New Reactor Types

Claims that a new generation of so-called advanced, safe and easier-to-build nuclear reactors − small nuclear power plants − will be vital to combat climate change are an illusion, and the idea should be abandoned, says a group of scientists. Their report, “Advanced” is not always better, published by the US Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), examines all the proposed new types of reactor under development in the US and fails to find any that could be developed in time to help deal with the urgent need to cut carbon emissions. The US government is spending $600 million on supporting these prototypes. While the report goes into details only about the many designs of small and medium-sized reactors being developed by US companies, it is a serious blow to the worldwide nuclear industry because the technologies are all similar to those also being underwritten by taxpayers in Canada, the UK, Russia and China. This is a market the World Economic Forum claimed in January could be worth $300 billion by 2040. Edwin Lyman, who wrote the report, and is the director of nuclear power safety in the UCS Climate and Energy Program, thinks the WEF estimate is extremely unlikely. He comments on nuclear power in general: “The technology has fundamental safety and security disadvantages compared with other low-carbon sources.

Climate News Network 24th March 2021 read more »

A Highland campaign group has voiced scepticism over the idea of Caithness hosting the world’s first nuclear fusion power station – and called for the hundreds of millions of pounds that would be spent on research and design to be diverted to renewables instead. Highlands Against Nuclear Transport (HANT) claims nuclear fusion experiments have “never succeeded in producing any electricity” and that there is no safe way to dispose of the radioactive waste that would be generated. Dounreay is one of two sites in Scotland preparing applications to construct a multi-billion-pound prototype reactor offering a virtually limitless source of clean electricity by copying the processes that power the sun.

John O’Groat Journal 24th March 2021 read more »

A BLACKBURN based nuclear engineering company is looking for graduates to work on its projects. Assystem, based on Innovation Centre Evolution Park, Haslingden Road, believes that recent graduates will be able to bring new ways of thinking and cutting edge techniques to the company’s low carbon projects across the country as part of its leadership graduate scheme. Successful recruits will work on projects such as the Hinkley Point C nuclear programme, the UK Small Modular Reactor programme and on nuclear fusion programmes.

Lancashire Telegraph 24th March 2021 read more »

Small modular and advanced nuclear reactors have been proposed as potential ways of dealing with the problems—specifically economic competitiveness, risk of accidents, link to proliferation and production of waste—confronting nuclear power technology. This perspective article examines whether these new designs can indeed solve these problems, with a particular focus on the economic challenges. It briefly discusses the technical challenges confronting advanced reactor designs and the many decades it might take for these to be commercialized, if ever. The article explains why the higher construction and operational costs per unit of electricity generation capacity will make electricity from small modular reactors more expensive than electricity from large nuclear power plants, which are themselves not competitive in today’s electricity markets. Next, it examines the potential savings from learning and modular construction, and explains why the historical record suggests that these savings will be inadequate to compensate for the economic challenges resulting from the lower generation capacity. It then critically examines arguments offered by advocates of these technologies about job creation and other potential uses of energy generated from these plants to justify subsidizing and constructing these kinds of nuclear plants. It concludes with an assessment of the markets for these technologies, suggesting that these are inadequate to justify constructing the necessary manufacturing facilities.

IEEE 9th March 2021 read more »

Local councillors have joined forces to back the idea of a nuclear fusion power plant in Caithness, saying it would be a natural successor to the existing Dounreay site and create spin-off benefits for “a whole new generation”. The county’s eight Highland Council members insist Caithness is ideally positioned to develop the pioneering technology and are offering their unanimous support. Dounreay is one of two sites in Scotland preparing bids to construct a multi-billion-pound prototype reactor offering a virtually limitless source of clean electricity by copying.

