I am heartened by some of the innovation that is happening in the world of nuclear power generation. One example happens to involve a nuclear power concept that I am particularly fond of. I noted earlier my belief and disappointment that the high temperature gas-cooled reactor concept was short shrifted in the first generation of nuclear reactors. I won’t regurgitate my reasons for that, but instead express my excitement that the current generation may give this concept fresh consideration.
You may or may not know that the Department of Energy has a program called the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP), and at least for now, it hasn’t been cancelled by the current administration. X-energy, in partnership with Energy Northwest, has been chosen as one of two awardees to receive initial funding to build an advanced reactor (Xe-100) that can be operational in seven years (Reference World Nuclear News article, “X-energy formally begins SMR partnership with DOE”, dated 02 March 2021)). This choice is exciting to me not only because it is a high temperature gas reactor, but also because it employs other major concepts that I strongly endorse. Among those, the Xe-100 is a Small Modular Reactor (SMR) design nominally rated at 80 MW(e). Again, as I represented earlier, simplicity is a virtue and I very much endorse the small reactor design. Modularity also offers huge quality and economic benefits and I believe is critical to the success of future generation reactors.
The other aspect of the Xe-100 that I find very intriguing is it’s fuel. In it’s broadest sense this reactor is a pebble-bed design in that the fuel is contained within spheroids whose center is a uranium oxide/carbide kernel which is surrounded by four barrier layers acting in concert to contain the kernel. The spheroids are not only robust fuel elements that can withstand very high temperatures without melting, but they also act as the containment vessel. What a concept! No more melting of fuel and no more need for huge concrete and steel structures. Clearly innovative in many ways!
The ultimate destination for NewEnergy2040 is the development and implementation of new energy sources. But the road to that destination requires new innovations along the way. Xe-100 reactors could very well be one of the innovations that paves that road.