|
Nuclear Reactors
Mini Nuclear Power Plant -
Great idea who's time has come? Maybe! There's no doubt that we need another source of fuel to produce the electricity we need for everyday life. Our dependence on fossil fuels, and more specifically Foreign oil is not only bad for the planet, but bad for us as a country.
I'm a firm believer that each country ought to try to generate enough electricity for their energy needs through their own resources. A difficult task indeed, but not impossible if you consider all the other sources of energy available. Producing electricity through nuclear power is actually a pretty simple thing. You basically heat water within a high pressure closed loop, to the point where it becomes superheated. You then do a heat exchange with water piped within a steam generator tank where you create steam, the steam goes through piping through a turbine which spins a generator which produces electricity (through electromagnetic induction). In this case, you heat the water with nuclear fuel rods which are radioactive & hot. These are typically inserted in cylinders under a pool of water and are introduced into the pool incrementally depending on how much steam / electricity we want to produce. This is basically how this works. The 2 videos below shows a simulation of the electricity generation process within a nuclear power plant. The real breakthrough will come in being able to safely contain these highly radioactive rods (fuel) in a residential zone. Now, if indeed we can safely (the operative word) contain nuclear fuel within smaller vessels that are buried underground, then yes using this type of reactor is certainly feasible, because from a technical point of view, every other aspect of this process can be miniaturized. Hyperion claimes that their power module is about the size of a hot-tub (1.5 m wide), contains a fuel rod the size of a large softball, can produce 25 MWe, and can never go supercritical (melt down). They didn't specify how long it can produce the amount of energy, but it would obviously have to be at least 5-10 years with no interruptions. The video below discusses the Hyperion mini power plants in more detail.
If this can actually work and then get through all the red tape and regulations that will be required, then the only issue that remains is the obvious one. How do you keep these safely out of the hands of terrorists, who may want to use this fuel for a dirty bomb or just explode the containment vessel to contaminate the immediate area? This may be the most difficult issue to resolve. On their website they mention that it will be protected by security force(s), but I'm really not so sure how I feel about a security guard or two protecting my complex's (or town's) nuclear power station. I think that these things will have to be hermetically sealed in some way that only way to remove of the the fuel rod would be to remove the entire vessel. Now, that's probably how they have this thing designed, but I think they're going to jump over hoops to have any community or nuclear energy agency approve the installation & use of these things without the terrorist question being answered. Other than that, I think it's definitely worth pursuing. Stay tuned!
Return to Home Page from Nuclear Reactors Return to Fringe Science & Technology
|
