Revival of Nuclear Waste Burning Molten Salt Reactors
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
- Hey Friends, Welcome back to my CZcams channel. In this video, I'm going to explain the revival of molten salt reactors.
Countries across the world are racing to develop MSR's or Molten Salt Reactors. This generation 4 nuclear reactor design can burn spent/used nuclear fuel from conventional Light water or Heavy water nuclear reactors. It also uses liquid molten salts as a coolant which provides unique safety and performance benefits.
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Introduction
00:21 - Overview of the Video
00:57 - History of the MSR
02:09 - The first Small Modular Reactors
02:31 - MSR is reborn
03:22 - Breeder vs burner reactors
04:27 - Different MSR Designs
06:16 - Technical specifications
06:45 - Advantages with reaching High temperatures
08:07 - Fueling a MSR
09:45 - MSR Waste products
10:24 - Safety features in an MSR
12:34 - MSR's across the world
13:45 - Conclusion
Sources:
1) [world-nuclear.org/information...](world-nuclear.org/information...)
2) Handbook of Generation IV Nuclear Reactors, Ignor Pioro: [www.amazon.ca/Handbook-Genera...](www.amazon.ca/Handbook-Genera...)
WHO AM I:
I'm Osama, I have a background in Nuclear Engineering and work in Toronto, Canada. I make videos about Nuclear technology and science in my free time.
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#revival #revivalofmoltensalt #moltensalt #reactors #reactor #reactorsexplained #moltensaltreactors #burnnuclearwaste #burnnuclear #burn #nuclear #nuclearreactor #chernobylnuclearreactor #r1nuclearreactor #modellingnuclearreactormodels - Věda a technologie
Osama, I cannot stress how valuable your work is to the present and future. We REALLY need more nuclear engineers with open minds such as yourself.
Your message really means a lot! Thank you
@@OsamaBaigI Totally Agree.. Great Explanation.. keep up the great work 👍
Some videos topic suggestions:
Stable Salt Reactor (Moltex)
Small Modular Reactor
Kilopower (Space Reactor)
Nuclear Power in Space
Nuclear Fusion Reactor
Betavolt Nuclear Battery (Betavoltaic)
Nuclear Incidents (Fukushima & Chernobyl)
Nuclear Energy vs Renewable Energy
Hopefully we would see these videos soon from you
This concept is really more than just a "better mouse trap". It takes the biggest fear people have of nuclear power, "nuclear waste", and uses it to produce about 30 time more energy than the original fuel produced. Although the inventory of spent nuclear fuel is relatively small, there is enough in the United States to power the entire country for 250 years at the current levels of use. In this respect, if a level market playing field is reinstituted, it is possible to supply "power too cheap to meter" for all (worldwide). You could afford to charge for power like you do for cell phone service today: one price per month, all you can use (because there will be a desire to dispose of existing stockpiles of spent nuclear fuel as quickly as possible). Thanks, Osama. This is very enlightening and is the way we should go. If we do start using spent nuclear fuel for electricity, at one cent per kWh, its value is almost twice its weight in gold. Go ahead, figure out how much value is in 90,000 tons (just the Unites States' existing supply) of gold is and double it. Remember, it is 100% domestic (already exists on each reactor site in the US), 100% clean (already mined and refined), and available now throughout the world. So go ahead and bury this stuff, but it is curious that you do not bury gold as well. Remember, no accident with spent fuel has occurred in more than 6 decades of handling it and shipping it. Oh, by the way, the Nuclear Navy has never had a problem either since their first nuclear ship launch (the Nautilus in 1955). I defy you to find a better safety record. Oh, yeah, nobody has been hurt in more than 6 decades of light water reactors in the US commercial fleet and molten salt reactors (and all SMR designs) are safer than that. It is hard to beat zero. We get in cars and planes each day and I will leave it to you to see how many people are hurt from those adventures. Great work, Osama.
I just found your channel. You make great videos. Keep up the good work.
@Joels7605 Thank you for your comment! I'm thrilled to hear that you found my videos and that you think they're great. I'm passionate about the topics I cover, and I love sharing my knowledge and insights with my audience. Your support is truly appreciated, and I'll keep working hard to create high-quality videos.
