3 ms·
The nuclear fuel in these is almost always solid. It doesn't spill. All you have to do is ensure it is coolable in all geometries. To do that in this kind of sc
by acidburnNSA 7y ago
The nuclear fuel in these is almost always solid. It doesn't spill. All you have to do is ensure it is coolable in all geometries. To do that in this kind of scenario you generally down-rate it to powers that can be carried off by natural circulation of air flowing by it while it lays in the ditch. It's a tradeoff though because you generally want to get as much power as possible out of your equipment. If you want to trade lower power for a longer lasting core with more accident resilience you can do that.
The x-energy gas cooled reactor behind this particular concept has astoundingly robust fuel pebbles called triso. They conduct their heat to the vessel and it passes it to passive airflow in all accidents.
- gmueckl 7y agoThere is a fundamental misconception in your post: radioactive material can spill no matter whether it is in solid, liquid or gaseous aggregate state. What matters is the mechanical integrity of the surrounding shielding. If that is intentionally damaged or destroyed, you have a pretty bad nuclear accident on your hands.
- entee 7y agoThanks this helps a lot. One other Q: if the pellets spill, how dangerous are they from a radioactivity perspective?
- acidburnNSA 7y agoUnshielded but intact pebbles would emit extraordinarily high amounts of radiation that falls off with 1/r^2 by geometric attenuation. Picking them up and putting them back in a shield would require remote handling (long tools and/or robots). But once they're all picked up and re-shielded, the radiation would be gone. Much different from spilling a vat of radioactive liquid which is much harder to clean.