Many of those so-called superior applied sciences had been invented and even demonstrated over 50 years in the past, earlier than the trade converged on the usual water-cooled plant designs. However now there’s renewed curiosity in getting various nuclear reactors up and working. New designs may assist enhance security, effectivity, and even price.
Coolant
Various coolants can enhance on security over water-based designs, since they don’t all the time have to be saved at excessive pressures. Many may attain larger temperatures, which may permit reactors to run extra effectively.
Molten salt is one main contender for various coolants, utilized in designs from Kairos Energy, Terrestrial Vitality, and Moltex Vitality. These designs can use much less gasoline and produce waste that’s simpler to handle.
Different firms want to liquid metals, together with sodium and lead. There are a couple of sodium-cooled reactors working at the moment, primarily in Russia, and the nation can be on the forefront in creating lead-cooled reactors. Steel-cooled reactors share most of the potential security advantages of molten-salt designs. Helium and different gases can be used to achieve larger temperatures than water-cooled methods. X-energy is designing a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor utilizing helium.
Gasoline
Most reactors that use another coolant additionally use another gasoline.
TRISO, or tri-structural isotropic particle gasoline, is likely one of the hottest choices. TRISO particles comprise uranium, enclosed in ceramic and carbon-based layers. This retains the gasoline contained, conserving all of the merchandise of fission reactions inside and permitting the gasoline to withstand corrosion and melting. Kairos and X-energy each plan to make use of TRISO gasoline of their reactors.
Different reactors use HALEU: high-assay low-enriched uranium. Most nuclear gasoline utilized in business reactors incorporates between 3% and 5% uranium-235. HALEU, then again, incorporates between 5% and 20% uranium-235, permitting reactors to get extra energy in a smaller area.
Measurement
I do know I mentioned I’d preserve this to 2 issues, however let’s embody a bonus class. Along with altering up the specifics of issues like gasoline and coolant, many firms are working to construct reactors of various (principally smaller) sizes.
