How would you use a nuclear-wind hybrid plant and maximise its potential? When intermittent wind’s output falls, nuclear can step in to feed the grid. When it’s not doing that it can use its power to run the production of a wide range of commodities: from biofuels, hydrogen, pumped hydro to wastewater purification, desalination, chemical manufacturing and more – including straightforward thermal power for industry. In collaboration with NREL, the … [Read more...]
Nuclear: Does the West’s military need Small Modular Reactors?
The development of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), generating up to 300MW, are already getting support for civilian purposes. The military in Russia, China and the U.S. are also interested. It should reduce the reliance on long fuel supply lines, the defence of which costs lives. SMRs would be factory made and delivered on site. But Lukas Trakimavičius says many difficult questions must be answered before the West commits to this solution. … [Read more...]
Biden’s Green New Deal: bipartisan support should clear a path for Nuclear
President-elect Joe Biden knows that a divided Congress and Senate will make passing most legislation very difficult, not least his sweeping decarbonisation agenda. However, there is one area where both Republicans and Democrats share the same goals, and that is nuclear power. Jennifer Gordon at the Atlantic Council explains why this can clear a path for nuclear while other elements of Biden’s clean energy programme may struggle and even fail. … [Read more...]
Study identifies causes of soaring Nuclear plant cost overruns
Why does nuclear power cost so much when the technology has had decades to get it right? MIT’s David Chandler explains how researchers there have identified the main causes of the cost overruns in the U.S. It turns out that building new plants by copying existing designs actually costs more. That’s because site-specific constraints mean problems are being fixed during construction, adding to costs and delays. New types of concrete are being … [Read more...]
Nuclear Fusion: will super-cable technology bring “inexhaustible” energy supply a step closer?
Nuclear fusion is the process the Sun uses to produce energy. But attempts to replicate that process here on Earth have all needed more energy to run them than they generate (our existing nuclear plants use fission). Now a team led by MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center and MIT spinout company Commonwealth Fusion Systems has developed and tested high-temperature superconductor (HTS) cable technology that can ensure the high-performance magnets … [Read more...]
U.S. Nuclear: change the laws that constrain foreign and domestic investment
Today, Russia and China dominate global nuclear exports and new additions while the U.S. experiences budget overruns and cancellations. Once at the forefront, the U.S. should regain its leadership of nuclear power, argue Matt Bowen, Jennifer Gordon and Jackie Kempfer at the Atlantic Council. To recover its position it first needs to change the laws and policies that constrain its ability to cooperate with allies on nuclear matters, invest in … [Read more...]
ANEEL: Thorium-based reactor fuel could revive Nuclear’s fortunes
A public-private consortium backed by the U.S. DoE is developing a new nuclear fuel – a mix of thorium and uranium – that looks like a major advance on the fuels currently in use, says Jim Conca. Called “Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life” (ANEEL), it has a very high fuel burn-up rate (55,000 MWd/T) compared to the usual uranium (7,000 MWd/T). That high burn-up reduces the waste by over 80%. Less spent fuel means less refuelling, less … [Read more...]
Russia and U.S. are backing next generation Nuclear
Russia’s Rosatom is positioning itself to lead research and testing for Generation IV fast neutron reactors, including high temperature gas-cooled, molten salt, and lead-bismuth designs. Following an update of plans released by Rosatom in June, Dan Yurman fills in the details. It is creating an International Research Centre and has signed up four partnering nations so far – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The R&D facility … [Read more...]
Nuclear: can Silicon Carbide fuel rod cladding improve safety, performance?
Public concern about the safety of nuclear plants is driving research into ways to make the fuel rods more able to survive the kind of unexpected calamity experienced in Fukushima in 2011. Following the tsunami, hydrogen explosions were caused by the conventional zirconium-based fuel cladding interacting with the high temperature steam produced when the safety system failed and coolant water heated up. Writing for MIT, Leda Zimmerman describes … [Read more...]
Nuclear fusion: public-private pitch for pilot power plant in U.S.
A working nuclear fusion plant has long been a dream of scientists. The “Sun in a box” would generate abundant low carbon energy with little waste and more safely than traditional existing nuclear (fission) plants. But the scientific, engineering and materials challenges are admittedly enormous. Meanwhile, other electricity generating technologies are getting cheaper, so will we ever need it? Nevertheless, a public-private collaboration in the … [Read more...]
AI software to improve Nuclear reactor designs, performance, safety, lifetimes
Nuclear plants have high up-front costs, complex processes occurring all the way down to the molecular level throughout their decades-long lifetimes, and strict safety criteria. Modelling all the parameters and predicting the outcomes has traditionally begun with theory and observation followed by simulations, the results of which are fed back into the next round of theories, and repeated until those results look valid. The quality of the … [Read more...]
What if Germany wasn’t shutting down Nuclear? Modelling Coal, Gas, Renewables, emissions, prices
Germany plans to shut down its entire nuclear fleet by 2022. Right now, of the original 17, only 7 are still running. The Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan of 2011 was the trigger for Germany’s abandonment of emissions-free nuclear as part of its clean energy goals. Maximilian Auffhammer at the Energy Institute at Haas reviews a paper by his colleagues that has modelled the whole-system effects of the shutdowns, then compared the results with a … [Read more...]
200 – 400 Nuclear reactors to be decommissioned by 2040
Denis Iurchak has taken a close look at nuclear decommissioning. Globally, 447 nuclear reactors are in operation as of January 2020. Of those, nearly 70% are older than 30 years (25% are older than 40 years). The IEA says around 200 commercial reactors are to be shut down in the next two decades. On top of that, 182 reactors are already in permanent shutdown. This means that between 200 and 400 reactors are likely to be decommissioned by 2040, … [Read more...]
CCUS, nuclear, industrial heat, hydrogen, smart grids: “large unit” innovation needs more support
How do we accelerate innovation across all technologies? Simon Bennett at the IEA breaks down the task into “small unit” and “large unit” challenges. The first is easier and moves faster. Thanks to their small size and unit cost, heat pumps, EVs and solar panels benefit from mass production, mass deployment (100,000 to 100m units/year globally) and large customer markets with fierce competition. They can also easily leverage other fast-evolving … [Read more...]
Nuclear in 2020: a global look ahead at policy, financing, politics, by country
Dan Yurman presents his worldwide review of nuclear’s prospects. 19 nations are covered. He explains while some countries are planning to scale down nuclear, like South Korea and France, some are increasing investment, like China. Others remain stuck over policy, pricing, financing and politics (e.g. Japan, the U.S.). Exporters of plants, led by Russia, are making moves – not always easily - in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. R&D … [Read more...]
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