Generation IV Reactor: Overcoming the shortcomings of current nuclear power installations

By Fouad Sabry

What Is Generation IV Reactor

The Generation IV International Forum is doing research on the commercial viability of a number of different nuclear reactor designs that fall under the umbrella term "generation IV reactors."They are driven by many different purposes, some of which include increased safety, enhanced sustainability, increased efficiency, and reduced costs.

How You Will Benefit

(I) Insights, and validations about the following topics:

Chapter 1: Generation IV reactor

Chapter 2: Nuclear reactor

Chapter 3: Breeder reactor

Chapter 4: Fast-neutron reactor

Chapter 5: Integral fast reactor

Chapter 6: Molten salt reactor

Chapter 7: Nuclear fuel

Chapter 8: Supercritical water reactor

Chapter 9: High-temperature gas reactor

Chapter 10: Lead-cooled fast reactor

Chapter 11: Sodium-cooled fast reactor

Chapter 12: Thorium fuel cycle

Chapter 13: Liquid metal cooled reactor

Chapter 14: Online refuelling

Chapter 15: Liquid fluoride thorium reactor

Chapter 16: Traveling wave reactor

Chapter 17: List of small modular reactor designs

Chapter 18: TerraPower

Chapter 19: BN-1200 reactor

Chapter 20: Integral Molten Salt Reactor

Chapter 21: BREST (reactor)

(II) Answering the public top questions about generation iv reactor.

(III) Real world examples for the usage of generation iv reactor in many fields.

(IV) 17 appendices to explain, briefly, 266 emerging technologies in each industry to have 360-degree full understanding of generation iv reactor' technologies.

Who This Book Is For

Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of generation iv reactor.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
• Release date: Oct 13, 2022

Book preview

Copyright

Generation IV Reactor Copyright © 2022 by Fouad Sabry. All Rights Reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

Cover designed by Fouad Sabry.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Bonus

You can send an email to [e-mail] with the subject line Generation IV Reactor: Overcoming the shortcomings of current nuclear power installations, and you will receive an email which contains the first few chapters of this book.

Fouad Sabry

Visit 1BK website at

www.1BKOfficial.org

Preface

Why did I write this book?

The story of writing this book started on 1989, when I was a student in the Secondary School of Advanced Students.

It is remarkably like the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Schools, which are now available in many advanced countries.

STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering, and mathematics — in an interdisciplinary and applied approach. This term is typically used to address an education policy or a curriculum choice in schools. It has implications for workforce development, national security concerns and immigration policy.

There was a weekly class in the library, where each student is free to choose any book and read for 1 hour. The objective of the class is to encourage the students to read subjects other than the educational curriculum.

In the library, while I was looking at the books on the shelves, I noticed huge books, total of 5,000 pages in 5 parts. The books name is The Encyclopedia of Technology, which describes everything around us, from absolute zero to semiconductors, almost every technology, at that time, was explained with colorful illustrations and simple words. I started to read the encyclopedia, and of course, I was not able to finish it in the 1-hour weekly class.

So, I convinced my father to buy the encyclopedia. My father bought all the technology tools for me in the beginning of my life, the first computer and the first technology encyclopedia, and both have a great impact on myself and my career.

I have finished the entire encyclopedia in the same summer vacation of this year, and then I started to see how the universe works and to how to apply that knowledge to everyday problems.

My passion to the technology started mor than 30 years ago and still the journey goes on.

This book is part of The Encyclopedia of Emerging Technologies which is my attempt to give the readers the same amazing experience I had when I was in high school, but instead of 20th century technologies, I am more interested in the 21st century emerging technologies, applications, and industry solutions.

The Encyclopedia of Emerging Technologies will consist of 365 books, each book will be focused on one single emerging technology. You can read the list of emerging technologies and their categorization by industry in the part of Coming Soon, at the end of the book.

365 books to give the readers the chance to increase their knowledge on one single emerging technology every day within the course of one year period.

Introduction

How did I write this book?

In every book of The Encyclopedia of Emerging Technologies, I am trying to get instant, raw search insights, direct from the minds of the people, trying to answer their questions about the emerging technology.

There are 3 billion Google searches every day, and 20% of those have never been seen before. They are like a direct line to the people thoughts.

Sometimes that’s ‘How do I remove paper jam’. Other times, it is the wrenching fears and secret hankerings they would only ever dare share with Google.

In my pursuit to discover an untapped goldmine of content ideas about Generation IV Reactor, I use many tools to listen into autocomplete data from search engines like Google, then quickly cranks out every useful phrase and question, the people are asking around the keyword Generation IV Reactor.

It is a goldmine of people insight, I can use to create fresh, ultra-useful content, products, and services. The kind people, like you, really want.

People searches are the most important dataset ever collected on the human psyche. Therefore, this book is a live product, and constantly updated by more and more answers for new questions about Generation IV Reactor, asked by people, just like you and me, wondering about this new emerging technology and would like to know more about it.

The approach for writing this book is to get a deeper level of understanding of how people search around Generation IV Reactor, revealing questions and queries which I would not necessarily think off the top of my head, and answering these questions in super easy and digestible words, and to navigate the book around in a straightforward way.

So, when it comes to writing this book, I have ensured that it is as optimized and targeted as possible. This book purpose is helping the people to further understand and grow their knowledge about Generation IV Reactor. I am trying to answer people’s questions as closely as possible and showing a lot more.

It is a fantastic, and beautiful way to explore questions and problems that the people have and answer them directly, and add insight, validation, and creativity to the content of the book – even pitches and proposals. The book uncovers rich, less crowded, and sometimes surprising areas of research demand I would not otherwise reach. There is no doubt that, it is expected to increase the knowledge of the potential readers’ minds, after reading the book using this approach.

I have applied a unique approach to make the content of this book always fresh. This approach depends on listening to the people minds, by using the search listening tools. This approach helped me to:

Meet the readers exactly where they are, so I can create relevant content that strikes a chord and drives more understanding to the topic.

Keep my finger firmly on the pulse, so I can get updates when people talk about this emerging technology in new ways, and monitor trends over time.

Uncover hidden treasures of questions need answers about the emerging technology to discover unexpected insights and hidden niches that boost the relevancy of the content and give it a winning edge.

The building block for writing this book include the following:

(1) I have stopped wasting the time on gutfeel and guesswork about the content wanted by the readers, filled the book content with what the people need and said goodbye to the endless content ideas based on speculations.

(2) I have made solid decisions, and taken fewer risks, to get front row seats to what people want to read and want to know — in real time — and use search data to make bold decisions, about which topics to include and which topics to exclude.

(3) I have streamlined my content production to identify content ideas without manually having to sift through individual opinions to save days and even weeks of time.

It is wonderful to help the people to increase their knowledge in a straightforward way by just answering their questions.

I think the approach of writing of this book is unique as it collates, and tracks the important questions being asked by the readers on search engines.

Acknowledgments

Writing a book is harder than I thought and more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. None of this would have been possible without the work completed by prestigious researchers, and I would like to acknowledge their efforts to increase the knowledge of the public about this emerging technology.

Dedication

To the enlightened, the ones who see things differently, and want the world to be better -- they are not fond of the status quo or the existing state. You can disagree with them too much, and you can argue with them even more, but you cannot ignore them, and you cannot underestimate them, because they always change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones or amateur, others see genius and innovators, because the ones who are enlightened enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do, and lead the people to the enlightenment.

Epigraph

The Generation IV International Forum is doing research on the commercial viability of a number of different nuclear reactor designs that fall under the umbrella term generation IV reactors.They are driven by many different purposes, some of which include increased safety, enhanced sustainability, increased efficiency, and reduced costs.

