| New nuclear reactor prototype to be built by the peoples favourite lizard 09:38 - Jun 25 with 1260 views | StokieBlue |
Given it's often cropped up in debates around future power generation I thought I would mention a project backed by Gates (microchips not compulsory) which sounds like it might be part of any possible solution.
Gates founded a company around 10 years ago called Terrapower [1] with the aim of making nuclear power cheaper, safer and more useful as a baseline source. They are now preparing to build their first power station using their new designs which has the following benefits:
- High pressure water has been replaced by molten salt which reduces the safety requirements a lot as many are around maintaining the high pressure water.
- Molten salt can maintain heat for a lot longer than water and thus you can ramp up quickly to supply baseline power when needed.
- The reactor is far less likely to meltdown as the molten salt used to cool the reactor doesn't require the high pressurisation of water or the continual pumping of water (which caused a lot of the issues at Fukushima).
- The power generation turbines are located away from the reactor reducing the complexity of the design as many of the safeguards now only need to be in the reactor building.
- The design is small enough to be build in the location of decommissioned coal plants and then connect up to their existing grid infrastructure and connections.
Obviously there is a very valid debate to be had around whether nuclear should be a part of ongoing power generation but if it is then something along the lines of the above distributed at locations of old power plants might be the way to go about it.
SB
[1]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TerraPower |  |
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| New nuclear reactor prototype to be built by the peoples favourite lizard on 09:44 - Jun 25 with 1209 views | WeWereZombies |
Talking of Fukushima this is a good listen, starts off with a bit of the usual clunkiness of BBC radio drama but develops well, in my opinion. The final episode has some chilling information too:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0fl5bb4 |  |
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| New nuclear reactor prototype to be built by the peoples favourite lizard on 09:57 - Jun 25 with 1160 views | NthQldITFC |
Interesting, thanks. It's a very neat solution, isn't it. I wonder how they control the 'breeding' process to bring the outer core up to operating density and hold it there. Do they have some kind of alternative for control rods and that kind of mechanical malarkey? Can you control the reaction from outside the core and bounce neutrons around in some clever new way? |  |
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| New nuclear reactor prototype to be built by the peoples favourite lizard on 10:05 - Jun 25 with 1131 views | StokieBlue |
| New nuclear reactor prototype to be built by the peoples favourite lizard on 09:57 - Jun 25 by NthQldITFC |
Interesting, thanks. It's a very neat solution, isn't it. I wonder how they control the 'breeding' process to bring the outer core up to operating density and hold it there. Do they have some kind of alternative for control rods and that kind of mechanical malarkey? Can you control the reaction from outside the core and bounce neutrons around in some clever new way? |
You still need control rods to control the reaction but the heat dissipation is handled by the salt which doesn't need pumping at high pressure so it will continue to absorb heat when at the same point in a water-cooled reactor there would be no pumped water to absorb heat and a meltdown would occur.
It seems to be a simpler design with plenty of upside versus a conventional water-cooled reactor.
"MSRs eliminate the nuclear meltdown scenario present in water-cooled reactors because the fuel mixture is kept in a molten state. The fuel mixture is designed to drain without pumping from the core to a containment vessel in emergency scenarios, where the fuel solidifies, quenching the reaction. In addition, hydrogen evolution does not occur. This eliminates the risk of hydrogen explosions (as in the Fukushima nuclear disaster).[2] They operate at or close to atmospheric pressure, rather than the 75–150 times atmospheric pressure of a typical light-water reactor (LWR). This reduces the need and cost for reactor pressure vessels. The gaseous fission products (Xe and Kr) have little solubility in the fuel salt,[a] and can be safely captured as they bubble out of the fuel, rather than increasing the pressure inside the fuel tubes, as happens in conventional reactors. MSRs can be refueled while operating (essentially online-nuclear reprocessing) while conventional reactors shut down for refueling (notable exceptions include pressure tube heavy water reactors like the CANDU or the Atucha-class PHWRs, and British-built gas-cooled reactors such as Magnox, AGR). MSR operating temperatures are around 700 °C (1,292 °F), significantly higher than traditional LWRs at around 300 °C (572 °F). This increases electricity-generation efficiency and process-heat opportunities."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten-salt_reactor
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| New nuclear reactor prototype to be built by the peoples favourite lizard on 11:21 - Jun 25 with 1040 views | Pinewoodblue |
| New nuclear reactor prototype to be built by the peoples favourite lizard on 10:05 - Jun 25 by StokieBlue |
You still need control rods to control the reaction but the heat dissipation is handled by the salt which doesn't need pumping at high pressure so it will continue to absorb heat when at the same point in a water-cooled reactor there would be no pumped water to absorb heat and a meltdown would occur.
It seems to be a simpler design with plenty of upside versus a conventional water-cooled reactor.
"MSRs eliminate the nuclear meltdown scenario present in water-cooled reactors because the fuel mixture is kept in a molten state. The fuel mixture is designed to drain without pumping from the core to a containment vessel in emergency scenarios, where the fuel solidifies, quenching the reaction. In addition, hydrogen evolution does not occur. This eliminates the risk of hydrogen explosions (as in the Fukushima nuclear disaster).[2] They operate at or close to atmospheric pressure, rather than the 75–150 times atmospheric pressure of a typical light-water reactor (LWR). This reduces the need and cost for reactor pressure vessels. The gaseous fission products (Xe and Kr) have little solubility in the fuel salt,[a] and can be safely captured as they bubble out of the fuel, rather than increasing the pressure inside the fuel tubes, as happens in conventional reactors. MSRs can be refueled while operating (essentially online-nuclear reprocessing) while conventional reactors shut down for refueling (notable exceptions include pressure tube heavy water reactors like the CANDU or the Atucha-class PHWRs, and British-built gas-cooled reactors such as Magnox, AGR). MSR operating temperatures are around 700 °C (1,292 °F), significantly higher than traditional LWRs at around 300 °C (572 °F). This increases electricity-generation efficiency and process-heat opportunities."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten-salt_reactor
SB |
What happened with Rolls Royce SMRs ( small modular reactor) supposed to have several completed by2025. Presumably another example of underfunding. |  |
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| New nuclear reactor prototype to be built by the peoples favourite lizard on 11:37 - Jun 25 with 1011 views | StokieBlue |
| New nuclear reactor prototype to be built by the peoples favourite lizard on 11:21 - Jun 25 by Pinewoodblue |
What happened with Rolls Royce SMRs ( small modular reactor) supposed to have several completed by2025. Presumably another example of underfunding. |
Sounds like mismanagement from the government which given the shower that they are is not that surprising:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/04/27/rolls-royce-plans-build-smr-wate
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