Smaller Reactors

[neutrino78x]

The reason the older wind farms hurt birds is that the blades turned too quickly; newer ones have smaller turning blades to get the same amount of power.

Plus, if my choices are kill a bird or two, or contaminate the land with a meltdown, or deal with air pollution from a coal plant, I'll take wind power, thanks.

--Brian

 

[docm]

No need to risk melt downs as there are plenty of reactor designs that cannot melt down, or have cores that are liquid by design and use that state as a safety feature.

Uranium hydride moderated reactors like Hyperion's are an example; if they get too hot the uranium hydride dissociates at the molecular level and the reactor cools by itself. As it cools the hydride can re-form and the core re-start, but if other safety systems remove the hydrogen it stays cool; example being a plug in the top of the vessel that passively melts letting the hydrogen escape to separate storage.

Liquid fluoride reactors have a core that is liquid by design; if for some reason it gets too hot a plug in the vessel melts and the core drains into multiple catchments where it can cool non-critically. The core being liquid to start with also gets around the problem of mechanical core damage.

etc.

 

[EarthlingX]

www.popsci.com : Development of Tiny Thorium Reactors Could Wean the World Off Oil In Just Five Years

By Rebecca Boyle

Posted 08.30.2010 at 1:18 pm

Thorium One ton of thorium can produce as much energy as 200 tons of uranium and 3.5 million tons of coal, according to the former director of CERN. via Telegraph

An abundant metal with vast energy potential could quickly wean the world off oil, if only Western political leaders would muster the will to do it, a UK newspaper says today. The Telegraph makes the case for thorium reactors as the key to a fossil-fuel-free world within five years, and puts the ball firmly in President Barack Obama's court.

Thorium, named for the Norse god of thunder, is much more abundant than uranium and has 200 times that metal's energy potential. Thorium is also a more efficient fuel source -- unlike natural uranium, which must be highly refined before it can be used in nuclear reactors, all thorium is potentially usable as fuel.

 

[neilsox]

"An installation ship jacked up" seems like a costly procedure. Why does jacked help get the job done? My main objections to nuclear, is I don't trust governments and it takes longer than most other energy alternatives. USA needs to demonstrate with construction that we are going to solve the foreign energy problem soon.

 

[rockett]

http://www.popsci.com : Development of Tiny Thorium Reactors Could Wean the World Off Oil In Just Five Years

By Rebecca Boyle

Posted 08.30.2010 at 1:18 pm

Thorium One ton of thorium can produce as much energy as 200 tons of uranium and 3.5 million tons of coal, according to the former director of CERN. via Telegraph

An abundant metal with vast energy potential could quickly wean the world off oil, if only Western political leaders would muster the will to do it, a UK newspaper says today. The Telegraph makes the case for thorium reactors as the key to a fossil-fuel-free world within five years, and puts the ball firmly in President Barack Obama's court.

Thorium, named for the Norse god of thunder, is much more abundant than uranium and has 200 times that metal's energy potential. Thorium is also a more efficient fuel source -- unlike natural uranium, which must be highly refined before it can be used in nuclear reactors, all thorium is potentially usable as fuel.

I LIKE it! Can we make a space-going one?

 

[EarthlingX]

nextbigfuture.com : Molten Salt Fast Reactor proposal for Mars Vasimr Mission and Other Power Alternatives

September 15, 2010



The VASIMR mission architectures with the 39-day travel times had assumed an overall mission mass of approximately 600 tons. The VASIMR-based Mars mission concepts, he said, assume an alpha of 1 kg/kW.

Here we will review ways to approach or exceed 1 kg/kw power sources, which would enable VASIMR rocket to get to Mars in 39 days.

nextbigfuture.com : Carnival of Nuclear Energy 19 - Hyperion Power Generation on track for 2018

Dan Yurman will be covering the conference for Fuel Cycle Week. On his blog is an edited version of his coverage in last week’s issue of the Consortium's work on welding, nuclear fuel bundle cladding and more information about the conference. The American Nuclear Society listed over 900 firms that manufacture components for nuclear reactors

 

[EarthlingX]

en.rian.ru : Russia proposes fast-breeder reactor cooperation program

18:24 20/09/2010

Russia proposes setting up an international cooperation program on the development and use of fast-breeder research reactors, the head of the Rosatom state-controlled nuclear corporation said on Monday.

"I would like to propose that the states concerned launch an international program of multilateral cooperation in the research and development of fast-breeder reactors," Sergei Kiriyenko said, adding it should also include research into safety procedures.

Russia is ready to consider using a multifunctional fast-breeder research reactor, which should be built by 2017, for broad cooperation, both on a multilateral and bilateral basis.

VIENNA, September 20 (RIA Novosti)

 

[Valcan]

.

[/quote]
See the problem with wind or solar is you HAVE to have coal or some other form of energy on standby for when there are surges of power because of excess power generation and when there are lulls.

Frankly i preffer Nuclear(or thorium), hydro, gas, solar, wind.

Of course geo thermal were available. Some countries can get ALOT of power from there own geo sites.

 

[vulture4]

Thorium is certainly a viable energy source but it requires a breeder reactor and chemical reprocessing to convert it to fissionable U233 nuclear fuel. Currently the US has no breeder reactors and no nuclear fuel reprocessing, and the newest reactor in service was built 40 years ago. Does anyone want to campaign to have such capability built in their hometown?

 

[EarthlingX]

Thorium is certainly a viable energy source but it requires a breeder reactor and chemical reprocessing to convert it to fissionable U233 nuclear fuel. Currently the US has no breeder reactors and no nuclear fuel reprocessing, and the newest reactor in service was built 40 years ago. Does anyone want to campaign to have such capability built in their hometown?