Table of Contents

Copyright

Bonus

Preface

Introduction

Acknowledgments

Dedication

Epigraph

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Generation IV reactor

Chapter 2: Nuclear reactor

Chapter 3: Breeder reactor

Chapter 4: Fast-neutron reactor

Chapter 5: Integral fast reactor

Chapter 6: Molten salt reactor

Chapter 7: Nuclear fuel

Chapter 8: Bhabha Atomic Research Centre

Chapter 9: Supercritical water reactor

Chapter 10: High-temperature gas reactor

Chapter 11: Gas-cooled fast reactor

Chapter 12: Lead-cooled fast reactor

Chapter 13: Sodium-cooled fast reactor

Chapter 14: Thorium fuel cycle

Chapter 15: Liquid fluoride thorium reactor

Chapter 16: Traveling wave reactor

Chapter 17: List of small modular reactor designs

Chapter 18: TerraPower

Chapter 19: Thorium-based nuclear power

Chapter 20: Integral Molten Salt Reactor

Chapter 21: BREST (reactor)

Epilogue

About the Author

Coming Soon

Appendices: Emerging Technologies in Each Industry

Chapter 1: Generation IV reactor

Generation IV reactors, often known as Gen IV reactors, are a series of nuclear reactor designs that are presently being explored by the Generation IV International Forum for potential uses in the commercial sector. They are driven by many different purposes, some of which include increased safety, enhanced sustainability, increased efficiency, and reduced costs.

The sodium fast reactor, which is the most developed design for a Gen IV reactor, has gotten the highest share of financing over the years. There are a number of demonstration facilities functioning, in addition to two commercial reactors, both of which are located in Russia. Since 1981, at least one of these has been running successfully as a business. The creation of an environmentally friendly and self-sustaining closed fuel cycle for the reactor is the most important component of the Gen IV architecture. Of the six different types, the one with the potential to have the highest intrinsic safety is the molten-salt reactor, which is an older and less established piece of technology.

As of this point in time, the vast majority of the reactors that are still operational around the world are considered to be systems of the second generation of reactors. This is due to the fact that the majority of the systems from the first generation were decommissioned quite some time ago, and as of the year 2021, there are only a few Generation III reactors that are still operational. Generation V reactors are referred to as reactors that are completely theoretical at this point and are not thus regarded realistic in the medium future. As a consequence, research and development funding is restricted for these types of reactors.

The United States Office of Nuclear Energy was the driving force behind the establishment of the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) in January of 2000.

Department of Energy’s (DOE)

The GIF Forum presented individualized timetables for each of the six distinct systems. The process of research and development may be broken down into three stages:

viability: Testing the fundamental ideas under relevant situations; locating and fixing any possible technological show-stoppers; viability:

verification and optimization of engineering-scale processes, phenomena, and material capabilities under prototype circumstances are required for performance.

demonstration: Complete and get a license for the detailed design, as well as carry out building and operation of the prototype or demonstration system, with the ultimate goal of bringing it to the level of commercial deployment.

Initially, a wide variety of reactor designs were taken into consideration; however, the pool of candidates was narrowed down to include only the most promising technologies and those that had the best chance of accomplishing the objectives of the Gen IV effort. Three of the systems are considered to be thermal reactors, while the other four are considered to be fast reactors. Research is also being done to determine whether or not the Very High Temperature Reactor, or VHTR, can possibly provide high quality process heat for the synthesis of hydrogen. The use of fast reactors has the option of breeding more fuel than they use and of burning actinides, which would further minimize the amount of waste produced by the process. Depending on one's point of view, these systems provide considerable advancements in terms of sustainability, safety and dependability, economies, proliferation resistance, and physical protection.

A nuclear reactor that employs thermal neutrons or slow neutrons is known as a thermal reactor. The neutrons that are released as a byproduct of fission are slowed down by a neutron moderator in order to increase the likelihood that the fuel will absorb them.

As a follow-up to the HTR-10, the Chinese government started work in 2012 on the building of a demonstration HTR-PM 200-MW high temperature pebble bed reactor.

A graphite-moderated core and a once-through uranium fuel cycle are at the heart of the very-high-temperature reactor (VHTR) design.

as a coolant, either helium or molten salt is used.

This reactor design envisions an outlet temperature of 1,000°C.

Both a prismatic-block and a pebble bed reactor architecture are viable options for the core of the reactor.

The high temperatures make it possible to carry out a variety of processes, including the creation of hydrogen and process heat via the thermochemical sulfur-iodine cycle.

In February of 2010, the South African pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR), which was going to be the world's first very high temperature reactor, was denied financing by the government. Potential investors and consumers have been put off because of a significant rise in prices as well as worries over the occurrence of unforeseen technical issues.

