The development of EM²_™ depends on a wide array of scientific innovations, from safety enhancements to heat-resistant fuel cladding to increased reactor efficiency. In support of this work, GA's researching physicists and engineers have published a number of key papers in scientific journals.

 

Performance Analysis of Silicon Carbide Composite Clad Uranium Carbide Fuel for a Long-Life Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Under Normal Operation—Part I: Design Criteria and Material Data. H. Choi, R.W. Schleicher, and J. Bolin, Nuclear Technology, doi: 10.1080/00295450.2019.1698936.

Performance Analysis of Silicon Carbide Composite Clad Uranium Carbide Fuel for a Long-Life Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Under Normal Operation—Part II: Modeling and Simulation. H. Choi and J. Bolin, Nuclear Technology, doi: 10.1080/00295450.2019.1699008.

Hangbok Choi, Myunghee Choi & Ryan Hon (2018): Benchmarking DRAGON/PARCS Against KRITZ and FFTF Measurements, Nuclear Technology, doi: 10.1080/00295450.2018.1495001.

EM² (General Atomics, USA), in Advances in Small Modular Reactor Technology Developments (2018), International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria, pp. 183-186.

C-ring testing of nuclear grade silicon carbide composites at temperatures up to 1900C
Kirill Shapovalov, George M. Jacobsen, Chunghao Shih, Christian P. Deck, Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol 522, pp 184-191, (2019).

Strength of SiCf-SiCm composite tube under uniaxial and multiaxial loading
Kirill Shapovalov, George M. Jacobsen, Luis Alva, Nathaniel Truesdale, Christian P. Deck, Xinyu Huang, Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol 500, pp 280-294 (2018).

Interlaboratory round robin study on axial tensile properties of SiC-SiC CMC tubular test specimens
Gyanender Singh, Steve Gonczy, Christian Deck, Edgar Lara-Curzio, Yutai Katoh, Int J Appl Ceram Technol., Vol 15-6, pp 1–16, (2018).

Product Engineering Materials Property Manual: General Atomics Silicon Carbide Cladding
G.M. Jacobsen, H. Chiger, General Atomics Report GA-A28712, pp. 1-31, (2017).

Effects of loading modes on densification efficiency of spark plasma sintering: sample study of zirconium carbide consolidation
 Xialu Wei, Andrey L. Maximenko, Christina Back, Oleg Izhvanov, and Eugene A. Olevsky, Philosophical Magazine Letters. xx (2017) 1-8.

ASTM C1862: Nominal Joint Strength of End-Plug Joints in Advanced Ceramic Tubes at Ambient and Elevated Temperatures
Jacobsen, G.M., Gonczy S., ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, 2017

Radiation Stable Hybrid Chemical Vapor Infiltration/Preceramic Polymer Joining of Silicon Carbide Components
 Hesham E. Khalifa, Takaaki Koyanagi, George M. Jacobsen, Christian P. Deck and Christina A. Back, J. Nucl. Mater. 487 (2017) 91-95.

Zirconium Carbide Produced by Spark Plasma Sintering and Hot Pressing: Densification Kinetics, Grain Growth and Thermal Properties
 Xialu Wei, Christina Back, Oleg Izhvanov, Christopher D. Haines, Eugene Olevsky, Materials 2016, 9(7), 277, doi:10.3390/ma9070577.

Fabrication and Testing of Complex Silicon Carbide Composite Structures
 H.E. Khalifa, C.P. Shih, G.M. Jacobsen, C.P. Deck, Trans. Amer. Nucl. Soc., vol. XXX, Jun. 13-16, New Orleans, La., pp. XXX, 2016.

High Temperature Testing of Geometrically Relevant, Nuclear Grade, Silicon Carbide Joints
 Jacobsen, G.M., Khalifa, H.E., Kearns, Y., Gutierrez, O., Deck C.P., Trans of the Amer. Nucl. Soc., vol. 113, pp. 542-546, 2015.

