Ep 78: Dan Wells, Electric Power Research Institute

In this episode we discuss...

• Dan's background in chemical engineering and his personal journey in the nuclear industry
• Dan's work studying lanthanides and actinides
• The different types of research and development an independent nonprofit organization like EPRI provides to utilities
• The contributing factors within primary and secondary coolants and how they alter the chemistry of oxides on materials
• Where plants get their water and the purification processes involved
• How water's chemistry changes over the lifetime of a reactor why that led to the introduction of alloy 690 in steam generators
• Boric acid's critical role in maintaining power level in a reactor
• Automation in the water chemistry analysis space
• Dan's current work providing the data necessary to qualify switching from lithium 7 to potassium hydroxide