The HTR-PM reactor at Shidao Bay-1 Nuclear Power Plant uses helium as a coolant and graphite as a moderator
Over the next few years, China Huaneng will install 19 more HTR-PM reactors at this nuclear power plant
January 9, 2024, 5.15pm
Updated January 9, 2024, 5:16 pm
The future of nuclear energy in the medium term is closely linked to fourth generation nuclear power plants. The engineers of the companies that are working on the development of these nuclear fission plants worked on its design they started from scratch so as not to be burdened from a conceptual point of view by the shortcomings introduced by previous generations. Yes, fourth generation nuclear power plants are very different from the power plants currently in operation and with which we are familiar.
The first requirement they must meet is to achieve the highest possible sustainability, so that the fuel is used to the maximum extent to produce energy, the amount of resulting radioactive waste is minimized and its management is as efficient as possible. The second requirement concerns the economic investment that must be made for the start-up and maintenance of the nuclear power plant, which must be as low as possible so that it can be compared to the expenditure required by other energy sources, thus reducing the financial risk . .
And the third and final requirement states that safety and reliability must be high enough to minimize the likelihood of damage to the reactor core. Also, if an accident were to occur, it shouldn’t be necessary take emergency measures beyond the nuclear power plant facilities. The requirements introduced by fourth generation nuclear power plants are ambitious because they aspire to eradicate in one fell swoop many of the shortcomings that hinder previous projects.
China is in the lead and aiming very high
In recent years, companies involved in the development of fourth-generation fission reactors have developed six different projects. One of the most promising is the very high temperature reactor (VHTR), which is cooled by helium and can be adapted to produce hydrogen. Also very interesting is the design of the gas-cooled fast reactor (GFR), which can use much of the waste we currently have as fuel. And the sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR), which can also use current radioactive waste as fuel.
The milestone of Shidao Bay-1 will trigger the start-up of other fourth-generation reactors both in China and other countries.
Another interesting design is the supercritical water-cooled reactor (SCWR), which operates above the thermodynamic critical point of water. Or the lead alloy cooled fast reactor (LFR), which uses a closed fuel cycle to cope with aa efficient transformation of fertile uranium. Finally, the design of the molten salt reactor (MSR) is interesting, which uses the aforementioned molten salts as fuel and which is the result of the recycling of actinides, which are a group of heavy elements in the periodic table of which they form, among others, uranium , plutonium and thorium.
We have already explored everything you need to know before flirting with the real protagonist of this article: the Shidao Bay-1 nuclear power plant, located in Shandong province, in the far north-east of China. This power plant belongs to the China Huaneng business group and will be remembered in the future for having established itself as the first nuclear power plant to use a fourth generation reactor for commercial purposes. Without a doubt, this milestone will trigger the start-up of other fourth-generation reactors both in China and in other countries that are also engaged in this technology, such as the United States, France or Russia.
Curiously, the fission reactor used in Shidao Bay-1 is different from the six projects we analyzed a few lines above. These are the most mature proposals, but the reactor of this plant is a small modular model of strictly Chinese origin known as HTR-PM (High-temperature pebble-bed reactor modules), which we can translate into Spanish as a high-temperature spherical bed modular reactor. This device is characterized by the use of helium as a coolant and graphite as a moderator.
The nuclear fuel elements it uses are, interestingly, spherical and coated in graphite. Over the next few years, China Huaneng will install 19 more HTR-PM reactors at Shidao Bay-1 Nuclear Power Plant, each unit bringing together two reactors driving a 210 MW steam turbine. This is, without a doubt, the future of nuclear energy for the coming decades. At least until commercial nuclear fusion is ready (according to EUROfusion it will arrive during the 1960s). And China is moving very hard. Currently the country led by Xi Jinping has 55 nuclear reactors in operation and according to the World Nuclear Association is building another 26. Here’s where it is.
Cover image: Petr Pavlicek/IAEA
Further information: Nuclear Forum
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