Could China’s molten salt nuclear reactor be a clean, safe source of power?
The thorium-powered reactors do not need water as a coolant, meaning they can be built in remote deserts alongside wind and solar power plants
The technology should be safer than uranium-powered reactors and may also dispel some of China’s worries about energy security
The reactors could be built in remote desert regions where there is little water. Photo: Reuters
A team of government researchers in China have unveiled the design for a commercial nuclear reactor that is expected to be the first in the world that does not need water for cooling, allowing the systems to be built in remote desert regions to provide power for more densely populated areas.
The molten salt reactor, which is powered by liquid thorium rather than uranium, should also be safer than traditional ones because in the event of a leak, the molten thorium would cool and solidify quickly, dispersing less radiation into the environment.
Construction work on the first commercial reactor should be completed by 2030 and the government plans to build several in the deserts and plains of central and western China.
A team of government researchers in China have unveiled the design for a commercial nuclear reactor that is expected to be the first in the world that does not need water for cooling, allowing the systems to be built in remote desert regions to provide power for more densely populated areas.
The molten salt reactor, which is powered by liquid thorium rather than uranium, should also be safer than traditional ones because in the event of a leak, the molten thorium would cool and solidify quickly, dispersing less radiation into the environment.
Construction work on the first commercial reactor should be completed by 2030 and the government plans to build several in the deserts and plains of central and western China.
China may also consider building these reactors for some countries that have signed up to the
Belt and Road Initiative because, unlike uranium, thorium cannot be used to make nuclear weapons.
“Small-scale reactors have significant advantages in terms of efficiency, flexibility and economy. They can play a key role in the future transition to clean energy. It is expected that small-scale reactors will be widely deployed in the next few years,” Professor Yan Rui and colleagues at the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics wrote in a paper published in the Chinese journal Nuclear Techniques last week.
“A molten salt reactor has the advantage of being multipurpose, small in size and highly flexible. It is as easy to design as a small-scale reactor. In recent years, the potential of small-scale molten salt reactors has caught international attention.”
An important drive for the molten salt reactor programme came from President Xi Jinping’s announcement last year that China would become
carbon neutral by 2060, according to scientists involved in the project.
According to the official plan, reactors in the sparsely populated west of the country will provide a clean, stable electricity supply to the densely populated east in combination with wind and solar power plants.
The thorium molten salt reactor (bottom left) will work with renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power plants to produce clean, stable energy. Credit: Chinese Academy of Sciences
The technology could also provide a new energy source for Chinese warships such as aircraft carriers and submarines.
The concept of a reactor powered by liquid salt rather than solid fuel rods has been around since the 1940s, and in the following decade the United States started an experimental programme to build a bomber fuelled by the technology.
In the 1960s the US built a facility to test the technology’s capacity to generate electricity, while countries such as France, the former Soviet Union and Japan also launched similar programmes.
The idea was attractive because the liquid fuel acts as its own coolant, removing the need for water, while thorium’s lower levels of radioactivity meant there is less risk of nuclear proliferation.
These early projects all failed because they could not solve problems such as pipes cracking too easily because they had become corroded by the radioactive molten salt.
But scientists learned a lot from these experiments and in recent years researchers in the field have received steady support from the Chinese government.
In 2011, Beijing approved the construction of the prototype Thorium Molten Salt Reactor (TMSR), in Wuwei, a desert city in Gansu province.
Meanwhile, teams of researchers from across the country were mobilised to solve the technical problems that scuppered previous attempts, such as the development of an alloy that can withstand the radiation from thorium salt at temperatures of nearly 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832F).
Although the project fell behind schedule last year, in part due to the pandemic, construction work on the TMSR is due to finish next month and a test run of equipment could start as early as September.
Although the prototype is only capable of generating two megawatts, if it succeeds it will be the first time the theory has been brought to life.
The technology could also provide a new energy source for Chinese warships such as aircraft carriers and submarines.
