4 ms·

The Dream of Mini Nuclear Plants Hangs in the Balance

3 points by jseliger 4y ago

alexnewman 4y ago
If it’s not cost effective what’s the point. The whole idea that we can spend our way out of a climate crisis fails first principle thinking. Betting on risky expensive schemes are the reason why coal will soon return as our main option when obvious bridge fuels like gas are avoided for political reasons
- Schroedingersat 4y ago
  There's growing evidence that gas is no better than coal. Answer is same as it's ever been. Replace as much with wind, hydro, and solar and worry about the gaps only once you've maxed out the production rate of all three.
PaulHoule 4y ago
There are two things under development. In the short term there are derivatives of the pressurized water reactor that integrate the steam generator (heat exchanger) with the reactor vessel, NuScale's reactor is moving along in the US but there is a Chinese reactor that is currently under construction https://nucleus.iaea.org/sites/INPRO/df13/Presentations/011_CNNC%27s%20ACP100%20SMR-Technique%20Features%20and%20Progress%20in%20China.pdf https://nucleus.iaea.org/sites/INPRO/df13/Presentations/011_... That kind of reactor is small in terms of size and power output. It might get some advantages in reliability of construction which could help manage costs but the reason reactors got so big to begin with is there is strong reason to believe larger reactors have an economy of scale. (To be fair, GE has lately been talking about a SMR version of the boiling water reactor which may not be too different but the BWR has the stigma of having secondary protective systems such as the isolation condenser fail in the Fukushima accident.) The second line of development involves "Generation 4" reactors that operate at higher temperatures than the PWR at a much higher power density. If a number of challenging problems can be solved and such a reactor be coupled to a gas turbine powerset or another consumer of high temperature heat, that kind of system really could have radically lower costs than current nuclear plants. Such a reactor would be much smaller than current reactors at the same power level and smaller still if scaled down. There's a lot more technology development required to realize that, however.

3 points by jseliger 4y ago

If it’s not cost effective what’s the point. The whole idea that we can spend our way out of a climate crisis fails first principle thinking. Betting on risky expensive schemes are the reason why coal will soon return as our main option when obvious bridge fuels like gas are avoided for political reasons

Schroedingersat 4y ago
There's growing evidence that gas is no better than coal. Answer is same as it's ever been. Replace as much with wind, hydro, and solar and worry about the gaps only once you've maxed out the production rate of all three.

PaulHoule 4y ago

There are two things under development. In the short term there are derivatives of the pressurized water reactor that integrate the steam generator (heat exchanger) with the reactor vessel, NuScale's reactor is moving along in the US but there is a Chinese reactor that is currently under construction https://nucleus.iaea.org/sites/INPRO/df13/Presentations/011_CNNC%27s%20ACP100%20SMR-Technique%20Features%20and%20Progress%20in%20China.pdf https://nucleus.iaea.org/sites/INPRO/df13/Presentations/011_... That kind of reactor is small in terms of size and power output. It might get some advantages in reliability of construction which could help manage costs but the reason reactors got so big to begin with is there is strong reason to believe larger reactors have an economy of scale. (To be fair, GE has lately been talking about a SMR version of the boiling water reactor which may not be too different but the BWR has the stigma of having secondary protective systems such as the isolation condenser fail in the Fukushima accident.) The second line of development involves "Generation 4" reactors that operate at higher temperatures than the PWR at a much higher power density. If a number of challenging problems can be solved and such a reactor be coupled to a gas turbine powerset or another consumer of high temperature heat, that kind of system really could have radically lower costs than current nuclear plants. Such a reactor would be much smaller than current reactors at the same power level and smaller still if scaled down. There's a lot more technology development required to realize that, however.