Posted on 02/11/2021 2:19:08 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT
MINI NUCLEAR REACTORS OFFER PROMISE OF CHEAPER, CLEAN POWER Reactor makers are pitching smaller, modular systems that produce limitless emissions-free energy—but they may not be an easy sell
The pitch: small modular reactors, or SMRs, that can be housed in compact containment structures and operate safely with less shielding and oversight. SMRs could allow power plants to shed their huge hourglass-shaped cooling towers and, in some designs, the reactors would be immersed in water to prevent overheating.
Utilities could retrofit existing power plants by substituting climate-friendly SMRs for aging, climate-unfriendly coal- or gas-fired burners, boosters say. SMRs could also power municipal heating systems, turn water to hydrogen for fuel or electrify remote locations, all without any emissions.
Last fall, the Energy Department awarded $210 million to 10 projects to develop technologies for SMRs and beyond, as part of its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program. The agency had already awarded $400 million to various projects since 2014 “to accelerate the development and deployment of SMRs,” it said in a statement on NuScale’s safety evaluation last September.
GE’s second offering, a system now in development with nuclear startup TerraPower LLC, replaces water with molten salt, similar to what’s used in some advanced solar-power arrays. Dubbed Natrium, the system runs hotter than water-cooled reactors but at lower pressure and with passive cooling, which eliminates piping and electrical systems while improving safety,
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
No quelling required, for there are NO spent fuel rods.
TerraPower uses a small amount of enriched uranium at the beginning of the process (see slides at the bottom of the post), but then the nuclear reactor runs on the waste product and can make and consume its own fuel. The benefits are that the reactor doesn’t have to be refueled or have its waste removed until the end of life of the reactor (theoretically a couple hundred years). Using waste uranium reduces the amount of waste in the overall nuclear life cycle, and extends the available supply of the world’s uranium for nuclear by many times.
https://gigaom.com/2010/02/15/terrapower-how-the-travelling-wave-nuclear-reactor-works/
Please learn about Molten Salt Reactors. https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/molten-salt-reactor-market-2021-latest-report-covering-key-vendors-price-trends-gross-margin-influence-of-covid-19-and-forecast-to-2025-2021-02-11
For some reason they leave out www.terrestrialenergy.com they are the furthest along in development. https://www.terrestrialenergy.com/technology/competitive/
One for each house in a 8 foot square. plug it in. 20 years later get a new one.
The idea was to provide a plug and play solution for remote areas (e.g. Alaska). I never heard what happened with it.
The September 11 attacks made it a security nightmare.
No mention of security requirements in the article?
Gone but not forgotten.
Very Small Reactor MoveluX
https://www.toshiba-energy.com/en/nuclearenergy/rd/safety-reactor.htm
Nuclear power is never going to solve our energy needs. The future of energy is unicorn fart/moonbeam pellets burning in a reactor made of unobtainium!
Bill Gates owns a large share of TerraPower. He is Chairman of the Board.
No I do not and I will be the first to admit it...Thank you .
Computer simulations stated this MIGHT be operational in 10 years in 2010.....real world application has not been achieved has it?
Molten salt reactors are very safe and can consume and get energy from nuclear waste. Molten Salt Reactors - World Nuclear Association
The problem with nuclear waste is linked to Americas use of breeder reactors to generate fissile material for nuclear weapons. A breeder reactor is a nuclear reactor that generates more fissile material than it consumes. Breeder reactors achieve this because their neutron economy is high enough to create more fissile fuel than they use, by irradiation of a fertile material, such as uranium-238 or thorium-232 that is loaded into the reactor along with fissile fuel. Utilities generate electricity to sell, the federal government buys the enriched fuel to reprocess into nuclear weapons. and Americans live with the unclear waste.
Yes I know.
The staff will be less but not proportionally. Same with construction costs. After building these things for 60 years, never underestimate the governments ability to screw things up. See Vogtle 3 and 4. It has now been 8 years and no end in sight.
https://www.neimagazine.com/news/newsmore-progress-for-vogtle-34-8415144
My daughter worked on these with MPR. Right up there with Fusion. the original Seawolf had molten sodium reactors. They were quietly “Deep Sixed”.
They keep talking about this and then..........nothing.
SNR should be built to utilize Thorium instead of Uranium.
Before making ignorant statements perhaps you could learn a little bit about the subject.
Of course.
No thanx. Besides, anyone with nefarious intentions could make a mess of things.
LOL! We gone over this before! What could possibly go wrong? Your naybor decides to turn off your cooling water? Dumps sugar in your reactor?
LMAO!
I keep forgetting how few freepers get sarcasm.
America’s enemies, and their useful idiot supporters, hate nuclear.
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