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Small may be beautiful for the nuclear power industry So argue a host of would-be builders of novel nuclear reactors. While the U.S. government has not given up on investing in large units the Department of Energy has also announced the availability of $450 million in funds to support engineering and licensing of so-called "small modular reactors."
"The Obama Administration and the Energy Department are committed to an all-of-the-above energy strategy that develops every source of American energy, including nuclear power," said Secretary of Energy Steven Chu in a statement, which aims to get such modular reactors hooked into the grid by 2022. "The Energy Department and private industry are working to position America as the leader in advanced nuclear energy technology and manufacturing."
Globally, large reactor designs remain the predominant technology. One alternative to cut costs could be small, novel reactors, appropriate for areas with smaller electricity demands or as part of a flexible power production facility that could scale up quickly as necessary. Small reactors would have a maximum capacity of 300 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power more than 200,000 U.S. homes for a year.
But such reactors still require the same electricity-generating, safety, and waste disposal systems as the hulking light-water reactors presently being built as well as identical rigorous licensing requirements. "Yeah, there's less concrete and, yeah, there's less steel in the reactor vessel," says nuclear engineer Eric Loewen, chief consulting engineer at GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, which is proposing a modular fast reactor to help the U.K. with its plutonium problem. But the list of other expenses associated with nuclear will not change with the new designs and "that gives pause to small modular reactors."
Alternative fuel?
Small modular reactors may help with two of the biggest challenges facing the nuclear industry: the growing stores of waste from existing reactors and residue from the mass production of nuclear weapons as well as the overall safety of nuclear power. GE's PRISM fast reactor, General Atomic's helium-cooled fast reactor, or Hyperion Power's liquid lead-bismuth cooled reactor could all turn waste into fuel. Hyperion hopes to demonstrate its reactor, capable of generating 25 megawatts of electricity, at the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina.
Such nuclear batteries could in principle be sealed, placed in the ground, and run for a decade before being swapped out for an entirely new modular reactor. And if manufactured in a factory, they could also be cheap. "There is no inherent reason why nuclear power needs to be expensive," Bill Gates, who has invested in the novel reactor proposed by TerraPower, told the ARPA–e summit on February 28, noting that nuclear's relative expense largely derives from building in safety features.
Evaluating the safety of such new reactors will take time, of course, and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has yet to receive an application from any of the would-be vendors of small modular reactors, whether fast reactors or scaled-down light-water reactors. And staffing requirements, emergency planning and clean-up funds, among other issues, remain to be worked out between the reactor makers and the NRC — a key component of reducing the cost of such reactors.
"The Obama Administration and the Energy Department are committed to an all-of-the-above energy strategy that develops every source of American energy, including nuclear power," said Secretary of Energy Steven Chu in a statement, which aims to get such modular reactors hooked into the grid by 2022. "The Energy Department and private industry are working to position America as the leader in advanced nuclear energy technology and manufacturing."
Globally, large reactor designs remain the predominant technology. One alternative to cut costs could be small, novel reactors, appropriate for areas with smaller electricity demands or as part of a flexible power production facility that could scale up quickly as necessary. Small reactors would have a maximum capacity of 300 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power more than 200,000 U.S. homes for a year.
But such reactors still require the same electricity-generating, safety, and waste disposal systems as the hulking light-water reactors presently being built as well as identical rigorous licensing requirements. "Yeah, there's less concrete and, yeah, there's less steel in the reactor vessel," says nuclear engineer Eric Loewen, chief consulting engineer at GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, which is proposing a modular fast reactor to help the U.K. with its plutonium problem. But the list of other expenses associated with nuclear will not change with the new designs and "that gives pause to small modular reactors."
Alternative fuel?
Small modular reactors may help with two of the biggest challenges facing the nuclear industry: the growing stores of waste from existing reactors and residue from the mass production of nuclear weapons as well as the overall safety of nuclear power. GE's PRISM fast reactor, General Atomic's helium-cooled fast reactor, or Hyperion Power's liquid lead-bismuth cooled reactor could all turn waste into fuel. Hyperion hopes to demonstrate its reactor, capable of generating 25 megawatts of electricity, at the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina.
Such nuclear batteries could in principle be sealed, placed in the ground, and run for a decade before being swapped out for an entirely new modular reactor. And if manufactured in a factory, they could also be cheap. "There is no inherent reason why nuclear power needs to be expensive," Bill Gates, who has invested in the novel reactor proposed by TerraPower, told the ARPA–e summit on February 28, noting that nuclear's relative expense largely derives from building in safety features.
Evaluating the safety of such new reactors will take time, of course, and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has yet to receive an application from any of the would-be vendors of small modular reactors, whether fast reactors or scaled-down light-water reactors. And staffing requirements, emergency planning and clean-up funds, among other issues, remain to be worked out between the reactor makers and the NRC — a key component of reducing the cost of such reactors.
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