of a larger volume of waste does not exist:
Coolant and reflector: Dual Fluid uses liquid lead as a coolant, which also serves as a reflector. Since lead absorbs hardly any neutrons, it can be disposed of relatively easily at the end of an operating cycle.
Fuel: The fast neutron spectrum of a Dual Fluid core means that the fuel cycle is several times longer than that of a conventional molten salt reactor, and the waste volume is reduced by a factor of about ten. In addition, Dual Fluid provides for a new pyrochemical recycling method that allows the parts of the waste that can still be used to undergo a new fuel cycle. At the end of the recycling chain, the remaining materials would decay rapidly until they become less harmful than natural uranium after a few hundred years. The nuclear waste problem would thus be significantly defused.
CTO Daniel Weißbach: ” It´s hardly surprising that small reactors leave behind more contaminated materials compared to large systems that benefit from economies of scale. But this is not true of a particularly efficient system like the Dual Fluid Reactor. Our goal is to put existing waste to good use and generate electricity or hydrogen from it.”
Study: Nuclear waste from small modular reactors
Press contact: Lisa Rass
(+49) 1577-1911784
media@dual-fluid.com
About Dual Fluid
Dual Fluid is creating an entirely new type of nuclear reactor that
Dual Fluid differs from other new nuclear concepts by its high efficiency: the nuclear fuel is utilized up to a hundred times better than in today’s light water reactors. The operating temperature of 1000° C enables new heat applications.
The Dual Fluid operating principle, based on different fluids for fuel and cooling, is described in scientific publications. There is worldwide patent protection, including in the USA, Canada, the EU, and Japan.
Dual Fluid Energy Inc. was incorporated as a public company in Vancouver, Canada, in January 2021 to bring the Dual Fluid technology to serial production status. The prototype of a Dual Fluid reactor is to be launched within this decade.
The Canadian-German nuclear engineering company Dual Fluid has gathered a dozen international scientists in a two-day workshop to coordinate experimental and theoretical research on the Dual Fluid Reactor. The physicists and nuclear engineers involved in the project are from universities and research institutions in Germany, Switzerland and Poland, including the Technical University of Dresden and Poland’s National Nuclear Research Center (NCBJ).
The workshop aims to plan and organize all ongoing and planned work on the Dual Fluid Reactor transparently and effectively, so that synergies can be created between the participating research institutions. Ongoing projects include computational modeling to predict the performance of the reactor in various operating conditions. The results provide the basis for a safety analysis as defined by the IAEA.
Practical experiments are also planned in the fields of fluid mechanics, materials science and on reactivity effects. From these, findings can be derived, for example, on corrosion and material wear or the dynamics of the chain reaction. The ongoing and planned work will make a significant contribution to further expanding the existing theoretical basis for the Dual Fluid Reactor and creating the conditions for its later licensing.
CEO Götz Ruprecht comments on the workshop: “A new reactor development involves intensive research, comparable only to new systems in the aerospace industry. We are proud to have renowned academic partners like NCBJ and TU Dresden at our side. By combining and focusing our work forces, we can get there faster.”
Press contact: Lisa Rass
(+49) 1577-1911784
media@dual-fluid.com
About Dual Fluid
Dual Fluid is creating an entirely new type of nuclear reactor that
Dual Fluid differs from other new nuclear concepts by its high efficiency: the nuclear fuel is utilized up to a hundred times better than in today’s light water reactors. The operating temperature of 1000° C enables new heat applications.
The Dual Fluid operating principle, based on different fluids for fuel and cooling, is described in scientific publications. There is worldwide patent protection, including in the USA, Canada, the EU and Japan.
Dual Fluid Energy Inc. was incorporated as a public company in Vancouver, Canada, in January 2021 to bring the Dual Fluid technology to serial production status. The prototype of a Dual Fluid reactor is to be launched within this decade.
Dual Fluid Company Presentation