The Innovation Platform spoke with Dr. Matthew, a leading nuclear engineer, to highlight advances in Generation IV reactor technology, the safety and efficiency improvements made possible by innovative coolants and designs.
Nuclear energy has long been a key role in the global energy landscape, offering low-carbon alternatives to fossil fuels while dealing with increasing energy demand and climate change. While traditional reactor technologies face challenges related to safety and cost, advances in nuclear technology have overcome these obstacles.
Argonne National Laboratory has a rich history of nuclear research and innovation, and is now led to the development of Generation IV (Gen-IV) reactor technology. These advanced reactors prioritize safety and efficiency, focusing on minimizing nuclear waste.
Innovation Platform Maddy Hall spoke with Dr. Matthew, a leading nuclear engineer. Matthew weathered the advances in generation IV reactor technology and innovative coolants and designs that allow for improved reactor safety and efficiency.
Understanding Generation IV (Gen-IV) Reactors
Generation IV reactors are designed to optimize safety and efficiency, ultimately reducing the costs of licensing, building, operating and maintaining nuclear power plants significantly. The specific techniques that characterize Gen-IV reactors are functions of the various coolants and fuels used in these reactors compared to the current fleet of primarily pressurized photowater reactors.
When I say coolant, I refer to the liquid that absorbs heat from the core, transfers that thermal energy into the balance of the plant, and ultimately generates electricity. The Generation IV design uses coolants such as liquid sodium, molten salts, lead and helium. These coolants offer a variety of advantages over traditional water-cooled reactors in terms of safety and efficiency.
Using some of these advanced coolants can potentially promote a “closed” fuel cycle. This fuel cycle uses significantly more potential energy from recycled materials from spent fuel, resulting in a net reduction in total nuclear waste generation.
Argonne’s contribution to nuclear reactor technology
The Argonne National Laboratory’s roots date back to the University of Chicago’s Manhattan Project. Scientists there developed the first self-supporting reactor called the Chicago Pile 1, which eventually moved from under the university’s squash court to find Argonne National Laboratory 30 miles west of the city.
Argonne, like its Chicago site and the Argonne National Laboratory in Idaho, now known as the Idaho National Laboratory, continued to pave the peaceful use of nuclear energy that it had thought up and tested, considering almost every reactor design that exists today.
I think one of the biggest important milestones in Argonne’s efforts to commercialize Gen-IV reactors is the construction of Idaho’s experimental bleeder reactors (EBR) I and II. The EBR-I was a liquid metal cooling reactor, the first to produce electricity, demonstrating that high-speed reactors can produce more fuel than what is called breeding.
This was followed by the EBR-II. This was a sodium-cooled fast reactor that provided most of the electricity and heat requirements of Argon Nu West while conducting experiments demonstrating the exceptional safety and efficiency benefits of Gen-IV reactors, including demonstration of closed fuel cycles.
Improved efficiency and safety of nuclear power generation
I personally work on the development of the Gen-IV Reactor Type I. It can be a sodium high speed reactor or SFR. SFR uses liquid sodium as its process fluid. This has a boiling point of 882°C and a thermal conductivity of about three times that of stainless steel. These properties mean that the reactor can operate at atmospheric pressure and are resilient to unexpected occurrences such as loss of coolant pump power.
Operating at atmospheric pressure significantly improves safety and reduces the capital costs associated with thick vessels of pressurized water reactors operating at over 2,000 PSIs.
Furthermore, sodium does not moderate or slow down neutrons like water, so fast neutron spectra can be used to generate more nuclear fuel than those placed in the reactor.
The advantages of liquid sodium were tested with EBR-II. This has resulted in a large number of simulated accidents, including a scenario in which the sodium coolant pump was shut off while the reactor was operating at full power.
The high thermal conductivity, boiling point and heat capacity of sodium facilitate natural convection cooling through the core during the damping heat period, allowing operators to restore the EBR-II to normal operation and continue testing.
This is an example of utilizing the preferred hydrothermal properties of natural phenomena, in this case sodium, to make the reactor safe. This passive safety is an important aspect of what we define as a “generation IV.”
Transfer from first and second generation photowater reactors to Gen-IV reactors
Adopting new technologies involves growing pains, especially in the nuclear energy sector. There is a strict regulatory framework that can make the deployment of next-generation nuclear reactors difficult.
However, there is no knowledge gap in the actual engineering of these technologies, so we are confident that we will start licensing commercial Gen-IV reactors over the next decade. This is especially true for sodium high speed reactors because these reactors have been built and operated safely and reliably in the past.
Promoting the future of Gen-IV reactors
With global energy demand forecasting to continue to increase, it is certain that Gen-IV reactors will play a role in meeting this requirement.
The high power density needs of data centers deploying artificial intelligence represent applications that next-generation nuclear reactors are well suited to.
Argonne has played a leading role in the experimental development of Gen-IV reactors using the Mechanism Engineering Test Loop, the largest sodium testing facility in the United States, built to develop sensors and components for SFRs.
Argonne also has a variety of molten salt facilities, building and maintaining the computing system code used to design next-generation reactors.
With these facilities and our expertise, we are currently partnering with most startups in Gen-IV reactors to enable nuclear reactors.
This article will also be featured in the 22nd edition of Quarterly Publication.
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