The concept of a reactor powered by liquid salt rather than solid fuel rods has been around since the 1940s, and in the following decade the United States started an experimental programme to build a bomber fuelled by the technology.
In the 1960s the US built a facility to test the technology’s capacity to generate electricity, while countries such as France, the former Soviet Union and Japan also launched similar programmes.
The idea was attractive because the liquid fuel acts as its own coolant, removing the need for water, while thorium’s lower levels of radioactivity meant there is less risk of nuclear proliferation.
These early projects all failed because they could not solve problems such as pipes cracking too easily because they had become corroded by the radioactive molten salt.
But scientists learned a lot from these experiments and in recent years researchers in the field have received steady support from the Chinese government.
In 2011, Beijing approved the construction of the prototype Thorium Molten Salt Reactor (TMSR), in Wuwei, a desert city in Gansu province.
Meanwhile, teams of researchers from across the country were mobilised to solve the technical problems that scuppered previous attempts, such as the development of an alloy that can withstand the radiation from thorium salt at temperatures of nearly 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832F).
Although the project fell behind schedule last year, in part due to the pandemic, construction work on the TMSR is due to finish next month and a test run of equipment could start as early as September.
Although the prototype is only capable of generating two megawatts, if it succeeds it will be the first time the theory has been brought to life.
China plans to link the reactors with wind and solar plants to power the country’s more densely populated areas. Photo: Shutterstock
The commercial reactor designed by Yan and his colleagues could generate up to 100MW, less than a uranium reactor but still enough to power a modern residential area with 100,000 inhabitants.
Though a power plant needs other equipment such as steam turbines, the reactor itself will only be 3 metres (10 feet) tall and 2.5 metres wide, about the size of a bathroom.
It works by allowing the thorium to flow through the reactor, participating in a nuclear chain reaction and transferring the heat to a steam generator outside before returning to the reactor for another cycle.
It is safer than traditional nuclear technology because in the event of an accident the molten salt will fall into an underground container.
“Due to its high melting point … the molten salt will quickly cool and solidify without the direct release of solid and liquid effluents, thus preventing the further diffusion of radioactivity into the environment,” the team wrote.
Another part of the appeal for China is that it has some of the world’s largest reserves of thorium, a silvery metal with weak radioactivity. By some calculations it has enough to meet the country’s energy needs for at least 20,000 years.
In contrast, China has some of the lowest uranium reserves of any nuclear-capable country and even though work on seven or eight new nuclear plants is due to begin within the next few years, there is growing concern in Beijing that shortages could affect the country’s energy security.
The commercial reactor designed by Yan and his colleagues could generate up to 100MW, less than a uranium reactor but still enough to power a modern residential area with 100,000 inhabitants.
Though a power plant needs other equipment such as steam turbines, the reactor itself will only be 3 metres (10 feet) tall and 2.5 metres wide, about the size of a bathroom.
It works by allowing the thorium to flow through the reactor, participating in a nuclear chain reaction and transferring the heat to a steam generator outside before returning to the reactor for another cycle.
It is safer than traditional nuclear technology because in the event of an accident the molten salt will fall into an underground container.
“Due to its high melting point … the molten salt will quickly cool and solidify without the direct release of solid and liquid effluents, thus preventing the further diffusion of radioactivity into the environment,” the team wrote.
Another part of the appeal for China is that it has some of the world’s largest reserves of thorium, a silvery metal with weak radioactivity. By some calculations it has enough to meet the country’s energy needs for at least 20,000 years.
In contrast, China has some of the lowest uranium reserves of any nuclear-capable country and even though work on seven or eight new nuclear plants is due to begin within the next few years, there is growing concern in Beijing that shortages could affect the country’s energy security.
Molten radioactive salt is one of the most hostile and corrosive environments ever created.
ReplyDeleteThe Yanks stopped pursuing the technology some 50 years ago, because they just couldn't see how they could assure the long-term safe operation of such plants.
