Advanced Nuclear

Nuclear power is “green” in that it burns no fossil fuels (gas, oil, or coal) in its production, but it is not “renewable” because it is not replenished. Today’s nuclear power, however, is not your grandparents’ nuclear power. Modern nuclear plants are “advanced”, meaning they are smaller, safer and some even use rather than make nuclear waste. Bill Gates and his company TerraPower, for example, are building a “slow wave nuclear reactor” that uses depleted (already used) not enriched uranium, can’t be used for nuclear weapons, and won’t suffer meltdowns. The first of these plants are scheduled to open between 2028 and 2029. In addition, there are “small modular reactors” that produce less than half the energy of large traditional reactors, but are safer and cheaper and faster to build. Nuclear power generates about 33% of Finland’s energy and about 70% of France’s.

A lead-cooled fast reactor design from the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Advanced Reactor Information System database. Image used courtesy of IAEA.

Advanced Nuclear Energy 101: What is Advanced Nuclear Energy?

- Advanced nuclear reactors extend beyond traditional reactors, offering the opportunity of safer, cheaper, and more efficient generation of emissions-free electricity, as well as heat for industrial processes.

The new, safer nuclear reactors that might help stop climate change

- Advanced reactors are designed to be safer than traditional water-cooled reactors, using coolants such as liquid sodium or molten salts instead. Most advanced is the “pebble bed” reactor, cooled by a gas such as helium.

The Big Lie About Nuclear Waste (Video; Cleo Abram)

- From Abram: “Nuclear waste is scary. Maybe you’ve seen it as glowing green goop in The Simpsons, or as a radioactive threat on the news. Either way, you likely know it has been a major block to the use and improvement of nuclear power. What if we could actually USE nuclear waste? Over the last few decades, experts, politicians and the public have had heated debates over what to do with this radioactive material created by nuclear power plants.” It turns out, we can use nuclear waste. Techniques such as “traveling wave reactors” reprocessed used nuclear fuel.

Above: A lead-cooled fast reactor design from the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Advanced Reactor Information System database. Image used courtesy of IAEA.

Traveling Wave Nuclear Reactor

- The TWR design offers 30 times more efficient use of mined uranium and a factor of five reduction in waste, all based on a once-through fuel cycle without the safety and proliferation concerns of reprocessing used fuel.

- In Nov 2021 Gates announced the first US TWR to be built in Kemmerer, Wyoming

What are Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)?

- Small modular reactors (SMRs) are advanced nuclear reactors that have a power capacity of up to 300 MW(e) per unit, which is about one-third of the generating capacity of traditional nuclear power reactors.

China expects to OK 6-8 nuclear power units per year in green energy drive.

- China has set of national goal of achieving carbon-neutrality or zero carbon emissions by 2060 and a rapid build-up of nuclear power plants is part of that drive.