Posted on 04/18/2022 9:37:30 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Under the new program, the Defense Department will build a 1-5 MegaWatts nuclear microreactor at Idaho National Laboratory for a three-year (minimum) test operational period. It will be “the first electricity-generating Generation IV nuclear reactor built in the United States,” the Defense Department said in a statement. “The first electricity-generating Generation IV nuclear reactor demonstrated in the world was the HTR-PM, a Chinese reactor, which first reached criticality in September 2021.”
“The DOD uses approximately 30 terawatt-hours of electricity per year and more than 10 million gallons of fuel per day—levels that are only expected to increase due to anticipated electrification of the non-tactical vehicle fleet and maturation of future energy-intensive capabilities,” it reads. “A safe, small, transportable nuclear reactor would address this growing demand with a resilient, carbon-free energy source that would not add to the DOD’s fuel needs, while supporting mission-critical operations in remote and austere environments.”
Mobile nuclear reactors today shouldn’t be compared to Chernobyl or other big nuclear disasters from decades past. But, in a battlefield context, they could still be dangerous. As Kuperman argued, a missile targeting a mobile microreactor could result in radioactive material getting out. And the reactor can’t be buried, because it needs passive cooling in the event of a temperature buildup.
But the idea has taken on new relevance and is finding renewed support, said Paul Roege, a retired Army colonel who managed a $150 million program for DARPA examining the concept.
There’s a new appreciation in the United States government that small nuclear reactors could help the United States maintain a long-term presence in the Asia- Pacific region, where the military must operate in much greater numbers to deter China from launching an invasion of Taiwan.
(Excerpt) Read more at defenseone.com ...
This effort evolved out of our requirements for generators at Afghanistan operating bases and the tremendous amount of diesel required to be flown or trucked in each day.
However, one well-placed mortar shell over the wall, and it’s a mini-Chernobyl and an entire base population exposed to radioactivity.
No, thank you.
I volunteer to have my town get one.
10 million gallons of fuel a day ??
Will it weigh more than a Tesla?
hmm are these more mini light water reactors. If so, its more stupid.
A bad idea because it will employ light water reactor designs supplied by the present usual suspects. It would be a good idea if the reactor was molten salt using thorium.
PBR’s are already designed.
Why reinvent the wheel?.............................
PBR’s would not be a problem. Though radioactive, the individual fuel parts could be made safe rather quickly.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/pebble-bed-reactors
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https://www.livescience.com/china-creates-new-thorium-reactor.html
Hell if I know. It’s all Greek to me.
Sounds like an opportunity for a well connected huckster to take a contract or grant to harvest some gooberment waste and build another empire business.
Anybody know of such a person?
It’s the Pentagon, they have to spend money or else lose it...............
Maybe something like this?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small%2C_sealed%2C_transportable%2C_autonomous_reactor
While that is smaller than conventional reactors, it is still rather large compared to a Pebble Bed Reactor.
Plus, it says that it’s a ‘Fast breeder’..................
Molten lead or bismuth are interesting designs. However, these fast reactors burn Uranium, which is extraordinarily rare. Thorium is abundant.
What does a PBR do to solve the LWR problem of using only about 4% of the fissionable material in solid fuel? Liquid fuel is the way to go because 80% or more of the fissionable material will be spent in the reactor.
Why can’t they just use the reactor out of a nuclear sub?
The leading contender for Project Pele is the Radiant mobile reactor that is being developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX engineers. It is a High Temperature Gas (HTG) pebble bed reactor design that uses solid TRISO High Assay Low Enrichment Uranium (HALEU) fuel balls. This means the reactor can never melt down with a loss of coolant because the fuel expands as it gets hotter and eventually loses criticality (called negative temperature coefficient) automatically shutting it down.
All the waste products are sealed in the pebbles which burn Uranium 235 for a few years until they need to be replaced using a fully robotic process that doesn’t need to open the core. If the helium coolant leaks it is not radioactive and can’t cause steam or hydrogen explosions like Fukushima or Chernobyl water cooled reactors.
It could be trucked to a site and parked under a concrete or earthen revetment as further protection from most ordinance. If the government builds enough of them, Tesla may want to build commercial versions, sell the electricity to the grid, and rebate Tesla owners for all or part of their electric consumption. If the electricity is almost free, I might even buy one.
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