Alternative nuclear power plant designs – can they work?

Small Modular Reactors: Safer and Cheaper?
[Via Climate Central – News, Blogs & Features]

In the wake of the Fukushima accident, and on the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl, the debate over whether nuclear power can be safe and economical enough to be a big part of the world’s energy future, especially for helping to reduce global warming emissions, is in full swing once again. The danger of a major accident that releases significant amounts of radioactivity is just part of it. Nuclear power plants also generate radioactive waste that has to be disposed of somehow, and the creation and transportation of nuclear fuel raises the risk of weapons-grade uranium or plutonium finding its way into the hands of bomb-makers. On top of this, how much it will cost to build enough power plants to make a dent in global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is uncertain — especially if Fukushima leads to tougher safety regulations.

For decades, though, some nuclear engineers have been pushing an alternate technology that they claim could address these concerns. Called Small Modular Reactors (SMR’s), these plants, which have been proposed with a variety of designs, would be inherently cheaper to build and safer to operate than conventional plants, for a variety of reasons — or at least, so their proponents argue. They may be right, but so far the nuclear industry hasn’t had enough real-world experience with any of the proposed designs to know how well their performance lives up to their theoretical promise.

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I will be facilitating a discussion on nuclear power at the Sustainable Path Foundation’s Idea Club on Monday.

Nuclear will be part of our power production if we hope to make a full transition to a greener world. However, current plant design is not as optimized for the best generation of power as it is based upon Cold War military needs.

Much better reactor designs can be used if there is not any reason for weapons grade material. SMR’s hold some potential, as do a host of other designs being tested in different countries.

But, as seen here with this design, and with all the others, humans are the weakest link, often being the proximate cause for problems or making decisions leading to further difficulties.

One of the things we will discuss is how we can do a better job with this. For example, many people knew that the power generators in Japan were in a vulnerable position. In fact, the second generation plants built in Japan put the generators inside hardened buildings.

These newer plants also had pipes to directly inject sea water in case of a reactor problem. These plants were only a few kilometers from the catastrophic site at Fukushima yet suffered little of the problems seen from the earthquake.

So, how do we force a plant redesign and refurbishment? When it will cost a lot of money and probably shut down a plant for a time? How do we get the safety motive pushed as strong as the profit motive? I

f we cannot solve that, then these sorts of problems – and include the Gulf Disaster from last year here also – will continue to haunt us. Especially as we continue to operate at the very limits of our engineering abilities to find, control and exploit energy sources.