Documents published in Scipedia

• Climate Intervention: Possible Impacts on Global Security and Resilience

  M. McNutt

  Collection of Engineering (2017).

  
  

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• Insecurity by Design: Todays IoT Device Security Problem

  M. O’Neill

  Collection of Engineering (2017).

  
  

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• A Triumph of Science−and Engineering

  L. Davis

  Collection of Engineering (2017).

  
  

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• Can Engineers Lead Again?

  K. Clarke

  Collection of Engineering (2017).

  
  

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• The Power of an Idea: The International Impacts of the Grand Challenges for Engineering

  C. Jr., D. Dowling, J. Zhou

  Collection of Engineering (2017).

  
  

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• A Bright Future for Sustainable Development: Ushered in by Innovation

  J. Chen

  Collection of Engineering (2017).

  
  

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• The Future of Nuclear Energy Relies on Integrated Reactor Development Processes

  H. Machenaud

  Collection of Engineering (2017).

  
  

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• The Beginnings of Wisdom: Challenges in Engineering Education

  H. Atkinson

  Collection of Engineering (2017).

  
  

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• The Traveling Wave Reactor: Design and Development

  J. Gilleland, R. Petroski, K. Weaver

  Collection of Engineering (2017).

  
  

  Abstract

  The traveling wave reactor (TWR) is a once-through reactor that uses in situ breeding to greatly reduce the need for enrichment and reprocessing. Breeding converts incoming subcritical reload fuel into new critical fuel, allowing a breed-burn wave to propagate. The concept works on the basis that breed-burn waves and the fuel move relative to one another. Thus either the fuel or the waves may move relative to the stationary observer. The most practical embodiments of the TWR involve moving the fuel while keeping the nuclear reactions in one place−sometimes referred to as the standing wave reactor (SWR). TWRs can operate with uranium reload fuels including totally depleted uranium, natural uranium, and low-enriched fuel (e.g., 5.5% 235 U and below), which ordinarily would not be critical in a fast spectrum. Spent light water reactor (LWR) fuel may also serve as TWR reload fuel. In each of these cases, very efficient fuel usage and significant reduction of waste volumes are achieved without the need for reprocessing. The ultimate advantages of the TWR are realized when the reload fuel is depleted uranium, where after the startup period, no enrichment facilities are needed to sustain the first reactor and a chain of successor reactors. TerraPowers conceptual and engineering design and associated technology development activities have been underway since late 2006, with over 50 institutions working in a highly coordinated effort to place the first unit in operation by 2026. This paper summarizes the TWR technology: its development program, its progress, and an analysis of its social and economic benefits.

  Abstract
  The traveling wave reactor (TWR) is a once-through reactor that uses in situ breeding to greatly reduce the need for enrichment and reprocessing. Breeding converts incoming [...]

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• A New Look at Building Facades as Infrastructure

  D. Sung

  Collection of Engineering (2017).

  
  

  Abstract

  Like the hard surfaces of streets and sidewalks in an urban environment, the vertical and horizontal surface area on the outside of urban buildings contributes to the constant heating of large cities around the world. However, little is done to design this surface to benefit the public sphere. Instead, the facade of a building performs either as a component that focuses only on the quality of comfort for interior occupants, while ignoring effects on the exterior of the building, or as an identifiable aesthetic for the buildings owners. This essay proposes the rethinking of the building facade as a steward of outdoor pedestrian welfare, and the conception of public health as an added function of the building envelope−a concept that may fall into the jurisdiction of public works. If the huge total surface area of a citys buildings is thought of as part of the citys infrastructure, then its public contribution may not only make outdoor areas comfortable, clean, and enjoyable, but also help to alleviate the bigger problem of rising temperatures in cities.

  Abstract
  Like the hard surfaces of streets and sidewalks in an urban environment, the vertical and horizontal surface area on the outside of urban buildings contributes to the constant [...]

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