I don't see any need to build such a facility near populated areas. It could be built near or on the old nuclear testing grounds, as an example.
I'm also not sure how much more dangerous it is comparing to regular nuclear plant, and there are regulations for those.

I think what is needed is a mix of various energy sources, and if at least they'd stop building new coal plants, it would be something.
I like very much the idea of my own energy source, and will very likely do something about it.

 

[EarthlingX]

www.dlr.de : Energy question of the week: Is complete self-sufficiency possible with decentralised power stations?

04. October 2010, 09.18,

by Jan Oliver Löfken

Nearly 80 percent of the electricity used in Europe comes from central power plants to the consumer via the electrical grid. As the popularity of renewable power sources has risen, consumer awareness of the importance of decentralised power production has also grown. The trend for decentralised and intelligent electricity production enjoys further support from projects for networked thermal power stations. Does this technology have the potential to provide an all-inclusive power supply?

At first glance, it might seem contradictory to create more decentralised power plants while also extending the electricity grid. But put both strategies together and you have a sustainable electrical energy supply for the future, because decentralised power stations alone cannot hope to meet the EU's annual power demand – around 3000 terawatt hours – on an indefinite basis. Large-scale plants – whether coal power or a vast wind farm in the North Sea – will also form the basis for a more secure supply in the future.

In practice, cities and energy-intensive industries will continue to rely on power generated in large-scale plants. On the other hand, there’s a good chance that decentralised production in rural areas or serving intelligently-designed residential zones will play an increasingly important role. In Germany, this trend is supported by the '100 percent renewable energy zones' initiative. Increasingly, communities are planning to bring together various types of power station – from wind turbines, to solar systems, to biogas generators – to create 'virtual power plants'. With these cooperations, fluctuating power supplies can be regulated to make way for a reliable decentralised supply of electricity and heat. "Decentralised power plants could provide 20-30 percent of Germany's electricity production in the next ten years," says Manfred Aigner, Director of DLR's Institute for Combustion Engineering in Stuttgart.

...

The microgas turbine at the test stand of DLR's Institute for Combustion Technology in Stuttgart, image: DLR.

...

As a result, DLR researcher Axel Ernst Widenhorn and his team are currently developing a small-scale power station which can deliver electricity as well as heat for households, hospitals or entire tower blocks. At the heart of the project is a microgas turbine which, fuelled by natural gases, is expected to reach as high an efficiency rating as possible. In this small gas turbine, a dense, hot jet of gas sets a generator turbine into motion with outputs ranging from very low to a maximum of 500 kW. Compared to conventional gas engines, these mini power stations have a number of advantages: They can run on a variety of fuels, emit very few pollutants and require low maintenance due to their simple construction.

...

 

[neutrino78x]

As a result, DLR researcher Axel Ernst Widenhorn and his team are currently developing a small-scale power station which can deliver electricity as well as heat for households, hospitals or entire tower blocks. At the heart of the project is a microgas turbine which, fuelled by natural gases, is expected to reach as high an efficiency rating as possible. In this small gas turbine, a dense, hot jet of gas sets a generator turbine into motion with outputs ranging from very low to a maximum of 500 kW. Compared to conventional gas engines, these mini power stations have a number of advantages: They can run on a variety of fuels, emit very few pollutants and require low maintenance due to their simple construction.

...

Natural gas is not truly green, though, it is merely less dirty than coal. Truly green power sources include solar and wind. Nuclear, when done right (thorium, uranium with reprocessing), can also be green.

I definitely agree about distributed energy, although, my version of that is to have a solar panel on every single building.

--Brian

 

[EarthlingX]

www.popularmechanics.com : The Truth About Thorium and Nuclear Power

October 20, 2010 6:30 AM

By Elizabeth Svoboda

The primary source of the world's thorium is the rare-earth-and-thorium-phosphate mineral monazite.
Rob Lavinsky/iRocks.com

Talk of a large-scale U.S. nuclear renaissance in the post-Three Mile Island era has long been stalled by the high cost of new nuclear power plants, the challenges of safeguarding weapons-grade nuclear material, and the radioactive lifespan of much nuclear waste, which can extend far beyond 10,000 years. But a growing contingent of scientists believe an alternative nuclear reactor fuel—the radioactive metal called thorium—could help address these problems, paving the way for cheaper, safer nuclear power generation.

Three to four times more plentiful than uranium, today's most common nuclear fuel, thorium packs a serious energetic punch: A single ton of it can generate as much energy as 200 tons of uranium, according to Nobel Prize-winning physicist Carlo Rubbia. In the mid-twentieth century, some U.S. physicists considered building the nuclear power landscape around thorium. But uranium-fueled reactors produced plutonium as a byproduct, a necessary ingredient for nuclear weapons production, and uranium ended up dominating through the Cold War and beyond.

Thorium could recapture the lead if a Virginia-based company called Lightbridge (formerly Thorium Power) fulfills its promise. Lightbridge was founded on the vision that the existing fleet of nuclear reactors would continue to function for decades to come, so its proprietary nuclear fuel assembly—which features a small amount of uranium surrounded by a blanket of thorium—is designed to work in light water reactors, the most common variety in service worldwide. The company is also developing an all-metal fuel capable of incorporating thorium. "This is like going from leaded to unleaded fuel for your car—the operation [of the reactors] is the same," says Seth Grae, Lightbridge's CEO.

...

 

[docm]

Thorium is certainly a viable energy source but it requires a breeder reactor and chemical reprocessing to convert it to fissionable U233 nuclear fuel....

Wrong. New thorium reactor designs include a small hot-zone that does the transmutation on the fly, right before the thorium is 'burned.' it's almost like a conveyor; fuel in one end, exhausted thorium out the other.