Containment building : architecture between the city and advanced nuclear reactors

Abstract

Since the inception of nuclear energy research, the element thorium (Th) has been considered the superior fuel for nuclear reactions because of its potency, safety, abundance and reduced waste. Cold War agendas broke from the logic of efficient energy production to establish a nationwide network of reactors designed to enrich uranium fuel for a nuclear arsenal. Contemporary dilemmas of global warming, increasing fuel prices, carbon emissions, and anti-proliferation movements have brought the discussion of clean, safe nuclear power to the forefront of American energy policy; it is no longer tolerable or sustainable to rely on a uranium (U) nuclear network. The architectural typology of nuclear energy has not been addressed in America for 35 years and is one that belies the promise of clean energy's progress through technology and public intervention. Containment Building is an architectural response to nuclear technological advancement that challenges historical separation between nuclear power and the public. It is a self-sustained, thorium-powered nuclear plant sited in and powering New York City. It is a nuclear campus that programatically and urbanistically engages the public and contains radio isotope labs, a nuclear medicine and imaging facility, a food irradiation center, a wellness hotel and spa, an electric taxi charging station, and a plug-in park along the Hudson River waterfront.