Not exact matches
U.S. policy should aim at development
of self - sustaining «
fast»
reactors that generate enough
fuel to maintain operations, rather than pursuing breeder
reactors that create excess
fuel, the report says.
This nuclear
fuel cycle would combine two innovations: pyrometallurgical processing (a high - temperature method
of recycling
reactor waste into
fuel) and advanced
fast - neutron
reactors capable
of burning that
fuel.
An Outdated Strategy Early nuclear engineers expected that the plutonium in the spent
fuel of thermal
reactors would be removed and then used in
fast - neutron
reactors, called
fast breeders because they were designed to produce more plutonium than they consume.
Fast reactors can thus minimize the risk that spent
fuel from energy production would be used for weapons production, while providing a unique ability to squeeze the maximum energy out
of nuclear
fuel.
Fast - neutron
reactors could extract much more energy from recycled nuclear
fuel, minimize the risks
of weapons proliferation and markedly reduce the time nuclear waste must be isolated
Japan has pursued
fast - breeder technology, through which a
reactor can produce more plutonium than it burns in hopes
of cutting or eliminating imports
of nuclear
fuel.
Rather than the pellets
of uranium oxide used in other
fast reactors and conventional
reactors as
fuel, GE would fabricate metal alloy
fuels, with the plutonium or uranium mixed with zirconium metal.
One solution under consideration is to recycle the plutonium yet further — by using it as
fuel in a pair
of new, so - called «
fast»
reactors.
One attractive feature
of fast reactors is that they can produce more
fuel than they consume, avoiding the issue
of the limited supplies
of the uranium used in conventional nuclear
reactors.
Even with a fleet
of such
fast reactors, nations would nonetheless require an ultimate home for radioactive waste, one reason that a 2010 M.I.T. report on spent nuclear
fuel dismissed such
fast reactors.
The Department
of Atomic Energy will grow by a healthy 21 %, to $ 2.5 billion, with $ 61 million for the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research in Kalpakkam, possibly for development
of a new
fuel for the
fast breeder
reactor.
What's more, the ratio
of ruthenium - 106 to the
faster - decaying isotope ruthenium - 103, detected in smaller amounts last autumn, reveals that the
fuel must have been removed from its
reactor only a year or two earlier.
The world's first commercial - size
fast reactor, the BN - 600 near Ekaterinburg in the central Urals, began operating in 1980 on a
fuel of enriched uranium.
PRISM is a high energy neutron (
fast)
reactor which uses a series
of proven, safe and mature technologies to create an innovative solution to dispose
of used nuclear
fuel and surplus plutonium.
RIAR's
reactors provide a full range
of capabilities to test
fuel and materials
of all types
of existing power
reactors as well as advanced and innovative ones: water - cooled thermal
reactors, including those with boiling and pressurized water, gas - cooled,
fast and other types
of reactors.
As an added bonus, many
of the very long - lived nuclides larger than Uranium (Neptunium, Plutonium, Americium, Curium, etc.) have the same trend, and
fast reactors can split and destroy these actinides as
fuel rather than let them accumulate as in thermal
reactors.
«Unlike today's nuclear
reactor, the IFR [integral
fast reactor] can generate unlimited amounts
of inexpensive clean power for hundreds
of thousands
of years... It provides an excellent solution for what to do with our nuclear waste because it can use our existing nuclear waste for
fuel and it is significantly more proliferation - resistant than other methods
of dealing with nuclear waste... The IFR is also inherently safe.
As a result,
fast reactors have
fuel requirements reduced by a factor
of nearly 100.
Thus, liquid sodium is the coolant
of choice in
fast reactors because it can effectively transfer heat away from the nuclear
fuel, while at the same time maximizing the number
of fast neutrons.
Fast reactors on a closed
fuel cycle use nearly all the actinides fed into them, while low energy
reactors use only around one percent
of the
fuel.
PRISM is a high energy neutron (
fast)
reactor design which uses a series
of proven, safe and mature technologies to provide an innovative solution to disposition plutonium stockpiles and harness the remaining energy potential
of used nuclear
fuel and surplus plutonium.
However, the long - term future
of nuclear power will employ «
fast»
reactors, which utilize ∼ 99 %
of the nuclear
fuel and can «burn» nuclear waste and excess weapons material [243].
The government noted Japan's basic energy policy - decided by the Cabinet in April 2014 - aims to promote the nuclear
fuel cycle, including the promotion
of fast reactor development.
My answer to the narrowed question: • Identify adaptation policies that can be implemented to reduce impacts
of extreme weather events (which will happen with or without greenhouse driven global warming) • Research on nuclear energy to reduce the stigma
of nuclear generation, e.g.,
fast reactors (Generation 4
reactors) or thorium
fueled.
High temperature,
fast neutron
reactors are the obvious future source
of both electricity and liquid
fuels.
Fast neutron
reactors are typically
fuelled using a mixture
of oxides
of uranium and plutonium, and can vastly increase the efficiency
of the nuclear
fuel cycle by using the uranium - 238 recovered from recycling nuclear
fuel after use in conventional nuclear power
reactors.
Replacement
of the current thermal variety
of nuclear fission
reactors with nuclear fission
fast reactors, which are 100 times more
fuel efficient, can dramatically extend nuclear
fuel reserves.
IFR was a sodium - cooled
fast reactor with inherently - safe
fuel rods made
of «spent»
fuel (article by Dr. Till).
And nuclear power is just as sustainable as any other power source — even if we only use conventional nuclear
fast reactor designs, there is enough uranium in the oceans and on land (recoverable at prices that allow the
fuel costs
of fast reactors to remain the same as today — which is trivial) to last for 5 billlion years, the expected time remaining fo our sun.
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NP-China-plans-for-nuclear-growth-2011144.html
Fast reactors — make maximum use
of uranium resources by generating a certain amount more
fuel than they consume — are seen as the main technology for China's long - term use
of nuclear energy.
But «off - the - shelf builds» are pure vapourware: every nuclear enthusiast has their own pet type
of reactor — «4th generation», thorium -
fuelled,
fast breeder... which will (supposedly) solve the
fuelling, safety and proliferation problems
of previous designs, but we have no «off - the - shelf builds» for any
of them.
They just fired up their first
Fast Fission
reactor after a LOT
of process development, 100 times less spent
fuel, 100 times greater
fuel burn, they are probably ahead
of everyone in future energy solutions.