[Talk]: Prof Ramakrishna Gokaraju University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Small modular reactors (SMRs)—a fast-emerging nuclear power plant technology—and renewables hold significant promise for the development of future clean energy systems. They are suitable for large grids as well as remote load centers and offer load following and frequency response capabilities. This talk will first provide a background of this technology and recent developments related to this technology. Followed by this it will describe a dynamic model of an integral pressurized water reactor (iPWR)-type SMR and studies assessing the contribution of the reactor to the electrical side dynamics. SMRs with their faster response rates, along with intermittent renewable energy sources (RESs) could be effectively used to develop sustainable clean energy systems. The talk will also describe a dynamic simulation model developed in our lab showing how SMRs along with renewable energy could be used for electricity and district heating.

Biography:

Prof. Ramakrishna Gokaraju received his Bachelor of Engineering degree (with Distinction) in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Trichy, India in April 1992. He received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Calgary, Canada, in 1996 and 2000, respectively. He worked with IBM Toronto Lab from 2000-‘22. Prof. Gokaraju joined the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department, University of Saskatchewan in 2003 and is a professor in the department of electrical & computer engineering. He is also currently the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Special Projects in the College of Engineering. His current research works are on power system protection, smart grids and nuclear-based “SMRs” for power and energy applications. He currently serves the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada (NSERC) Evaluation Group in Electrical and Computer Engineering. His research is funded by the NSERC Discovery Grant and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC).