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Science & Technology
Bill Gates' nuclear venture plans reactor to complement solar, wind power boom
2020-08-28
[EN.ALGHADEER.TV] A nuclear energy venture founded by Bill Gates said Thursday it hopes to build small advanced nuclear power stations that can store electricity to supplement grids increasingly supplied by intermittent sources like solar and wind power.

The effort is part of the billionaire philanthropist’s push to help fight climate change and is targeted at helping utilities slash their emissions of planet-warming gases without undermining grid reliability.

TerraPower LLC, which Gates founded 14 years ago, and its partner GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, plan to commercialize stations called Natrium in the United States later this decade, TerraPower’s President and Chief Executive Chris Levesque said.

The project has not previously been reported.

Levesque said the companies are seeking additional funding from private partners and the U.S. Energy Department, and that the project has the support of PacifiCorp, owned by billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, along with Energy Northwest and Duke Energy.

If successful, the plan is to build the plants in the United States and abroad, Levesque said.

By 2050 "we would see hundreds of these reactors around the world, solving multiple different energy needs," Levesque said.

The 345-megawatt plants would be cooled by liquid sodium and cost about $1 billion each.
Because Liquid Sodium worked so well in the long entombed Hallam Nuclear Plant south of Lincoln NE. Wikipedia on the failed Hallam Plant - BTW to deal with the waste atoms for peace planned to require heating furnaces in NE to have waste nuclear fuel pods in them instead of natural gas or coal. Paper on the massive effort to remove the radioactive sodium from Hallam Another purpose of the Hallam plant was to sterilize food, milk, cheese and the like so it didn't require refrigeration! Seriously! BTW the USSR discovered that turned milk blue!
Nuclear power is a top source of virtually emissions-free electricity, but many plants are shutting in the United States because of high costs and competition from solar and wind. Critics of advanced nuclear have also warned that smaller nuclear is even more expensive than conventional.

The new plants, however, are designed to complement a renewable power because they will store the reactor power in tanks of molten salt during days when the grid is well supplied. Nuclear power could be used later when solar and wind power are low due to weather conditions.
It's called "night"
Bloody engineers — always using technical words the rest of us don’t know!
Molten salt power storage has been used at thermal solar plants in the past, but leaks have plagued some of the projects.

Levesque said the Natrium design would provide more consistent temperatures than a solar plant, resulting in less wear and tear.
Hallam: Operation and shutdown

Initial criticality was achieved in January 1962, followed by wet criticality six months later. Difficulties that arose during operation and required plant shutdown and correction included leaking control rod thimbles, seizure of secondary sodium pumps, leaking steam generator instrumentation and pipe flanges, difficulty of adjusting fuel channel flow orifices, and failure of primary and secondary sodium throttle valves.

The most serious issue was the ruptures of moderator elements. Seven elements ruptured in February, 1964. The ruptures and subsequent absorption of sodium into the graphite reduced the thermal neutron flux in the core and caused a reduction in local power. The moderator elements swelled as well, reducing coolant and process space. Examination disclosed that failure was caused by low ductility stress-rupture leading to a one inch long crack about three inches below the top of each element.

Chauncey Starr, the president of Atomics International, testified that they had identified and claimed to have fixed the issue with the moderator can. He proposed a repair operation involving attaching snorkels to each moderator can into the cover gas space, which would cost $1.8M and require 6-9 months[6]. Nonetheless, the AEC under Milton Shaw decided to terminate their contract with the utility. Consumers in turn chose to not purchase the plant, and it was instead decommissioned with the nuclear components sealed in concrete.

The plant's single 75 MWe reactor operated from 1963 to September 27, 1964.[2] Decommissioning was completed in 1969.[7]
Posted by:Fred

#4  ^-- that was after the tried and got Microsoft BOB...
Posted by: CrazyFool   2020-08-28 15:38  

#3  His first Reactor should be named 'Vista' or 'Millennium' (or 'Me').

Posted by: Mullah Richard   2020-08-28 13:55  

#2  I hope the quality control is better than Windows.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2020-08-28 13:02  

#1  I guess South African pebble bed is too South African for Bill?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2020-08-28 03:39  

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