Many of those so-called superior applied sciences had been invented and even demonstrated over 50 years in the past, earlier than the business converged on the usual water-cooled plant designs. However now there’s renewed curiosity in getting various nuclear reactors up and working. New designs may assist enhance security, effectivity, and even price.
Coolant
Different coolants can enhance on security over water-based designs, since they don’t all the time must be saved at excessive pressures. Many may attain greater temperatures, which might enable reactors to run extra effectively.
Molten salt is one main contender for various coolants, utilized in designs from Kairos Energy, Terrestrial Power, and Moltex Power. These designs can use much less gasoline and produce waste that’s simpler to handle.
Different corporations wish to liquid metals, together with sodium and lead. There are just a few sodium-cooled reactors working at present, primarily in Russia, and the nation can be on the forefront in creating lead-cooled reactors. Steel-cooled reactors share lots of the potential security advantages of molten-salt designs. Helium and different gases can be used to succeed in greater temperatures than water-cooled methods. X-energy is designing a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor utilizing helium.
Gasoline
Most reactors that use an alternate coolant additionally use an alternate gasoline.
TRISO, or tri-structural isotropic particle gasoline, is among the hottest choices. TRISO particles comprise uranium, enclosed in ceramic and carbon-based layers. This retains the gasoline contained, holding all of the merchandise of fission reactions inside and permitting the gasoline to withstand corrosion and melting. Kairos and X-energy each plan to make use of TRISO gasoline of their reactors.
Different reactors use HALEU: high-assay low-enriched uranium. Most nuclear gasoline utilized in business reactors comprises between 3% and 5% uranium-235. HALEU, then again, comprises between 5% and 20% uranium-235, permitting reactors to get extra energy in a smaller area.
Measurement
I do know I mentioned I’d hold this to 2 issues, however let’s embrace a bonus class. Along with altering up the specifics of issues like gasoline and coolant, many corporations are working to construct reactors of various (largely smaller) sizes.