In 2012, as a part of the competition to develop the next generation of nuclear plants, the Idaho National Laboratory gave its approval to a design that is comparable to Areva's prismatic block Antares reactor, with the goal of deploying it as a prototype by the year 2021. The PBMR known as the Xe-100 will produce around 76 MWe and 200 MWt of thermal power. The typical Xe-100 four-pack plant is capable of producing roughly 300 MWe and may be constructed on as little as 13 acres of land. Every part of the Xe-100 will be able to be transported by road, and in order to expedite the building process, rather than constructing anything at the construction site, it will simply be assembled there.

The main coolant, or perhaps the fuel itself, in a molten salt reactor is a mixture of molten salts. This form of nuclear reactor is known as a molten salt reactor. There have been several proposals for the construction of this kind of reactor, and only a few prototypes have been constructed.

The basic idea of an MSR may be applied to other kinds of reactors, including thermal, epithermal, and fast reactors. Since 2005, an emphasis has been placed on developing a rapid spectrum MSR (MSFR).

Both thermal spectrum reactors (like the IMSR) and fast spectrum reactors are included in the designs of the most recent idea concepts (e.g. MCSFR).

The early notions of the thermal spectrum, as well as many of the ones used now, depend on nuclear fuel.

perhaps uranium tetrafluoride (UF4) or thorium tetrafluoride (ThF4), dissolved in molten fluoride salt.

The fluid would attain criticality by flowing into a core where graphite would act as a moderator. This would cause the fluid to reach criticality.

Several of today's theories are based on the use of fuel that is spread in a graphite matrix, with molten salt serving as the source of low pressure.

a cooling at a high temperature.

Because the average speed of the neutrons that would cause the fission events within its fuel is faster than that of thermal neutrons, these Gen IV MSR concepts are often more accurately termed an epithermal reactor rather than a thermal reactor. This is due to the fact that thermal neutrons are slower than epithermal neutrons.

Fast spectrum The graphite moderator is not included in any of the MSR idea designs (such as MCSFR). They attain criticality by ensuring that they have a enough quantity of salt with an adequate amount of fissile particles. Due to their rapid spectrum, they are able to consume a much greater quantity of fuel while producing only short-lived waste.

Molten salt technology has several variants, including the conceptual Dual fluid reactor, which is being designed with lead as a cooling medium but molten salt fuel, commonly as the metal chloride e.g. Plutonium(III) chloride, to assist in greater nuclear waste closed-fuel cycle capabilities. The majority of MSR designs currently being pursued are largely derived from the 1960s Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE). Other noteworthy approaches that differ significantly from MSRE include the concept of a Stable Salt Reactor (SSR), which is promoted by MOLTEX. This approach encases the molten salt in hundreds of the common solid fuel rods that are already well established in the nuclear industry. Other notable approaches include: In 2015, a consulting company located in the United Kingdom called Energy Process Construction determined that this later British design was the most competitive for the development of small modular reactors.

The prospect of the MSR functioning as a thermal spectrum nuclear waste-burner is yet another outstanding characteristic of this reactor. Only rapid spectrum reactors have traditionally been deemed feasible for the use or reduction of spent nuclear stocks. However, new research suggests that other types of reactors may also be effective. The thermal waste-burning process was made possible by adding a small amount of thorium to the spent nuclear fuel in place of a portion of the uranium. Without the nuclear proliferation worries and other technical challenges that are associated with fast reactors, the net production rate of transuranium elements (such as plutonium and americium, for example) is brought down to a level that is lower than the consumption rate. This results in a reduction in the magnitude of the nuclear storage problem.

