Comments on Next Big Future: Idaho National Labs Strategic plan for light water...

It makes sense to improve on efficiency and life e...

2008-03-29T01:34:00.000-07:00

It makes sense to improve on efficiency and life extension for existing and proven reactor designs. Given the amount of work needed to bring a new reactor design into service, which can take years, the fastest path to deployment will be with current technologies.
http://djysrv.blogspot.com/2008/02/idaho-lab-epri-craft-new-lwr-reactor.html

The Idaho lab is also home to work on the Generation IV R&D reactor program and plans to build the "Next Generation Nuclear Plant." Like all demonstration plants the expected costs are always higher than anticipated, but that doesn't mean they won't prove out commercially in the long run. This is what's happening with South Africa's PBMR.

http://djysrv.blogspot.com/2007/12/ngnp-costs-said-to-be-high-than.html

http://djysrv.blogspot.com/2007/12/pbmr-seeks-mitsubishi-investment-in-new.html

Ambient air temperature has a considerable effect ...

2008-03-27T07:49:00.000-07:00

Ambient air temperature has a considerable effect on parasitic losses. Dry coolings systems in cold climates work much better than dry cooling systems in hot deserts.

Heller dry cooling systems have much less parasitic loads, and cost about the same as a wet cooling tower.

There are also more promising options for heat exchanger materials, such as carbon foam that could reduce the cost while improving the performance of dry cooling systems.

For the analogy of car fuel mileage the flouride f...

2008-03-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

For the analogy of car fuel mileage the flouride fuel would be a 530 mpg car.

Hi Gary,thanks. I fixed up some HTML in one of my ...

2008-03-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

Hi Gary,

thanks. I fixed up some HTML in one of my posts and it is ok now.

You should be good either right now or with a reload.

Thanks again

Brian

Kirk,Looking at your link from your own diagram I ...

2008-03-25T14:46:00.000-07:00

Kirk,
Looking at your link from your own diagram I think it is 914 GWd/t your link says 914,000 MWd/t.

So that would be 10.75 times better than the 85 GWd/t.

We definitely should go for that and fund the molten salt and flouride fuel reactors. Fuji Molten salt etc... $100 million for one good demo - $1-2 billion for a crash program.

Hi Gary,the site is run through blogger.com. I am ...

2008-03-25T14:42:00.000-07:00

Hi Gary,

the site is run through blogger.com. I am not sure what is causing the issue and have limited means to address it. I will check the html of my posts and see if something is there.

Kirk.
The 85 GWd/t would be a 70% improvement for the installed base of light water reactors. If we are keeping those running for another 40 years then it would be good that they run 70% better. Just as if I am not going to junk my current car, getting it upgrade to 170% of current mileage (30mpg up to 51mpg) is good. Even if we can get new flouride cars in ten years with 30000 mpg. The plan is only talking about the current breed of nuclear reactors.

Brian. Your site is having tech issues. Only four ...

2008-03-25T14:37:00.000-07:00

Brian. Your site is having tech issues. Only four articles are loading up and the side bar isn't lodaing up either.
I've restarted my comp. and everything, but it is still not working

b. Develop high-burnup (HBU) fuel [85 Gwd/t target...

2008-03-25T14:25:00.000-07:00

b. Develop high-burnup (HBU) fuel [85 Gwd/t target]

It's pretty hard to get excited about this burnup level when uranium-233 in fluoride fuel lets you hit ~900,000 GWd/t, the theoretical limit.