12/25/2023 0 Comments Reactor idle optimal layout island![]() In contrast, the Xe-100 design from X-Energy would use pressurized helium gas to cool its uranium-based fuel. That could complement renewable sources such as wind and solar energy, which produce fluctuating power levels that need to be evened out. In contrast to a conventional nuclear power plant, the Natrium plant could quickly ratchet up or down its total output even as its reactor continues to run steadily and efficiently. The sodium would transfer its heat to molten salt, which could then flow directly to a steam generator or to a storage tank, to be held to generate steam and electricity later. Because sodium has a much higher boiling temperature than water, the coolant would not have to be pressurized, reducing the plant's complexity and cost. ![]() Instead of water, the 345 megawatt Natrium reactor from TerraPower, Inc., and GE Hitachi would use molten sodium metal as a coolant. Still under pressure, the cooling water flows to an external steam generator, where it boils water in a separate circuit, producing steam that drives turbines to generate electricity. In a conventional power reactor, the energy heats highly pressurized "cooling" water that circulates through the core. Within the core of a nuclear reactor, atoms of uranium fuel split in a chain reaction, releasing energy and free-flying neutrons, which then split other uranium atoms. The two winning designs deviate fundamentally from a conventional power reactor, which is essentially a boiler. A committee of experts whose roster has not been published selected from several designs, she says. The agency also intends to make additional, smaller awards this year for less mature ideas, Finan says. Each project receives $80 million this year and could receive a total of between $400 million and $4 billion in funding over the next 5 to 7 years. "I think these two were judged to be ready for demonstration."ĭOE will split the total cost of building each plant with private industry. Funded by DOE's new Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program, the designs include exotic features such as cooling by sodium or helium instead of water in a bid to be safer and more economical than conventional power reactors.ĭOE officials "were trying to do something new and push the technology forward but also to stay within that 7-year time frame," says Ashley Finan, a nuclear engineer and director of the National Reactor Innovation Center at Idaho National Laboratory who was not involved in the choice. nuclear power industry, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced this week it will help build two radically new nuclear reactors within 7 years.
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