John O’Groat Journal 23rd March 2021 read more »

Readers of the Caithness Courier and John O’Groat Journal have given overwhelming backing to the idea of a nuclear fusion plant in the far north. If it went ahead, the development would be the world’s first commercial nuclear fusion power station. The technology is in its infancy, but involves replicating the process that powers the sun by merging atoms and turning hydrogen into helium, releasing huge amounts of energy. Highland Council is set to consider a potential bid for Dounreay to host the power plant on Thursday. The local nuclear facility is one of two sites in Scotland preparing applications to construct a multi-billion-pound prototype reactor. The Dounreay application is being made by the Caithness and North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership.

John O’Groat Journal 22nd March 2021 read more »

The investment bank cited Dennis Whyte, professor of nuclear science and engineering at MIT, who said the university’s NET SPARC project expects to achieve net energy gain from fusion by 2025 and that commercial applications for the technology “could follow in the 2030s”

Pro-active Investor 22nd March 2021 read more »

One of Bill Gates’ causes is to replace power plants fueled by coal and natural gas with climate-friendly alternatives. That has led the billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder to embrace nuclear power, and building nuclear power plants to combat climate change is a prospect worth discussing. But Gates has been persuaded to back a costly reactor design fueled by nuclear-weapon-usable plutonium and shown, through decades of experience, to be expensive, quick to break down, and difficult to repair.

Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 22nd March 2021 read more »

A new generation of so-called “advanced” nuclear power reactors that Washington believes could help fight climate change often present greater proliferation risks than conventional nuclear power, a science advocacy group said on Thursday. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has made curbing climate change a priority and has supported research and development for advanced nuclear technologies. The reactors are also popular with many Republicans. Last October, the month before Biden was elected, the U.S. Department of Energy, awarded $80 million each to TerraPower LLC and X-energy to build reactors it said would be operational in seven years. Advanced reactors are generally far smaller than conventional reactors and are cooled with materials such as molten salt instead of with water. Backers say they are safer and some can use nuclear waste as fuel. “The technologies are certainly different from current reactors, but it is not at all clear they are better,” said Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Reuters 18th March 2021 read more »

An Irish man with an ambition to revolutionise nuclear energy has secured $50.5 million from the Canadian government to build pilot versions of his innovative nuclear reactor. Rory O’Sullivan is chief executive officer of Moltex, a Canadian-based nuclear power company. The Trinity College graduate joined the firm, which claims it can provide cheap and safe nuclear energy, in 2015.

Business Post 21st March 2021 read more »

There is “overwhelming support” for the idea of the world’s first nuclear fusion power station coming to Caithness, according to the chairman of Dounreay Stakeholder Group. Highland councillor Struan Mackie says the community already has a unique relationship with the industry he believes a compelling case can be made for Dounreay to host the pioneering development. He highlighted the area’s “world-class workforce” and the strength of the supply chain as key factors. Dounreay is one of two sites in Scotland preparing applications to construct a multi-billion-pound prototype reactor offering a virtually limitless source of clean electricity by copying the processes that power the sun. It would be known as STEP, the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production. The application is being taken forward by Caithness and North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership.

John O’Groat Journal 19th March 2021 read more »

Former nuclear energy sites and new build locations in Berkley and Oldbury in Gloucestershire could soon host what is claimed to be the world’s first fusion power plant. Fusion technology uses the same principles that power the sun, fusing hydrogen isotopes to make helium and limitless ‘carbon-neutral’ energy. Cabinet members of Gloucestershire County Council will be asked next week to endorse a bid to nominate the location to home the new project.

Energy Live News 19th March 2021 read more »

In an interview for the Washington Post Magazine during his current book tour, billionaire Bill Gates, whom we are now expected to accept as an authority on climate change, said: “I’ll be happy if TerraPower was a waste of money.” TerraPower is Gates’s nuclear power company pushing so-called “advanced” reactors. His book is called How to Avoid a Climate Disaster. Well, Bill, I have some good news for you. You can start celebrating! Because, yes, TerraPower is indeed a colossal waste of money. It’s also a waste of precious time. And the idea that nuclear power could “lift billions out of poverty” as the TerraPower website boasts, is on a par with any number of outlandish theories, conspiratorial or otherwise, that are making the all too frequent rounds these days.

Beyond Nuclear 14th March 2021 read more »