3 ms·
One form of very high temperature reactor, the pebble bed reactor, was theorized in the 1950s and has been under development at various locations for more than
by jeremyw 17y ago
One form of very high temperature reactor, the pebble bed reactor, was theorized in the 1950s and has been under development at various locations for more than a decade -- China begins commercial construction this year.
PBRs are one of several inherently safe designs wherein shutoff of circulating coolant raises core temperature and natural processes serve to choke criticality.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_bed_reactor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_bed_reactor
- sketerpot 17y agoPebble beds are also compatible with thorium, in case anybody was wondering.
- rainier 17y agoThe pebble bed reactor has inherently safe features concerning loss of coolant, but it is not inherently safe: There are other sever accidents not known in conventional reactors, like graphite fire (as it happened in Chernobyl, too) and water ingress into the core with subsequent explosions.