oneman28

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20...nt_3584048.htm

www.chinaview.cn 2005-10-05 12:03:24

BEIJING, Oct.5 --Chinese scientists are planning super-efficient nuclear reactors that can maximize uranium burn-up and minimize waste in the generation of electricity.

If the first experimental reactor, set to be in operation by 2010, is successfl, the technology could help relieve China's uranium supply problems as the country accelerates nuclear power plant construction.

China Academy of Atomic Science President Zhao Zhixiang said a team of scientists has already mapped a detailed plan to speed up research and utilization of the so-called next-generation fast reactors.

The new reactors are expected to burn 60-70 per cent of their uranium fuel - a conventional reactor consumes only 0.7 per cent of the uranium it is fed.

"This kind of reactor can greatly improve the efficiency of fuel burn-up, and we are trying our best to put the experimental reactor into use over the next five years," Zhao said.

Current reactors are only able to harness the power of 0.7 per cent of the radioactive isotopes found in natural uranium.

In the fast reactor, the process is optimized so that more of the previously untapped isotopes can be used to generate electricity, burning-up fuel at least 60 times more efficiently than in a normal reactor.

"We will have no concerns over fuel supply if such reactors are used to generate electricity commercially," Zhao said.

China started research into fast nuclear reactor technology in 1995 and invested 1.38 billion yuan (US$170.2 million) into the construction of the experimental reactor.

"I hope an experimental reactor with a capacity of 200,000 kilowatts can be put into use by 2010," Zhao said. He added that construction of the reactor is close to completion but did not identify the site of the project under the High and New Technology Research and Development Programme of the Chinese Government.

He also said plans for a fast-reactor prototype are expected to be included in the country's medium- and long-term science and technology development blueprints.

The prototype reactor, with a capacity of 600,000 kilowatts, will be constructed and put into operation by 2020, Zhao said, adding: "After that, we will consider commercial operation of the reactor."

As China's economy keeps developing rapidly, demand for power also keeps increasing. To meet its growing energy demands, China has mapped out a national plan to increase nuclear generating capacity to 36,000 megawatts by 2020, up from 8,700 megawatts today. The proportion of national power output supplied by nuclear energy is expected to rise from 2.3 per cent now to 4 per cent.

A senior official from the National Development and Reform Commission told China Daily that the country will have an even more ambitious plan to generate nuclear power after 2020.

"All the plans urged our researchers to develop our own core technologies for the reactors," said the official, who declined to be named. "And I personally believe the fast reactor will play a leading role during the 2040-50 period in China's nuclear plant construction."

Apart from fast reactor research, China has also made a breakthrough in gas-cooled nuclear reactors, which can generate considerably higher temperatures than conventional nuclear reactors, leading to a high power generating capacity.

Using helium as a coolant, the reactor, mainly developed by researchers from Tsinghua University, is also able to shut down and cool automatically in an emergency. Senior State Council officials have called for early commercial application of China's first gas-cooled nuclear reactor to help restructure China's energy supply strategy.

Most of the nuclear reactors currently in operation in China rely on technology imported from France and Russia.

(Source: China Daily)

Jay

Fast reactor like in Fast breeder reactor? If so, welcome to the club

Not totally unrelated, but just FYI...India's 500 MWe proto-type FBR will start its operation around 2010, its under construction. Like China, India operates 2 experimental FBR's for decades.

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Jay

China's Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) Program

原子能快堆研究中心

China began research on fast neutron breeder reactors in the mid- and late-1960s . During its basic research period from 1965 to 1987, China's research focused on fast reactor technology such as fast reactor physics, thermodynamics, sodium technology and small sodium facility. During this initial period about 12 experimental setups were established, and one sodium loop was constructed. This included a 50 kg 235U zero-power neutron setup. On June 28 June 1970, this device reached criticality. The engineering goal for the applied basic research phase of China's FBR program (1987-1993) was to successfully construct a 65 MWt (25 MWe) experimental fast reactor. Further developments were made in sodium technology, fuel and materials, fast reactor safety, and reactor design. A preliminary foundation for a fast reactor design was established, and approximately 20 experimental setups and sodium loops were built.

Currently, the initial experimental validation phase focused on sodium loop technology. Two sodium loops were imported form Italy: ESPRESSO (sodium flow rate 110 m3/h, maximum sodium temperature 650oC) and CEDI (sodium flow rate 320 m3/h, maximum sodium temperature 650oC.) The primary conceptual design was completed in 1992 and the final design was completed in 1994. To test the concept of the design, a zero-power simulation experiment was conducted at the Physics and Dynamics Engineering Institute in Russia. It was not until January 1998 that construction work began on the country's first fast neutron reactor. The China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE) , in cooperation with the Beijing Institute of Nuclear Engineering, is constructing the FBR with Russian technical assistance. On 8 September 1999, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a Cabinet ordinance to cooperate with China in the construction of a FBR. The draft agreement was approved by the Russian Cabinet on 22 April 2000.

