[A. Morgan]

A Nuke Bump!

[rawhide]

Wired magazine article on this

Popular Mechanics article on this

[DBrow]

I didn't see in the article how they modulate reactivity.

Otherwise, what a great idea!

Too bad a president got rid of the National helium Reserve, though. Who needs Zeppelin in the 21st century?

[PapaBear3625]

We need to start building now, with a target of having at least 80% of our electricity be nuke within 10 years, and at least a doubling of our electric capacity (to accommodate electric cars, and a switchover from oil heat to electric heat in the Northeast)

[kidd]

The real beauty of the PBMR is its modularity.

A utility can start with a small unit and add on, as power demand increases.

[Red Badger]

PEBBLE BED REACTOR PING!!!!!...............

[frithguild]

Nukem of Germany

Why does this name leave me feeling uneasy?

[dangerdoc]

I was going to bump for later reading but noted that it uses helium as the working fluid.

I read a few years ago that there was going to be a helium shortage in a few years. One of the major sources is in Kansas and it is predicted to run dry in a few years.

[Malsua]

I’ve been a big fan of PBRs for a long time. Wish I could get one in my backyard!

[Mrs_Stokke]

Save-for-later bump.

[Eepsy]

IMO, anything that gets rid of the iconic massive smoke stacks is going to do alot for deflecting NIMBYism.

[Ditto]

Exiting the reactor at some 1,650°F, the helium enters the turbine section of the horizontal single-shaft drivetrain. Operating at 6,000 rpm, the turbine drives both the gas turbine compressor and a speed reduction gearbox, connected to the 165 MW electrical generator.

Pretty hot and pretty fast --- conventional gas turbines would rip themselves apart at that speed. And they must be way out on the edge of material sciences to have a rotating device that can deal with those temperatures. I wonder what their design looks like.

In the more usual open-cycle gas turbine, the turbine exhaust would exit to the atmosphere. But the PBMR runs in a closed loop, so the helium leaving the turbine first passes through a recuperator to transfer some of its heat, then into a pre-cooler and on to the low-pressure compressor.

I wonder why not run exhaust through a heat recovery steam generator and make it a combined cycle operation. Must have something to do with core physics.

[VOA]

bump

[Centurion2000]

bump

[Erasmus]

“Me Magazine.”

I thought it was a more egocentric version of “Us” until at the end of the article it dawned on me that it stood for “M.E.”

< }B^)

[curiosity]

The only problem with this type of reactor is that it is much more difficult to reprocess the waste.

IMHO, reprocessing is key to the long-term viability of nuclear power.

[AFPhys]

This a very nice description of Pebble Bed Reactors. Thank you for posting this.

[Osage Orange]

Here's a real nice article on Nuke Power...

http://www.hillsdale.edu/hctools/imprimis_archive/2008/02/2008_02_Imprimis.pdf

[Mygirlsmom]

Pebbles Making Waves

Only because Bam-Bam taught her how....

[misanthrope]

Bump