Spark Plasma Sintering of Agglomerated Vanadium Carbide Powder
 Wei Li, E.A. Olevsky, O.L. Khasanov, C.A. Back, O. Izhvanov, J. Opperman, H.E. Khalifa
Ceramics International, vol. 41, pp. 3748-3759, 2015.

Spark Plasma Sintering of Commercial Zirconium Carbide powders
 Xialu Wei, Christina Back, Oleg Izhvanov, Oleg Khasanov, Christopher Haines, Eugene Olevsky, Materials, vol. 8(9), pp. 6043-6061, 2015; doi:10.3390/ma8095289.

Experimental study of thermo-mechanical behavior of SiC composite tubing under high temperature gradient using solid surrogate
 Luis Alva, Kirill Shapovalov, George M. Jacobsen, Christina A. Back, Xinyu Huang, J. Nucl. Mater., vol. 466, pp. 698-711, 2015, doi:10.1016/J.Jnucmat.2015.07.017.

Fabrication and characterization of joined silicon carbide cylindrical components for nuclear applications
 H. E. Khalifa, C.P. Deck, O. Guierrez, G.M. Jacobsen, C.A. Back, Journal of Nuclear Materials, vol. 457, pp. 227-240, 2015.

Stress analysis and probabilistic assessment of multi-layer SiC-based accident tolerant nuclear fuel cladding
 J. Stone, R. Schleicher, C. P. Deck, G. M. Jacobsen, H. E. Khalifa, C. A. Back, J. Nucl. Mater., vol. 466, pp. 682-697, 2015, doi:10.1016/J.Jnucmat.2015.08.001.

Characterization of SiC–SiC composites for accident tolerant fuel cladding
 C. P. Deck, G. M. Jacobsen, J. Sheeder, O. Gutierrez, J. Zhang, J. Stone, H. E. Khalifa, C. A. Back, J. Nucl. Mater., vol. 466, pp. 667-681, 2015, doi:10.1016/J.Jnucmat.2015.08.020.

Comparison of Shear Strength of Ceramic Joints Determined by Various Test Methods with Small Specimens
 Chunghao Shih, Yutai Katoh, Jim O. Kiggans, Takaaki Koyanagi, Hesham E. Khalifa, Christina A. Back Tatsuya Hinoki, and Monica Ferraris, Ceramic Materials for Energy Applications IV, H.-T. Lin, Y. Katoh and J. Matyáš, eds., 38th International Conference on Advanced Ceramics and Composites, Jan. 27-31, 2014, Daytona Beach, Fla., John Wiley & Sons. doi: 10.1002/9781119040323.ch13

Localized mechanical property assessment of SiC/SiC composite materials
 D. Frazer, M. D. Abad, D. Krumwiede, C. A. Back, H. E. Khalifa, C. P. Deck, P. Hosemann, Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, vol. 70, pp. 93-101, 2015, doi:10.1016/j.compositesa.2014.11.008.

Nano/micro scale Characterization of SiC/SiC Composite Materials
 D. Frazer, P. Hosemann, C. A. Back, C. Deck, H. Khalifa, Microscopy and Microanalysis, vol. 18 (suppl. 2) , pp. 1420-1421, doi:10.1017/S1431927612008951.

Progress on the Design and Development of EM²
 R. Schleicher, C. A. Back and H. Choi, Pacific Basin Nuclear Conference, 24-28 Aug. 2014.

SiC-SiC Cladding for Light Water Reactors
 C. A. Back and E. Lahoda, 2014 Water Reactor Fuel Performance Meeting/Top Fuel/LWR Fuel Performance Meeting, Sendai, Japan, Sept. 14-17, 2014.

Design and Development of EM²
 Robert W. Schleicher and Timothy Bertch, ASME 2014 Small Modular Reactors Symposium
 Washington, D.C., April 15-17, 2014.

