Ryan Latta

Profile Information

Name: Ryan Latta
Institution: Kairos Power LLC
Position: Lead Fuel Qualification Engineer
Biography: I have expertise in the area of nuclear fuel element design and qualification testing developed over the previous fifteen years of my career. I have been responsible for fuel qualification program planning, irradiation testing, fuel performance modeling, developing fuel system design bases, and interfacing with core design, safety, and licensing for the development of advanced reactor designs. The extent of my experience is provided below as listed in my resume. Education<a name="_Hlk503364257">Purdue University </a>– West Lafayette, INAugust 2006Master of Science in Nuclear EngineeringPurdue University – West Lafayette, INMay 2003Bachelor of Science in Nuclear EngineeringWork ExperienceKairos Power – Alameda, CAMarch 2018 – PresentLead Fuel Qualification EngineerProgram planning for nuclear fuel qualification programsIrradiation testing of TRISO fuel particles and pebble fuel elementsFuel system PIRT projectTerraPower – Bellevue, WAFebruary 2011 – March 2018Nuclear Fuel Development EngineerProgram planning for nuclear fuel qualification programs and interfacing with licensingFuel irradiation testing – investigation of steady state and transient fuel performance, test planning, design, and project management for irradiations in ATR, MITR-II, BOR-60, and TREATFuel performance modeling (ABAQUS) development of ALCHEMY metallic fuel performance code and model validation, advanced fuel element design (patents), irradiation test design, and analysis of irradiation test dataNuclear fuel pin design, formulation of design basis, creating technical reports on DOE legacy data on metallic nuclear fuels for qualification and model validation along with qualification of existing data through NQA-1 standardsManage consultant sub-contracts and mentor yearly summer intern for performing technical work and generating technical reportsControl rod and absorber pin development and design, performance analysis, and formulation of control rod design basisCompany representative to EPRI ANT program<a name="_Hlk503371825">KAPL </a>– Schenectady, NYAugust 2005 – February 2011Senior Materials EngineerFuel performance modeling (ABAQUS), advanced fuel element design, formulation of design basis, irradiation test design, analysis of irradiation test data, irradiation test data archivingPurdue University – West Lafayette, INMay 2003 – July 2005Research AssistantThermal modeling (ANSYS) of composite ceramic nuclear fuels, thermophysical property measurement, and fuel fabrication Xcel Energy – Minneapolis, MNAugust 1999 – August 2002Nuclear Engineer Student Co-opBWR core physics safety and reload analysis – SIMULATE and CASMO neutronic codes
Expertise: Ceramic Fuel, Core Design, Fast Reactor, Fuel, Fuel Performance, Irradiation, LWR, Modeling

Accomplishments

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High power irradiation testing of TRISO fuel particles with UCO and UO2 kernels in miniature fuel specimen capsules in HFIR - FY 2019 CINR, #19-17159