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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Let a Thousand Reactors Bloom |
| 2004-10-16 |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #10 Pebble bed gas cooled reactor was invented in the 50s. A test reactor was built in Germany and was recently closed down (the pink-green alliance). See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_bed_reactor |
| Posted by: mhw 2004-10-16 9:00:17 PM |
| #9 Comments... Pebble-bed reactors have been theorized and actively designed for years (John Ringo uses the idea in his Posleen novels). The reactors are designed around enriched uranium ball-bearings wrapped by some absorbent material (usually graphite, but a lot of other things will work). Coolant is usually helium (presumably liquid, but it's better and cheaper than liquid sodium which has nasty secondary properties). It can get expensive though. Good points - it can't go critical or even meltdown. Lose the coolant, the reactor bed just sits there. Also, China doesn't/cannot own the patent rights. It was, so far as I know, developed here in the good ole' USA - not that the environmentalists would ever let us build another nuke plant no matter what the safeguards or guarantees. Thanks, LC FOTSGreg, Imperial Game Designer |
| Posted by: LC FOTSGreg 2004-10-16 8:36:30 PM |
| #8 right...China respects patent rights |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-10-16 7:42:32 PM |
| #7 27,000 billiard ball sized 'pebbles' in the reactor . . . that's a whole lot of 8-ball . . . 7875 sq. ft. to be exact. Seems big at first blush. But consider that they would not fill the room upstairs from where I am sitting. Multiply that by enough capacity to turn out 300 mw . . . (tikkity-tak on caliculator) . . . 236000 sq ft (roughly) to have enough capacity to fulfill what they are shooting for. That is just reactor space, not the associated generating capacity (turbines, etc). If each plant was small enough you could reduce losses on transmission (which is significant in the US grid, although nobody likes to talk about it) then you could be quite efficient. If there really is no boom on pebble-beds (which I have heard before). Guaranteed to piss off current nuke-builders, though, if China pushes patent rights. |
| Posted by: Jame Retief 2004-10-16 7:12:33 PM |
| #6 China Syndrome? (Creeper Cravile? Jaysus, Fred, get a new routine!) |
| Posted by: Crereper Cravilet9551 2004-10-16 6:08:39 PM |
| #5 Uhhh, did he say 'bloom' or 'boom'? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2004-10-16 3:14:44 PM |
| #4 Outstanding article. Thanks tipper. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2004-10-16 1:58:15 PM |
| #3 Wheee! More targets for Taiwan's missiles! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2004-10-16 10:56:26 AM |
| #2 No. The Left has no foresight... |
| Posted by: Ptah 2004-10-16 8:44:20 AM |
| #1 Smart. Wonder if the US has the foresight and political courage to mass produce these. |
| Posted by: ed 2004-10-16 8:15:05 AM |