210 MWe Pebble Bed Reactor to be built in China, April
-
- Posts: 869
- Joined: Fri Aug 20, 2010 2:04 pm
- Location: Summerville SC, USA
-
- Posts: 869
- Joined: Fri Aug 20, 2010 2:04 pm
- Location: Summerville SC, USA
Indeed, the Chernobyl reactor's graphite was not encapsulated as in these pebbles*. Nevertheless, graphite burns and that's why I don't like it around enriched radioactives.
* That I know the Chinese are first to build a working reactor. I hope it works out.
* That I know the Chinese are first to build a working reactor. I hope it works out.
"Aqaba! By Land!" T. E. Lawrence
R. Peters
R. Peters
I understand your reservation towards graphite to some extent, I am just not sure how important that factor really is with this reactor type.
The Germans did have a pebble bed test reactor in operation for a few years, but it has since been discontinued (thanks to the stupid socialist and green party coalition government that they had there for a while).
I dont quite know how simillar this was to the one built in China though, or whether there were some larger differences.
The Chinese one is passively cooled, whatever that means in praxis.
The Germans did have a pebble bed test reactor in operation for a few years, but it has since been discontinued (thanks to the stupid socialist and green party coalition government that they had there for a while).
I dont quite know how simillar this was to the one built in China though, or whether there were some larger differences.
The Chinese one is passively cooled, whatever that means in praxis.
Does anyone know what the fuel composition and burn up ratio are in these reactors? I can't imagine it would be very high, and encasing the fuel in nearly* indestructible pebbles would seem likely to make reprocessing very difficult. If that is the case, then this design looks like a dead end.
* The "nearly" makes me very nervous, considering the graphite involved. If each and every pebble is not essentially perfect, it could have disastrous consequences. Predicating the safety of the design on perfection in manufacturing seems like a terrible idea.
* The "nearly" makes me very nervous, considering the graphite involved. If each and every pebble is not essentially perfect, it could have disastrous consequences. Predicating the safety of the design on perfection in manufacturing seems like a terrible idea.
I wonder if what is happening in these days in Japan might give start to a new renaissance for Molten Salt Reactors.
We can't afford not to use fission reactors to sustain our civilization, at least until a proper fusion device will be finally discovered.
I have seen quite a lot of articles on scientific papers in the last few days about Thorium, and Thorium might indeed become the fuel of choice in the next gen of reactors on the wave of Fukushima scare.
We can't afford not to use fission reactors to sustain our civilization, at least until a proper fusion device will be finally discovered.
I have seen quite a lot of articles on scientific papers in the last few days about Thorium, and Thorium might indeed become the fuel of choice in the next gen of reactors on the wave of Fukushima scare.
Only in the west? After all, China just stated they would develop and patent the MSR technology right out from under US!Skipjack wrote:If there will be a next gen of reactors at all on the wave of the Fukushima scare. I am affraid, they will just abandone nuclear power all together.
Politicians are idiots.
Last edited by KitemanSA on Sat Mar 26, 2011 2:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
Hope this trend continues to grow.Giorgio wrote:I wonder if what is happening in these days in Japan might give start to a new renaissance for Molten Salt Reactors.
We can't afford not to use fission reactors to sustain our civilization, at least until a proper fusion device will be finally discovered.
I have seen quite a lot of articles on scientific papers in the last few days about Thorium, and Thorium might indeed become the fuel of choice in the next gen of reactors on the wave of Fukushima scare.
Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 58916.html
Bloomberg - mentions LFTR
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-2 ... r-coy.html
Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/art ... ergy-needs
... which includes evidence that the media frenzy over Thorium and LFTR might be heating up.
Daily Comet - Louisiana - Can't have everything:)So besieged is he <Kirk Sorenson of EnergyFromThorium.com> with requests for interviews about thorium ... that he emails his regrets to the Toronto Star that he can’t talk before this story’s deadline.
http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20110 ... n-disaster
Hopefully, something good will come out of this mess.
Well, the Chinese have proven over and over again, that they do want to have progress at ALL COST. It might not be desireable, but it sure means that they do things, while we just talk about them...Only in the west?
It also allows them to take over world leadership.
I am not saying that what they are doing is right either, but they sure are pushing ahead.
I wished our politicians were that decisive sometimes.
But ours care more about the perception and the jobs created by a decision than the actual effect the decision will have in the long term.
They care about being reelected above all else. Change is difficult, even if in the end it is for the best, so making a decision that causes change results in pain and therefore not being reelected. So, change now a days is very incremental, insufficient at times, and slow. Only in times of great stress (think Patriot Act post 9/11) can real change occur.
Famous last words, "Hey, watch this!"