4th generation reactor cooled with helium connected to Chinese power grid

chiny24.com 1 year ago

China's drive to reduce fossil fuel consumption and, above all, its dependence on imports of oil or natural gas has led to the improvement of energy based on renewable sources and another alternatives to coal, oil and gas.

Among these alternatives in China's spectrum of interest was atomic energy. The amount of investment in the field of discipline (from basic investigation to modern engineering solutions), as well as investments in R & D centres and the construction of further atomic gyms based on their own technologies, is behind China's acquisition in fresh years of global leadership in the atomic field.

At the ShiDaoWan atomic power plant (chin. 石岛湾), in the east state of ShanDong (chin. 山东) was just connected to the national power grid the world's first 4th generation atomic reactor.

It's a gas-cooled high-temperature reactor. This solution is safer than utilized in earlier generations: the core of this kind of reactor must not melt in the event of an emergency reactor failure – for external (earthquake) or interior reasons – as was the case in Chernobyl.

All atomic reactors operating present are water-cooled. The Chinese 4th generation reactor is cooled with gas, specifically helium. And that in turn makes the gym with this kind of reactor request not be placed close a large water source, specified as a lake, river, or sea.

Gas-cooled advanced temperature reactors can produce heat, electricity and hydrogen, more efficient in terms of fuel consumption.

Using specified reactors, it will be possible not only to meet energy needs but besides to accelerate the process of achieving carbon neutrality.

The reactor at ShiDaoWan Power Plant was developed and constructed by China National atomic corp (chin. 中国核工业集团公司), China HuaNeng Group Corp. (中国华能集团公司) and scientists from the Institute of atomic Technology and fresh Energy at Tsinghua University (chin. 清华大学核与新能源技术研究所).

The construction of ShiDaoWan power plant began in 2012. It consists of 2 250 megawatt thermal reactors and a 200 megawatt steam generator. The installation meets the energy needs of 200,000 households. 93.4% of the materials utilized to build these gas-cooled reactors come from national sources.

The consortium plan is to construct six more specified reactors.

Other 4th generation atomic reactor improvement projects are carried out in the United States, Japan and Canada, but everywhere there are at the investigation and plan stage. Meanwhile, in China, a gym with a fresh kind of reactor was built and incorporated into the power grid.

China is expanding its atomic power at the highest rate in the world.

In XiaoPu (chin. 霞浦) in the southeastern state of FuJian (chin. 福建) a pilot task is implemented 4th generation fast reactor cooled with sodiumto be connected to the network by 2025.

Quick Sodium-cooled reactors (SFRs) usage liquid metallic (sodium) as a coolant alternatively of water. They let in-service treatment of high-activity waste, in peculiar plutonium and another actinants. In another words, the fuel utilized in the SFR reactor is recycled.

The objectives of the SFR are to increase the efficiency of uranium usage by multiplying plutonium and eliminating the request to export atomic fission products outside the facility. The task assumes an unmodified core working on fast neutrons, designed to guarantee that any transuranic (and in any cases utilized as fuel) can be processed. In addition to the benefits of removing long-lived transurane nuclides from the fuel cycle, atomic fuel is thermally expanded in case of overheating of the reactor and the chain reaction stops automatically. This makes this reactor passively safe.

The planet atomic Association predicts that Western countries will only start starting their own 4th generation atomic power plants in the early 1930s. According to the global Atomic Energy Agency, China is presently building 22 of the 58 reactors built worldwide.

There are presently 55 reactors in the Central State. China has been promoting its atomic solutions for any time as an export commodity. They are presently taking part in a tender for the construction of a atomic power plant in Saudi Arabia with an offer that is at least 20% cheaper than competitors from South Korea, France or the United States. The Chinese experience has been utilized by Pakistan for years.

A tiny 4th generation modular reactor was developed in China. It's about a 3rd of the size of conventional atomic reactors. The Chinese reactor is the first in the planet of this kind to have undergone a affirmative safety review by the global Atomic Energy Agency. This reactor will most likely be launched in 2025, many years before akin reactors developed by Western companies.

According to Western experts, China is most likely unrivalled in the construction and commercialisation of next generation atomic power technology. In Poland, fewer people are aware of this fact.

The thought of creating 4th generation reactors is aimed at:

improving atomic safety (minimising accident risk),
increasing resilience to proliferation (nuclear proliferation),
minimising waste,
use of natural resources,
reducing the costs of building and launching specified plants.

Fourth generation reactors work at higher temperatures than most reactors in the world. This allows them to make both electricity and hydrogen. Hydrogen produced by these reactors can be utilized as fuel, as well as in various industrial applications. Today, most hydrogen produced in the planet is produced from carbon-based materials, causing carbon dioxide emissions. advanced temperature reactors can usage thermochemical processes to produce hydrogen at zero CO2 emissions.

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