Under China's national high tech "863" project, a pilot commercial station, is being built in Fangshan county near Beijing. According to the Xinhua News Agency, it is scheduled to be operational by 2003. China's original plans included building a 65 MWth (20-25 MWe) experimental reactor by the year 2000 at a cost of about $103 million. China plans to use this reactor to provide the technical foundation for its long-term program of commercial FBR development.

In December 2003, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and a large business delegation including Siemens CEO Heinrich von Pierer visited China. During this visit, delegation members discussed the possibility of China's import of Siemen's Hanau Fuel Element Factory, a mothballed mixed oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication plant. The plant was reportedly intended to generate the fuel necessary to power China's planned fast breeder reactor. The outcome of this sale met with a good deal of controversy in Germany and is still pending
Thermal Power 65 MW
Net Electric Power 20 MW
Fuel Type first run using UO2 (64.4% enriched)
Mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel (PU,U))O2;
219.2 kg of fissionable material:
--121.6 kg Pu (93.2 kg Pu-239);
--97.6 kg U-235 (30% enriched uranium)
Coolant Sodium
Core inlet temperature 360 oC
Core outlet temperature 530 oC
Core height 45 cm
Core diameter 60 cm
Fuel element linear power (max) 430 W/cm
Max burn-up (target) 100 MWd/kg
Neutron flux 3.7X1015 n/cm2 .s
Reactor lifetime 30 years


[Sources: Gao Jishu Tongxun (High Technology Letters) (Beijing), September 1995; in "China's Experimental Fast Breeder Reactor," FBIS-CST-95-017, 18 December 1995; Chen Zhaobo, "Development Of Nuclear Power In China," Nuclear Europe Worldscan, November-December 1995, p. 49; "Qinshan Primary System Passes Pressure Test," Nuclear News, January 1991, p. 58; Xinhua, 6 March 1997, in FBIS-CHI-97-065, 6 March 1997; "Plans for Experimental Fast Reactor Announced," Nuclear News, August 1996, p. 73; "China Starts Building Pilot Fast Neutron Reactor", Inside China Today, 30 September 1998; "Russia, China to Negotiate Construction of Pilot Fast Breeder Reactor." Interfax. 8 September 1999; Qian Shunfa, Xu Mi, and Yang Tianlu, "Fast Reactor Technology Development," Nuclear Europe Worldscan, November/December 1999, p. 53; "Russian Government Approves Draft Deal For Building Nuclear Reactor in China," Interfax, 22 April 2000; PRC S&T: Development of Fast Breed Reactor and Experimental Fast Reactor," Chengdu He Dongli Gongcheng Vol. 21 No. 1 (15 February 2000) pp. 34-38 in FBIS, 7 January 2002.]

http://www.nti.org/db/china/fbrprog.htm

Monk

http://www.defenceindia.com/22-aug-2k5/news16.html

New Delhi, August 25, 2005 (PTI)

India unveiled before the international community on Thursday, its revolutionary design of 'A Thorium Breeder Reactor' that can produce 600 MW of electricity for two years 'with no refuelling and practically no control manoeuvres.'

Designed by scientists of the Mumbai-based Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, the ATBR is claimed to be far more economical and safer than any power reactor in the world.

Most significantly for India, ATBR does not require natural or enriched uranium which the country is finding difficult to import. It uses thorium -- which India has in plenty -- and only requires plutonium as 'seed' to ignite the reactor core initially.

Eventually, the ATBR can run entirely with thorium and fissile uranium-233 bred inside the reactor (or obtained externally by converting fertile thorium into fissile Uranium-233 by neutron bombardment).

BARC scientists V Jagannathan and Usha Pal revealed the ATBR design in their paper presented at the week-long 'international conference on emerging nuclear energy systems' in Brussels. The design has been in the making for over seven years.

According to the scientists, the ATBR while annually consuming 880 kg of plutonium for energy production from 'seed' rods, converts 1,100 kg of thorium into fissionable uranium-233. This diffrential gain in fissile formation makes ATBR a kind of thorium breeder.

The uniqueness of the ATBR design is that there is almost a perfect 'balance' between fissile depletion and production that allows in-bred U-233 to take part in energy generation thereby extending the core life to two years.

This does not happen in the present day power reactors because fissile depletion takes place much faster than production of new fissile ones.

BARC scientists say that "the ATBR with plutonium feed can be regarded as plutonium incinerator and it produces the intrinsically proliferation resistant U-233 for sustenance of the future reactor programme."

They say that long fuel cycle length of two years with no external absorber management or control manoeuvres "does not exist in any operating reactor."

The ATBR annually requires 2.2 tonnes of plutonium as 'seed'. Althouth India has facilities to recover plutonium by reprocessing spent fuel, it requires plutonium for its Fast Breeder Reactor programme as well. Nuclear analysts say that it may be possible for India to obtain plutonium from friendly countries wanting to dismantle their weapons or dispose of their stockpiled plutonium.

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