Nuclear power stations typically need to be able to operate safely for 40 - 50 years.
Ktemoc is going to accuse me of bad mouthing China again.
What I will say is, perhaps China have solved the materials durability problem and I hope they know what they are doing.
My experience with a lot of Made in China materials and products doesn't give me the confidence. They may look sleek and even give very high performance when new, but durability is a totally different ball game from Japanese, American or German makes.
You write exactly like the BBC, always incriminating headlines with insignificant qualification, if any. My impression is you are still stuck in the long ago past. Don't you know the only constant in this world is CHANGE ?
DeleteThis old school mfer has been indoctrinated with the western superiority, in & out of its life.
DeleteDon't bother with its fart.
The Chinese has a saying of 250 冤大头 using his money to dress up his face. He wouldn't understand about 白菜价的奢侈品.
Serve him right.
SCMP is not a scientific journal.
ReplyDeleteNeither is the writer of this article knows anything about nuclear reactor. Least of all, the prototype Thorium Molten Salt Reactor (TMSR)!
This is a prototype! ie built to experimental investigation. Yet SCMP writer has turned it into a commercial venture.
From reputed scientific journals, TMSR is used as a feeder to test the Fast neutron reactors (FNRs) technique. FNR offer the prospect of vastly more efficient use of uranium resources and the ability to burn actinides, which are otherwise the long-lived component of high-level nuclear waste with thorium as the major by-product.
There r many misleading issues that the SCMP didn't elaborate about the Thorium Molten Salt Reactor (TMSR).
ReplyDeleteFirst a introductory on molten salt power generation.
The PS10/PS20 Gemasolar concentrating solar power tower in Spain, which supplies electricity for an uninterrupted 24-hour period.
The plant is using an unique commercial-scale solar tower to combine central tower receiver and molten salt heat storage technology.
At Gemasolar, the tower receiver is able to absorb 95% of the radiation from the sun’s spectrum using mirrored heliostats and transmit this energy to the molten salt compound that circulates within the receiver and heats steam to operate a power-generating turbine.
The Molten salt is a mixture of 60 percent sodium nitrate and 40 percent potassium-nitrate, commonly called saltpeter. It is used in solar power tower systems because it is liquid at atmosphere pressure, it provides an efficient, low-cost medium in which to store thermal energy, its operating temperatures are compatible with todays high-pressure and high-temperature steam turbines, and it is non-flammable and nontoxic.
There r many countries, US & Europe, have championed the use of molten salt in solar thermal projects because unlike water, it retains heat for a very long time.
In a TMSR, instead of solid fuel rods, thorium is dissolved in molten salt that is flowed through the reactor at high temperature. In this form the liquid salt acts as a coolant and there is no need for high-pressure water cooling systems, and if there is an accident and the fuel is exposed to air, it quickly cools and turns solid. Compared to a conventional nuclear reactor that can quickly cloud vast areas in radioactive material, this significantly limits the potential contamination of the surrounding environment. Note the nuclear fuel is a radioisotope of thorium.
The high temp (initially from where) required to keep & maintain the thorium in molten state is hard to justify in a thermonuclear reactor where itself needs high temp to generate steam to power the generator.
Besides radioisotope thorium cannot in itself power a reactor. Unlike natural uranium, it does not contain enough fissile material to initiate a nuclear chain reaction. As a result it must first be bombarded with neutrons to produce the highly radioactive isotope uranium-233 – 'so these are actually U-233 reactor,'
The China planned thorium molten salt reactor in the desert city of Wuwei is a two-megawatt prototype used in fast neutron reactor (FNR) technique researches.
In the SCMP trashy report (sourced from Reuter!)
- Professor Yan Rui and colleagues at the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics wrote in a paper published in the Chinese journal Nuclear Techniques - contents been heavily distorted & misquoted! cf original journal paper.
