NPRE 596 Graduate Seminar Series - Matthew Weathered
- Sponsor
- NPRE 596 Graduate Seminar Series
- Speaker
- Matthew Weathered, Principal Nuclear Engineer, Argonne National Laboratory
- Cost
- Free and Open to the Public
- nuclear@illinois.edu
- Phone
- 217-333-2295
- Views
- 73
- Originating Calendar
- NPRE seminars
Argonne National Laboratory’s Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop (METL)
Abstract: Matthew Weathered will discuss Argonne National Laboratory’s Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop (METL), an 800-gallon, liquid sodium facility used by industrial, laboratory and academic partners to develop components and characterize key phenomena relevant to sodium fast reactors (SFRs). METL provides reactor-grade sodium to versatile test vessels at typical SFR temperature and material purity levels, enabling the installation and evaluation of a wide range of experiments that advance technology readiness of liquid metal cooled reactors. The presentation will provide an overview of the facility and highlight current test articles supporting studies of liquid metal thermal hydraulic phenomena, flow sensor calibration, and fuel handling mechanism development.
Bio: Dr. Matthew Weathered is an engineer in the Nuclear Science and Engineering Division at Argonne National Laboratory. His expertise is in the design of components and instrumentation for high temperature liquid metal systems used in next generation nuclear reactors. He is the principal investigator for the Thermal Hydraulic Experimental Test Article (THETA), a 500-liter electrically heated liquid sodium facility that is used to validate computational simulations for sodium cooled nuclear reactors. He also works to support the design and operation of the Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop (METL), a 2,800 liter liquid sodium facility capable of testing small to intermediate scale test articles for commissioning reactor components and instrumentation.
He previously served as an associate editor for the ASME Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science, is an active member of the Generation IV International Forum, and has served as an IAEA consultant for technical meetings on fast reactors. Dr. Weathered completed his bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University in 2013 and his Masters and Doctorate in Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics as a Nuclear Regulatory Commission Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2018.