[FRIAM] Small Nuclear

Tue Nov 10 13:17:24 EST 2020

You can outsource your thinking any time to me off-line, Nick.  I am very
interested in what you just sent, and it applies to the work we are
presently doing at our Center.

On Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 9:07 AM <thompnickson2 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi, Anybody,
>
>
>
> I stumbled on this letter in research gate, which seemed to suggest that
> we are on the edge of a bustling “small nuclear” economy.  The idea seems
> to be that we retrofit all our power plants with lowish temperature
> reactors  and there’s your carbon problem solved, bang!  I gather that
> these reactors also produce hydrogen which could then be used as a fuel for
> vehicles?  Did I read that right?
>
>
>
> The earlier answer on the entropy of renewables answered the question;
> especially when allied with a simple calculation on energy density for
> solar and wind. I strongly recommend https://www.withouthotair.com/
> <https://www.researchgate.net/deref/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.withouthotair.com%2F>
> by either buying the book or it is available to download for free. The
> author sadly died in his prime but his most important legacy has global
> implications and is factual. It proves that the energy balance cannot be
> met with natural, non-depleting sources. Please be careful with what you
> read, many exponents of renewables equate electricity with energy. In
> advanced countries electricity is only about 20% of the primary energy
> supply. Heat and transport dominate by far worldwide.
>
>
>
> As for nuclear, the IVth Generation of high temperature fission reactors
> is the near term future. Light water moderated reactors have been deployed
> almost universally in all countries except India, UK and Canada who have
> each chosen different routes. The reason for the light water reactor's
> dominance despite escalating safety costs is well documented in the
> military history of the last century. UK amongst some others developed and
> deployed the high temperature gas cooled 'dry' route which has many
> advantages as are now recognised.
>
> The Generation IV small modular reactors are inherently safe (see Ref
> Kletz, Trevor for a definition) as has been physically demonstrated in
> Japan and China on real plants. These countries have looked carefully and
> dispassionately at the options and developed devices which are inherently
> safe, factory reproducible, provide high enough temperatures for industrial
> and domestic heat, also high enough to produce thermo-chemical hydrogen for
> synthetic transport fuels and provide distributed energy sourcing since it
> is not feasible to transmit the total energy quantities demanded
> electrically in mature economies. Growing economies can move directly to
> distributed low-carbon nuclear elegantly avoiding electricity or gas or
> liquid fuel transmission infrastructure.
>
>
>
> The most advanced demonstration plant in the world is the HTR-PM,
> presently in commissioning at 2 x 100 MWe in China following the proving of
> its smaller prototype and serious worldwide development effort over
> decades. The worldwide body of knowledge on high temperature small nuclear
> is at a point where deployment at scale is practical before 2030. Most
> advanced countries have small modular reactor programmes with designs at
> advanced stages. The high temperature small modular reactor preparations in
> China, Japan, USA, UK, France and many others produce heat at a temperature
> matched to repower large coal stations carbon-free by re-using all except
> the boilers. Deployment studies for such repowering have been completed in
> China and USA. You will appreciate the massive impact this will have upon
> global emissions.
>
>
>
> The fuel is of course radioactive but is non-proliferating for weapons use
> because it is contained in ceramic which is harder to break down than newly
> mined materials so is unattractive and this also makes it safer to store as
> waste. Waste storage volumes are smaller than from light water reactors due
> to the higher utilisation of the fuel in the lower energy density core and
> the conversion efficiency of the downstream processes plus other helpful
> factors. These high temperature small modular reactors can operate on other
> fuels such as thorium but can also consume legacy 'hot' residues from
> pressurised water reactors and the military.
>
> In practical terms, it is physically impossible to build traditional large
> nuclear power stations at a rate relevant to the latest Paris imperatives.
> The only way to achieve a high pace of transition, even without global
> energy growth, is by factory manufacture of small distributable energy
> plants on a numerical scale similar to other volume manufactures such as
> aircraft. The Boeing 737 now has delivered 10,000 units manufactured at
> licensed factories worldwide and is still growing. This aircraft has a
> similar investment profile to small modular reactors in factory set up and
> economies of repetition. Volume manufacturing techniques from other
> industries are especially relevant to small modular nuclear but have not
> yet been widely applied in nuclear.
>
>
>
> As has been said by others in this post, the energy subject is large but
> that should not prevent thinking fundamentally about the underlying
> thermodynamic realities as MacKay has done, applying the immutable laws of
> physics in this debate as few have done and unemotionally analysing the
> problem and reaching conclusions as many enlightened nations have already
> but perhaps too quietly done so that democracies can be offered rational
> choices.
>
>
>
> Perhaps the final arbiter is cost in all these things. The UK Government
> Techno Economic Assessment has shown that small nuclear is attractive from
> a socio economic perspective and was followed up by a formative expert
> finance working group to make ready the market and the commercial context.
> Most recently a study, which can be extrapolated internationally laid out a
> pathway.
> https://d2umxnkyjne36n.cloudfront.net/insightReports/Preparing-for-deployment-of-a-UK-SMR-by-2030-UPDATED.pdf?mtime=20161011145322
> <https://www.researchgate.net/deref/https%3A%2F%2Fd2umxnkyjne36n.cloudfront.net%2FinsightReports%2FPreparing-for-deployment-of-a-UK-SMR-by-2030-UPDATED.pdf%3Fmtime%3D20161011145322>
>
> So the answer to Dariusz's question is in my view, YES, supported by
> massive programmes of excellent work invested in small modular high
> temperature reactors which is largely unseen by the general population and
> decision makers to who sadly have so far only been offered rather poor,
> expensive and regressive energy choices for all our children.
>
> Please read widely and draw your own conclusions
>
>
>
> The source is:
> https://www.researchgate.net/post/Does_nuclear_power_have_a_future_or_will_new_technologies_of_renewable_energy_be_developed_in_the_energy_sector#view=5fa3fc12212f30468621d416
>
>
>
> I apologize for once again out-sourcing my thinking.  I promise that in
> return I am ever ready to answer your urgent  inquiries concerning the
> alarm calls of *Corvus brachyrynchos*.
>
>
>
> Nick
>
> Nicholas Thompson
>
> Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology
>
> Clark University
>
> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com
>
> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Merle Lefkoff, Ph.D.
Center for Emergent Diplomacy
emergentdiplomacy.org
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

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