- The molten salt reactor, which is powered by liquid thorium rather than uranium - misleading cf above-mentioned info.
- China may also consider building these reactors for some countries that have signed up to the Belt and Road Initiative - fake conjecture as the Chinese TMSR is still many many years to commercialisation. The current available G3 Hualong One reactor is a much better bet.
- China has some of the world’s largest reserves of thorium - Oz, US, Turkey, India in the decreasing world thorium mine depository.
This SCMP/Reuter report is a fine tuned fake news by twisting a genuine scientific research into a fear-mongering misleading news reporting favoured by many western media in bashing China.
very informative - Thanks
DeleteInformative in a totally misleading way.
DeleteProven Solar power salt technology is a completely different kettle of fish from Molten Radioactive Salt power stations
Solar power molten salt plants use simple salts of sodium , calcium and potassium.
If the equipment starts to leak, all you get is downtime and cleaning up relatively innocuous chemicals.
For Nuclear Power using Molten Radioactive Salt technology the key words read
a) Molten
b) Radioactive
c) Salt
Failure of the plant will lead to a major life-threatening nuclear event, Gamma radiation bursts, you name it.
Here we have people jumping up and down about Lynas waste, barely above background radiation, and Fukushima's proposed release of reverse osmosis filtered Very low-grade Radioactive waste water.
But they talk so admiringly about a far more dangerous high-intensity radiation risk, just because of their apple polishing of China.
Don't just parade yr know-nothingness fart.
DeleteWhat kind of molten salt is been used in TMSR?
Which radioisotope of thorium is been used in TMSR?
BTW, a twist conjectural prototype reactor write-up gets it underpants so knot-twisted that u have to jumpstart yr nuclear disaster screaming as a chicken little!
No wonder, those western media dare to instigating mfers, like u, to champion their evil intend via their twisted fart!
Thanks CK ! Really appreciate this.
DeleteBullyland needs to be more transparent and learn how to safely operate conventional reactors first.
ReplyDeleteQUOTE
Problems at China nuclear power plant are serious enough to warrant shutdown, French co-owner warns
By Barbara Wojazer, Zachary Cohen, Michael Callahan and Jessie Yeung, CNN
July 23, 2021
(CNN)The French power company that co-owns a nuclear plant in China would shut it down if it could, due to damage to the fuel rods, a spokesperson said -- but the decision is ultimately up to the plant's Chinese operator.
The spokesperson for Electricite de France (EDF) said on Thursday that while it was "not an emergency situation" at the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant, located in China's southern Guangdong province, it was a "serious situation that is evolving."
If the reactor was in France, the company would have shut it down already due to "the procedures and practices in terms of operating nuclear power plants in France," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson did not directly call on China to halt operations at the plant, noting it was a decision for its Chinese partner and majority shareholder in the plant, the China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN).
CNN first reported in June that the French company Framatome -- an EDF subsidiary which supports operations at Taishan -- had warned of an "imminent radiological threat" at the plant, prompting the United States government to investigate the possibility of a leak.
The company had also accused the Chinese safety authority of raising the acceptable limits for radiation detection outside the plant in order to avoid having to shut it down, according to a letter from Framatome to the US Department of Energy, obtained by CNN.
Chinese authorities have denied any danger at the plant, saying soon after CNN's exclusive report that there was "no abnormality in the radiation environment" and the safety of the plant was "guaranteed." Authorities declined to answer follow-up questions regarding Framatome's warning to US officials.
In June, the Chinese nuclear safety administration acknowledged an increased level of radioactivity in the primary circuit in one of the two reactors due to damaged fuel rods -- but said it was "completely different from a radiological leakage accident" because the "physical barriers are safe."
It also denied raising the acceptable limits of radiation, and said the levels were "still within the range of allowable, stable operations."
The agency also previously said only five of the reactor's more than 60,000 fuel rods were affected, adding there was no risk of "radiation leaking to the environment."
