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The Total Nuclear Power Solution
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# : |
18598 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
4 / 1991 |
1,899 Words |
| Author
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Yoon I. Chang
Yoon I. Chang is general manager of the Integral Fast Reactor
program at Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, Illinois. |
Atomic fire contained in a bottle captured the imagination of an expectant humanity after World War II, when the Atoms for Peace program, initiated by U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower in 1953, promised to harness the energy of nuclear fission to generate inexpensive electricity from a clean, safe, highly condensed, and relatively abundant fuel.
Yet after 30 years of operative nuclear reactors, the great hope of a nuclear solution to human energy needs has faded for many. The image of nuclear power has been tarnished by a few accidents and by lack of progress in disposing of nuclear fission waste products. In a curious irony, the present commercial nuclear reactor technologies use only a small percentage of the fuel, then leave the rest as radioactive waste.
Issues of safety, waste management, and fuel use efficiency are emerging as the key factors that will determine the long-term viability of nuclear power stations. Indeed, a new generation of advanced nuclear reactors nearing readiness for commercial applications offers improvements in passive safety and modest improvements in fuel use-efficiency. Yet for the public, the disposal of nuclear wastes looms large as a barrier to the acceptance of nuclear power.
In addition to these present-generation (or near-term advanced) reactor designs, a radically new nuclear solution is now appearing on the technological horizon. More than any other type of nuclear reactor, this complete nuclear-power generation system simultaneously meets all three of the major challenges--safety, waste disposal, and fuel efficiency--facing the next-generation nuclear power industry.
The Integral Fast Reactor system (IFR), which has been developed through research at the Argonne National Laboratories in Argonne, Illinois and Idaho Falls, Idaho, includes three key technological components: a metallic fuel; a complete fuel recycling process; and liquid metal (sodium) coolant. In combination these three features produce a radically new approach to nuclear energy that holds great promise for altering both the image and substance of the nuclear energy industry in the twenty-first century.
Metallic fuel
The key to the safety, economy, and fuel efficiency of the IFR is its metallic fuel. The spent fuel is recycled at the same plant and returned to the reactor, burning with it most of the material that traditionally would have to be
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