Bill Gates-Backed 345 MWe Advanced Nuclear Reactor Secures Crucial US Approval

https://interestingengineering.com/energy/terrapower-nuclear-reactor-gets-us-approval

by m463 • 9 months ago

5 2 9 months ago

ggm• 9 months ago

I like the idea of an adjunct energy storage, and I can see why a salt tank, kept hot (like really hot. these things can be 500°C or more (even the cold tank is just below 300°C) and the "salt" is sodium or calcium nitrate type stuff) does the trick because heat exchanger back to working liquid for the turbine, thats well understood.

But I also would have thought a battery stack would perform exactly the same function as the salt tank: long duration storage of energy, available to supplement the nuclear power when required.

I believe there's some other reason this specific coupling of a reactor and a heat store makes sense which I didn't get from this article: Maybe it provides resiliency for thermal systems management overall?

jacobn• 9 months ago

If there’s an issue with the core then the salt tank can act as a heat sink in a way a battery can’t?

The boiling / pressure water reactors all have requirements on active cooling being maintained in emergencies - I’m not familiar with this design nor to what extent the salt is intended to fulfill such a function, but it’s plausible that it could buffer things for idk 1h-3d maybe?

The holy grail is the “walk away safe” reactor, I would hope / presume all the novel / modern ones fulfill that?

Bill Gates-Backed 345 MWe Advanced Nuclear Reactor Secures Crucial US Approval

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