On Thursday, the EDF spokesperson reiterated it was detecting an increase in noble gas in a reactor, and that the company had publicly clarified its position to the Chinese plant's owner and operator, Taishan Nuclear Power Joint Venture Co., Ltd (TNPJVC).
EDF holds a 30% stake in TNPJVC -- a joint venture with state-owned China General Nuclear Power Group.
"We've shared with them all the elements of EDF's analysis and all the reasons why, in France, we would stop the reactor," the spokesperson said, "so that they can take the decision that will be necessary as responsible operators."
According to the spokesperson, EDF would have shut down the reactor in order to "avoid further degrading of the fuel rods, and carry out an investigation, and avoid further damage to the industrial facility."
But the ultimate decision is up to TNPJVC, which intends to carry out its own analysis, the spokesperson said. EDF said they did not have a timeline for the operator's decision.
Framatome declined to provide additional comment when asked about the EDF statement.
UNQUOTE
Wakakakakaka…
DeleteHas Taishan Nuclear Power Plant been declared a nuclear disaster yet?
Has those f*cked HK废青 ever realised that there won't be any electricity supply in HK for them to write this trashy report if Taishan is been shutdown.
CNN's exclusive report quoting the 30% coowner - Électricité de France (EDF) about
1) damage to the fuel rods
2) "imminent radiological threat"
3) detecting an increase in noble gas in a reactor
Is a gimmicky twists of a story to con the unknowing public using a series of disinformation collusionally built upon the fear of nuclear disaster.
A few damage fuel rods led to radiological threat with noble gas emission!
Wow!!
Is that WHY Framatome declined to provide additional comment when asked about the EDF statement?
How to comment on a fake news that even the operators r not awared of?
BTW, this piece of shit first broke during the high of the 2019 HK riot! By Apple daily, Nikkei Asia!
Why r CNN regurgitating this trash now?
Another excellent example of China reserving the right to behave dangerously, under the umbrella of other nations no right to interfere in its internal affairs.
DeleteU should croak loudly to yr uncle Sam about reserving the right to behave dangerously all-over the world to promote his f*cked demoNcracy!
DeleteNot Trash, finally Bullyland shut down conventional reactor for "maintenance" ha ha ha....
DeleteQUOTE
China nuclear reactor shut down for maintenance because of fuel rod damage
By Yong Xiong, CNN
July 31, 2021
(CNN)A reactor at Taishan Nuclear Power Plant in southern China's Guangdong province has been shut down because of fuel rod damages, the company that runs the plant said in a statement on Friday.
State-owned China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) said in the statement that "a small amount of fuel damage" had occurred during operation, but it's still "within the limits allowed by the technical specifications."
It added that "after thorough discussions between French and Chinese technicians, Taishan Nuclear Power Plant decided to shut down Unit 1 reactor for maintenance, and to examine the reasons of fuel damage and replace the damaged fuel."
The statement further emphasized that the reactor is "safe and under control."
CNN first reported in June that the French company Framatome -- which supports operations at Taishan -- had warned of an "imminent radiological threat" at the plant, prompting the United States government to investigate the possibility of a leak.
Framatome is a subsidiary of French power giant Electricite de France (EDF), which holds a 30% stake in the plant's owner and operator, Taishan Nuclear Power Joint Venture Co., Ltd -- a joint venture with CGN.
The Chinese government responded in June by saying that radiation levels around the plant were normal, adding "less than 0.01 percent" of more than 60,000 fuel rods in Unit 1 reactor were damaged. It said the damage was "inevitable" due to factors including fuel manufacturing and transportation.
In July, an EDF spokesperson said the situation was "serious," but not an emergency.
The spokesperson said if the reactor was in France, the company would have shut it down already due to "the procedures and practices in terms of operating nuclear power plants in France."
The spokesperson did not directly call on China to halt operations at the plant, noting it was a decision for CGN.
UNQUOTE