@@OsamaBaig I've been binge watching them. I'm a CANDU fan. I also have a lot of industrial (not nuclear) experience and have huge concerns about molten salt being viable. I think it will be a maintenance nightmare at scale. Maybe CANDU is old and been surpassed, but I still think it has legs.
MSRs can use water. It is the high temperature, not molten salt that allows a CHOICE to use dry cooling, but it does reduce efficiency & revenue vs water cooling of MSRs.
Passive Freeze plugs have never been demonstrated to work. MSRE had ACTIVE/Manually operated freeze plugs.
Excellent Tutorial
Thanks so much David Wilkie, really appreciate it!
Great video, I really love the fact there are timestamps now!
Really appreciate that you noticed, thanks so much Mohsin!
One thing you missed about molten salt reactors is the ability to load follow. A example is the Elysium MSR proposal where the reactor is controlled by the amount of heat pulled out. Using the effect of the fission reaction shutting down as it gets hotter and speeds up as it gets cooler the reactor will produce heat based on how much heat is pulled out of the reactor. This makes for a reactor that can ramp power output up and down kind of similar to a accelerator pedal on a car. This is very different than current nuclear power plants that have difficulty varying their power output.
Very good point Stanley! Load following is definitely an important feature, especially if you want to pair nuclear up with renewable technologies. Thanks for sharing this piece of information!
@@OsamaBaig Nuclear doesn't pair with renewables, it replaces them.
@@chapter4travels agreed. Making advanced nuclear subservient to weather dependent power plants is insane.
While our reactor has a negative temperature coefficient, so could load follow, our fuel is so cheap we keep the reactor & intermediate & steam loop at constant power most of the time to resuce cycling fatigue damage & increased maintenance costs. Only the turbine cycles following load, using turbine bypass to reduce turbine load following demand.
Should demand go down for long periods, we may slowly adjust power of the reactor down & slowly back up if demand is expected to be trending up.
Yes, our fuel cant be damaged by cycling, but heat exchangers are the limiting component for fatigue damage.
This allows us to rapidly follow demand without cycling the whole plant. Burning extra SNF is a revenue, not a cost.
Note, when demand gows down, turbine load goes down, but condenser load goes up, in our case load to the Air-cooled Condensers. We also include a desuperheater for bypass steam to reduce erosion & thermal cycling of the condenser.
Load following is following demand, Source following is following erratic renewable source production with grid priority subsidies.
Great Explanation.. Loved your candu reactor video.. keep up the great work 👍
Some video topics suggestions:
Stable Salt Reactor (Moltex)
Small Modular Reactor
Kilopower (Space Reactor)
Nuclear Power in Space
Nuclear Fusion Reactor
Betavolt Nuclear Battery (Betavoltaic)
Nuclear Incidents (Fukushima & Chernobyl)
Nuclear Energy vs Renewable Energy
Hopefully we would see these videos soon from you
This is a phenomenal list Blue, thanks for the suggestions !
ARC-100 Canada's MSR SMR has a good potential to be marketed fast real soon.
Great work😊
Thanks a lot Lee William!
My guy, happy New Years! Looking good
Happy New Years brother! Thank you so much man. Keep remembering and cherish your support throughout my CZcams journey last year. Wishing you the best for 2022!
@@OsamaBaig 👏 Hey I’m not so familiar with nuclear if it okay I’m gonna ask some questions about a text I have here . You don’t have to answer all of the questions i will be happy if you can even answer one question or more , i translated it to English maybe it comes out little weird :
The Questions :
1: Is the text truth worthy and how can you see that write it exactly how you think explain how , think ?
2 : Is this text based on facts ? Explain how you can see that
3 : Make own questions that you think is important in a argument , good and bad thinks about nuclear power , environment, you don’t hAve to answer your own questions .
4 : why do you think it is difficult to get money and permits for research on these new nuclear reactors
5 . how is it meant in the text that spent (old) nuclear fuel can be returned
6. what do you think is the advantage of reactors of generation 4?