High Pressure Burst Testing of SiCf-SiCm Composite Nuclear Fuel Cladding
 Luis H. Alva, Xinyu Huang, George M. Jacobsen and Christina A. Back, in Jin, H., Sciammarella, C., Yoshida, S., Lamberti, L., eds., Advancement of Optical Methods in Experimental Mechanics, vol. 3, Springer, 2014.

Multi-Scale Characterization of SIC/SiC Composite Materials
 D. Frazer, M. D. Abad, C. Back, C. Deck, P. Hosemann, in T. Sano, T.S. Srivatsan and M. W. Paretti, eds., Advanced Composites for Aerospace, Marine, and Land Applications, Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, N.J., 2014.

Investigation of the C-ring Test for Measuring Hoop Tensile Strength of Nuclear Grade Ceramic Composites
 G. M. Jacobsen, J. D. Stone, H. E. Khalifa, C. P. Deck and C. A. Back, J. Nucl. Mater., vol. 452, pp.125-132, 2014.

Permeability Measurements for SiC Ceramic Matrix Composites Relevant to LWR
 O. Gutierrez, H. E. Khalifa, C. P. Deck, C. A. Back and R. Schleicher, Trans. of the Amer. Nucl. Soc., vol. 110, pp. 803-806, 2014.

Out-of-pile Characterization and Testing of Joined Cylindrical Components for SiC-based Nuclear Fuel Cladding
 H.E. Khalifa, G.M. Jacobsen, O. Gutierrez, C.A. Back, Trans. Amer. Nucl. Soc., vol. 109, pp. 419-422, 2013.

Tensile Strength of Tubular SiC-SiC Composites for use in Nuclear Cladding
 G.M. Jacobsen, H.E. Khalifa, C.A. Back, Trans Amer. Nucl. Soc., vol. 109, pp. 573-575, 2013.

High Durability Joint between Ceramic Articles, and Methods
 H. E. Khalifa, C. P. Deck and C. A. Back, US Patent 20130266363 A1, 2013.

A Compact Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor with an Ultra-long Fuel Cycle
 Hangbok Choi, R. W. Schleicher, and P. Gupta, Sci. and Tech. of Nucl. installations, vol. 2013.

Modeling Forced Flow Chemical Vapor Infiltration Fabrication of SiC-SiC Composites for Advanced Nuclear Reactors
 Christian P. Deck, H. E. Khalifa, B. Sammuli and C. A. Back, Sci. and Tech. of Nucl. Installations, vol. 2013.

Nano/micro Scale Characterization of SiC/SiC Composite Materials
 D. Frazer, P. Hosemann, C. A. Back, C. Deck, H. Khalifa, Microscopy and Microanalysis, vol. 18, no. S2, pp. 1420-1421.

Fabrication of SiC-SiC Composites for Fuel Cladding in Advanced Reactor Designs
 C. P. Deck, H. E. Khalifa, B. Sammuli, T. Hilsabeck, C. A. Back, Prog. Nucl. Energ., vol. 57, pp. 38-45, 2012.

Effects of Structure and Processing on the Thermal Conductivity of SiC-SiC Composites
 Deck, C. P., H. E. Khalifa, and C. A.. Back, 2012., Trans. Amer. Nucl. Soc., vol. 106, pp. 1123-1125, 2012.

Energy Multiplier Module (EM²) - Capping the Waste Problem and Using the Energy in U-238 
 J. Parmentola and J. Rawls, Fusion Sci. and Tech., vol. 61, no. 1T, pp. 9-14, 2012.

Configuring EM² to Meet the Challenges of Economics, Waste Disposition, and Non-Proliferation Confronting Nuclear Energy in the U. S.
 R. Schleicher and C. Back, Fusion Sci. and Tech., vol. 61, no. 1T, pp. 144-149, 2012.

Silicon Carbide Composite Fabrication and Mechanical and Thermal Performance for Nuclear Reactor Applications
 H. E. Khalifa, C. P. Deck, K. C. Chen, and C. A. Back, Fusion Sci. and Tech., vol. 61, no. 1T, pp. 375-380, 2012.