China has built a pebble bed reactor

HTR-10 at China's Tsinghua University

China's Tsinghua University has built a 10 MW research pebble bed reactor, achieving criticality in 2000. HTR-10 stands for High Temperature gas-cooled Reactor of 10 Megawatts heat output. It is cooled by helium gas. The helium gas today powers a steam generator. Currently the faculty and students are designing a power conversion unit to be driven directly by the hot helium. This unit will incorporate helium compressors and turbines with active magnetic bearings and a compact heat exchanger.

Tsinghua University and MIT collaborate on the development of this pebble bed reactor.

Australia exports uranium to China. The Australian Broadcasting Company recently interviewed Professor Zhang Zuoyi about the HTR-10 pebble bed reactor in China. During the visit the reactor helium cooling system was purposefully shut down to demonstrate the intrinsic, passive safety of the pebble bed reactor. You can see this on the video available on the ABC web site.



Demonstration plant for 19 pebble bed reactors

China has ambitious plans for pebble bed reactor nuclear power. According to MIT Professor Andrew Kadak China will build a 190 megawatt demonstration reactor power plant at Rongcheng. If successful, a total of 19 pebble bed reactors generating 3,600 megawatts will be constructed at that site.

China is not just waiting for pebble bed reactor nuclear power. China already operates 10 nuclear power reactors, with 7 under construction. Additionally China just signed a $6-7 billion contract with Westinghouse to build four AP-1000 advanced pressure water reactors generating 1,000 megawatts each. [This works out to $1,360 per kilowatt capital cost, below the design goal of the US NGNP project.] Westinghouse is a Pittsburgh company owned by Toshiba.

Shortly thereafter, China signed an agreement with France's Areva for two more nuclear power plants.

PBR advantages are attractive

Pebble bed reactor fuel spheres

1. Pebble bed reactor (PBR) technology is safe; the reactor can not melt down. While today's reactors are safe due to multiple, redundant, engineered shutdown, cooling, and containment systems, the PBR is safe because the basic physics increases neutron absorption if the temperature rises.

2. PBR’s are cooled by helium gas, which is chemically inert and not radioactive, so the high temperature helium gas can directly power turbines to generate electricity at 45 percent efficiency, compared to typical 33 percent efficiencies.

3. The 900 to 950 degree Celsius heat enables efficient thermo-chemical production of hydrogen and disassociation of water into hydrogen and oxygen. Although hydrogen per se is unlikely to be a fuel of the future, it is readily combined with recycled CO2 such as from coal power plants to create methanol. Methanol is a suitable fuel for internal combustion engines and fuel cells, and unlike hydrogen it can be distributed through the existing infrastructure of pipelines and gas stations used today for petroleum derived fuels, says Nobel-prize winning chemist George Olah in his 2006 book, “Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy.”

4. PBR’s are modular, costing about $200 million for a 100 megawatt unit. Utility companies can add modules as demand increases and investment capital becomes available, rather than risking a 2 billion expenditure for a 1,000 megawatt large power plant. The ROI will be in the 15-25 range, provided Congress provides a path through the legal gauntlets that discourage capital investment in nuclear power.

5. PBR’s can be built in factories, shipped by truck and rail, and assembled on site. This permits production line economies, strong quality controls, and continuing improvements.

6. China has a pilot PBR running. China has announced firm plans to build a full size 190 megawatt PBR which if successful will be expanded by 18 further modules creating a 3,600 megawatt power station in Rongcheng, China. South Africa is also building a PBR which they hope to have operational by 2012.

7. The U.S. is funding some basic research on Generation IV reactors, e.g. PBR’s at Idaho National Laboratories, but no funds have been appropriated to build a pilot plant, although the 2005 Energy Policy Act authorizes $1.25 billion for this.

I'll treat these topics in depth in future posts.