7. take a stand and give your argument for or against nuclear power. you should refer to our everyday life, how we want to use electricity and link your arguments to it
Today, 2 years after the disaster in Fukushima, talking about building new nuclear power plants can look sick. The dream - for those who still talk about it, is to be able to build something else, something that is safer and better, no meltdown, no nuclear waste, no weapons. Just pure energy
There is reason to dream. Old nuclear power plants are soon old. The mountain with atomic garbage is growing. Global warming is on the doorstep. More and more people on earth want to live well. Then new nuclear power solution?
The new so-called fourth-generation reactors will solve several of the problems the current nuclear power is struggling with, says Janne Wallenius, professor of reactor technology at the Royal Institute of Technology, KTH.
We researchers on lead-cooled fast reactors to recycle spent nuclear fuel. Now we have come so far that we are ready to build a test reactor. Electra For the fourth generation of nuclear power
Instead of 100,000 years, the waste must be stored for 1,000 years, says Janne
In our fast reactors, we also want to recycle americium and curium. Curium is radioactive It emits neutron cures Spontaneously and is therefore difficult to control. If we mix it into our recycled plutonium, we can prevent it from being used as a weapon.
A lesson from history is that we have a hard time valuing risks and also have a hard time knowing how the risks will be valued in the world. In the 1950s, could not predict what people would think in the 1970s, says Maja researcher at. She is a history of technology and wrote her dissertation on different types of reactors and Swedish nuclear history 1945-80
I hope you can answer 🥺🙏 , thanks
Please search for Elysium Industries molten salt fast reactor. It is the best i have seen!
Sweet, I was speaking to their CEO not too long ago. It would be great to get a deep dive into their technology
@@OsamaBaig Also check out Thorcon, Seaborg Technologies and Copenhagen Atomics
Could you please make a video on Gas cooled reactors and micro reactors?
All current reactors have a negative temperature & void coefficient too. MSRs dont improve that. Only SFRs have a positive void coefficients, and have other benefits that offset that disadvantage.
Could MSRs be used for high heat intensive processes like making steel and cement? How close to the MRS would the cement factory have to be?
Probably on site. There's MSRs in development that are basically as big as a large van,with power outputs of about 20 MWe (electricity)- for an idea, that would be some 95%+ of my county's electricity.
Probably translating into some 40-60 MWth. That's a lot of power.
These are designed to be closed systems. Basically the reactor is shipped to the site, runs for whatever years devoid of any human intervention, and is sent back to the factory for defueling, and likely to be reused if in proper mechanical condition. Kinda like LPG canisters are nowadays.
Not directly, as most MSRs are limitedto
the only reactor that runs hot enough to make steel is NASA's NERVA, a gas-cooled exotic ceramic fuel reactor in which economy is sacrificed to achieve maximum temperature. Typical candidate molten salts for reactors boil at slightly above 1400C, less than 1500C, far too cool to make steel. 600C - 700C is the design temperature proposed for molten salt reactors in which the fuel and fission products are dissolved in the salt, much better than the 340C of a pressurized water reactor, but still too cool.
Hogwash! You made that all up. None of that exists, & is irrelevant high temperature.
On-line pyro-reprocessing drive up MSR complexity, risk, & cost.
It would be neat if you could get into the details of thermal spectrum MSRs vs fast spectrum. My understanding is that Thorium is perfect for thermal spectrum and Uranium/ Plutonium is better suited to being fast spectrum. But fast spectrum is not as good at load following (as is thermal spectrum) right? Some of the Gen4 MSR reactors are fast spectrum (why what is the advantage)? Thanks.
Actually, uranium is better in both thermal and fast spectrum MSRs.
fast spectrum is MUCH better for load following and for burnup. Fast neutrons are insensitive to pile poisons, especially the notorious Xe-135 volatile, short lived fission product that hinders the re-start or re-powering of a powered-down or shut down reactor for several days. Fast neutrons also make everything they hit that is even marginally fissile to fission with higher frequency, (thereby consuming all those troublesome semi-fissile and fertile minor actinides, like neptunium, even-numbered isotopes of uranium and plutonium, americium, ...) and cause more neutrons to be released when fission occurs; the only problem is that fast neutrons easily fly past their target, so they need a higher fissile content and more compact mass of fuel to start, and neutron reflectors help.
