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Category: nuclear energy – Page 97

OPG chooses BWRX-300 SMR for Darlington new build

Canada’s first commercial Small Modular Reactor (SMR)

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has selected the BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) for the Darlington new nuclear site, and will work with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) to deploy the reactor. Canada’s first commercial, grid-scale, SMR could be completed as early as 2028.

OPG and GEH will collaborate on SMR engineering, design, planning, preparing licensing and permitting materials, and site preparation activities. Site preparation will begin in the spring of 2022, pending appropriate approvals, OPG said. It aims to apply to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) for a construction licence by the end of next year.

Darlington is the only site in Canada currently licensed for new nuclear: OPG was granted a site preparation licence by the CNSC in 2012, after completion of an environmental assessment which included public involvement, but reductions in forecast electricity demand led to a decision to defer plans for new build. OPG last year announced it was resuming planning activities for additional nuclear power generation via an SMR at the site, rather than a large conventional reactor, as previously envisaged. The CNSC recently granted a 10-year renewal to the site preparation licence, which had been due to expire in August 2022.

Thanks to renewables, ‘insanely cheap electricity’ is coming. But when?

There’s even talk in some quarters that solar could one day fulfil the unrealised promise of nuclear power to generate electricity so abundant that it would be “too cheap to meter”.

So how cheap can solar get? And will you — the energy consumer — still have a power bill?

This future of cheap power is already here — at least sometimes.

Finally, a Fusion Reaction Has Generated More Energy Than Absorbed by The Fuel

A major milestone has been breached in the quest for fusion energy.

For the first time, a fusion reaction has achieved a record 1.3 megajoule energy output – and for the first time, exceeding energy absorbed by the fuel used to trigger it.

Although there’s still some way to go, the result represents a significant improvement on previous yields: eight times greater than experiments conducted just a few months prior, and 25 times greater than experiments conducted in 2018. It’s a huge achievement.

Fusion Energy Could Be a Reality in Less Than 5 Years

SPARC is aiming to be the first experimental device to achieve an energy-positive fusion reaction. New research suggests that this goal may soon be within reach.
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With construction slated to begin in spring 2021, the team predicts it could be built within 3 to 4 years from that. Their goal is to achieve a Q factor of at least 2, basically meaning SPARC will pump out twice the energy needed to power it.

Actually, by the calculations in their papers, SPARC could possibly achieve a Q ratio of 10! But the researchers are cautious about overpromising, and are just focused on achieving the lower figure.
It’s still impressive, considering any net gain would be a first for human created controlled fusion.

Assuming it gets built along that predicted 3–4 year timeline and actually gets flipped on, there’s still several steps between SPARC and limitless clean energy.

#sparc #climatechange #fusion #technology #physics.

We’ve Long Waited for Fusion. This Reactor May Finally Deliver It—Fast.

Continue reading “Fusion Energy Could Be a Reality in Less Than 5 Years” | >

NASA is Building a Nuclear Reactor to Power Lunar and Martian Exploration!

NASA and the U.S. Dept. of Energy have come together to solicit design proposals for a nuclear reactor that will power Lunar and Martian exploration!

Over the next fifteen years, multiple space agencies and their commercial partners intend to mount crewed missions to the Moon and Mars. In addition to placing “footprints and flags” on these celestial bodies, there are plans to establish the infrastructure to allow for a long-term human presence. To meet these mission requirements and ensure astronaut safety, several technologies are currently being researched and developed.

At their core, these technologies are all about achieving self-sufficiency in terms of resources, materials, and energy. To ensure that these missions have all the energy they need to conduct operations, NASA is developing a Fission Surface Power (FSP) system that will provide a safe, efficient, and reliable electricity supply. In conjunction with solar cells, batteries, and fuel cells, this technology will allow for long-term missions to the Moon and Mars in the near future.

For NASA, having fission reactors for lunar surface operations is a vital part of the Artemis Program, which aims to create a program of “sustained lunar exploration.” This means infrastructure is required, like the Lunar Gateway (where spacecraft will dock and resupply) and the Artemis Base Camp on the surface, where astronauts will eat, exercise, and sleep when not conducting extravehicular activities (EVAs) – i.e., surface operations.

Experts Say Fusion Power Is Finally Starting to Look Imminent

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, right? Normally we’d say yes, but experts around the globe say nuclear fusion power, which holds the promise of clean and virtually limitless electricity, could be just around the corner. After nearly six decades with many promises but few results, new advancements may finally tip the scale, according to the Financial Times.

“Fusion is coming, faster than you expect,” Fusion Industry Association exec Andrew Holland told the publication.

There could be many benefits to nuclear fusion. Unlike nuclear fission it would create little waste and, as far as we know, could never result in an accident like Chernobyl. Insert a side-eye here for plans to dump radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay and the Pacific.

Friday 26th November 2021

New Chinese fusion approach, betting big on fusion and lots more fusion stories!

A summary of recent fusion energy news stories presented by Dr Leigh Ann Kesler, a fusion consultant specialising in science communication.

Today’s news stories:

1. Congressional Hearing on Fusion Energy Research and Technology Development.
https://www.fusionindustryassociation.org/post/congressional…evelopment.
https://www.fusionindustryassociation.org/post/support-for-f…egislation.

2. Chinese Scientists Say They’ve Discovered Cheap New Way to Do Nuclear Fusion.
https://futurism.com/china-cheap-nuclear-fusion.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3155546/chin…sion-power (paywall)
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/chinese-scientists-strike-early-gold-083430644.html (free version)

3. The chase for fusion energy.

Continue reading “Friday 26th November 2021” | >

China’s New Space Nuclear Reactor Might Be 100 Times More Powerful Than NASA’s

And the prototype design is already completed.

China’s space program has completed a prototype design for a powerful nuclear reactor, a report from the South China Morning Post reveals.

The country’s space program is building the device to keep up with other space agencies that have also drawn plans to go nuclear, such as NASA, which recently made a call for private firms to develop a nuclear fission system to power missions on the Moon within 10 years.

China and the U.S. enter a new space race China’s space program, which has already built some of the components for its full reactor, wants to power future missions to the Moon and Mars with nuclear energy. China’s reactor will be able to generate one megawatt of electric power, making it 100 times more powerful than the device NASA wants to send to the Moon by 2030. NASA’s nuclear fission system will be capable of providing roughly 40 kilowatts of power, which the U.S. space agency says would be enough to power 30 households for a decade.

Full Story:

Korea’s Cutting-Edge Fusion Reactor Just Broke Its Own Record For Containing Plasma

Barely a year after the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) broke one record for fusion, it’s smashed it again, this time holding onto a churning whirlpool of 100 million degree plasma for a whole 30 seconds.

Though it’s well short of the 101 seconds set by the Chinese Academy of Sciences earlier this year, it remains a significant milestone on the road to cleaner, near-limitless energy that could transform how we power our society.

Here’s why it’s so important.

A South Korean Artificial Sun Reactor Just Broke a Nuclear Fusion Record

We’re a step closer to limitless energy. The Korea Institute of Fusion Energy has set a new record by running at one million degrees and maintaining super-hot plasma for 30 seconds, beating its own previous record by 10 seconds, a report by New Atlas reveals.

The tokamak reactor used for the record run is the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR), which is also known as South Korea’s artificial sun.

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