Thermal is Not better fast for load following!
@@EdPheil Thank you Ed. That was my understanding too. Without moderators I don't think you want to do anything too quickly.
Hello Osama,
I'm a Historian in Montreal that does podcasts on History and I would like to know if you have any interesting books on the History of Nuclear in Canada.
Hi Kinh-Luyen, would love to listen in to your podcast, feel free to drop the link below. Also, the best book I would recommend is "Canada Enters the Nuclear Age". Top resource I can find so far on History of Canada's Nuclear Industry! Hope that helps
@@OsamaBaig I hope you can speak and understand French. I usually work on the Vietnam War though.
Negative Temperature coefficient is rather self explainatory: heat increases, motlen salt expands, reactivity is lowered due to higher distances between atoms, I get it.
In a water moderated regular NPP, it is as easy to explain the void coefficient: more steam in the space between fuel rods means less liquid water in the same volume, therefore less moderation, decreasing reactivity. So far, so great!
But: how do you explain a negative void coefficent for MSRs?
The coolant in the primary loop is not boiling (hopefully), therefore, there should be no voids in the first place, let alone any influence on reactivity?
Can someone enlighten me on that topic, please?
Solid fuels are NOT MSRs! But reactors like LMRs, that use salt instead of metal for cooling.
8 megawatt thermal or electrical?
Thermal MSRs are all heterogenous due to the moderators.
I am searching for your small modular reactor video, like what is smallest candu reactor?
@Peterhall1900 The smallest CANDU reactor ever built is the SLOWPOKE-2 (Safe Low-Power Kritical Experiment) research reactor. It was developed by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) and is designed for use in universities, hospitals, and other research institutions
@@OsamaBaig thank you
The UK tried this at Dounreay, with NaK molten salt breeder reactors, and they shut down the last reactor in 1994. At present think the only one running is in Russia. The coolant leaks from the NaK is hugely problematic, they had to keep shutting it down for obvious reasons due to the properties of Sodium.
Interesting to know this cAI, I believe Japan has some incredible facilities as well. I had the chance to visit a few recently and they were truly state of the art
Than you know about the shaft.
NaK is liquid metal, NOT a Salt. A salt is already reacted, so cant react exothermically with water or concrete (i.e., water).
@Ed Pheil I'd suggest you read up about the difficulty Dounreay had with the Nak coolant, they've only just removed most of it from a reactor which was commissioned in the 1950s. I think the above misses the point Sodium metal reacts violently with water, and there is a continual issues with its use as a coolant, regardless of which form its in.
what do you mean with "background" ?
Background in Nuclear Engineering? That means "I don't want to speak about my job or employer, but I have a undergraduate degree in Nuclear Engineering :)
well i would cool it with molten teeth pasta
"Just do it".
Large Corporates are trying to remove MSRs, for water cooled. There is more money (and risk) in water cooled.
US Dept of Energy are actively blocking MSR development for water cooled reactors, including Small Modular Reactors (SMR).
MSRs are awesome, can can provide hydrogen gas and desalinate water, significantly cheaper, safer, and almost no waste.
Wish I could be working on them. Copenhagen Atomic and ThorCon have interesting MSR solutions.
MSR's are in research phase at the moment.. However, Water cooled reactors have been operating for almost 60 years now, we've got a lot of experience with those under our belt. We need significant investments in both! You should reach out to these companies, I'm sure they would be delighted to hire new talent
Solid fuels in an MSR is just dumb. The LFTR breeder is the future. Online reprocessing allows you to burn up all the long lived actinides.
Thanks so much Mike, very much appreciate you checking out my channel! Stay tuned for more content :)
MSRs CANT operate up to 1400C!
He DOESNT understand what is actually being pursued. Most are NOT Fast burners, but thermal burners. Most fast are once through HALEU fueled or isobreeder using SNF as source fuel.
Nuclear reactors have been cooled by lead and sodium, a thing you would know if you did your homework and say if you were honest, having done so. Do you want people to believe that you failed to do your homework, or that you're dishonest? Those are the only available explanations for this omission.