The supercritical water reactor, also known as the SCWR, is a concept for a reduced moderation water reactor. However, because the average speed of the neutrons that would cause the fission events within the fuel is faster than that of thermal neutrons, it is more accurately referred to as an epithermal reactor rather than a thermal reactor. This is due to the fact that epithermal neutrons travel at a higher temperature than thermal neutrons. The working fluid is water that has been pushed to its supercritical state. SCWRs are essentially light water reactors (LWRs), but they are operated at greater pressures and temperatures and have a direct heat exchange cycle that only goes through it once. Since it uses supercritical water (not to be confused with critical mass) as the working fluid, it would have only one water phase present, which makes the supercritical heat exchange method more similar to a pressurized water reactor than it is to a boiling water reactor (BWR), which is how it is most commonly envisioned to operate. However, this is not the case for a boiling water reactor (BWR), which operates on a direct cycle (PWR). It would be able to function at temperatures that are far greater than those of either PWRs or BWRs now in use.

The thermal efficiency of supercritical water-cooled reactors (SCWRs) is around 45 percent, while the efficiency of contemporary light water reactors (LWRs) is approximately 33 percent. This high thermal efficiency makes SCWRs an attractive candidate for advanced nuclear systems.

The production of energy at a reduced cost is the primary objective of the SCWR. It is based on two technologies that have already been shown to be effective: light water reactors (LWRs), which are the power generating reactors that are utilized all over the world the most frequently, and superheated fossil fuel fired boilers, which are also utilized in a significant number of locations all over the globe. There are now 32 groups from 13 different nations looking into the SCWR idea.

As a result of the fact that they are water reactors, SCWRs are susceptible to the same dangers as BWRs and LWRs, including the release of radioactive steam and the possibility of a steam explosion, as well as the requirement for extremely expensive heavy-duty pressure vessels, pipes, valves, and pumps. Due to the fact that SCWRs operate at greater temperatures, these common issues are inherently more severe for these reactors.

The VVER-1700/393, also known as the VVER-SCWR or VVER-SKD, is a supercritical water-cooled reactor that is in the process of being designed in Russia. It has a breeding ratio of 0.95 and a double-inlet core.

Without any moderation, the fast neutrons that are produced by fission may be used immediately in a fast reactor. In contrast to thermal neutron reactors, fast neutron reactors can be programmed to burn, or fission, all actinides. If given enough time, this will result in a significant reduction of the actinides fraction in spent nuclear fuel produced by the current world fleet of thermal neutron light water reactors, thereby completing the nuclear fuel cycle. Alternately, they are also capable of producing more actinide fuel than they need if the configuration of their systems is altered.

The gas-cooled fast reactor (GFR) system is equipped with a closed fuel cycle and a fast-neutron spectrum, allowing for the effective conversion of fertile uranium as well as the management of actinides.

The reactor is helium-cooled and with an outlet temperature of 850 °C it is an evolution of the very-high-temperature reactor (VHTR) to a more sustainable fuel cycle.

The great thermal efficiency will be achieved by the use of a direct Brayton cycle gas turbine.

Several other fuel types are now being contemplated due to their ability to function at very high temperatures and to assure an exceptional retention of fission products. These fuel forms include: composite ceramic fuel, improved fuel particles, or components of actinide compounds that are encased in ceramic.

Core configurations that are based on pin- or plate-based fuel assemblies as well as prismatic blocks are now under consideration.

One of the three Generation IV reactor systems that received funding from the European Sustainable Nuclear Industrial Initiative is a gas-cooled fast reactor that will be called Allegro and will have a capacity of 100 MWt. This reactor is intended to be constructed in a country in central or eastern Europe.

The BN-600 and the BN-800 are Russia's two biggest commercial sodium-cooled fast reactors, and both of them are located in Russia (800 MW). The Superphenix reactor in France, which had an output of more than 1,200 megawatts of electricity and was successfully operational for a number of years until being deactivated in 1996, was the biggest reactor that had ever been placed into operation. In October of 1985, the Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR), which was located in India, achieved criticality. The FBTR's fuel burn up efficiency for the first time hit the mark of 100,000 megawatt-days per metric ton of uranium (MWd/MTU) in September of 2002. This is seen as a significant achievement in the history of breeder reactor technology in India. A sodium-cooled fast reactor with a capacity of 500 MWe is now being constructed at a cost of INR 5,677 crores (about $900 million). This construction is being done using the expertise obtained from the operation of the FBTR, the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor. Following a series of setbacks, the government said in March 2020 that it now anticipates the reactor will not be operational until December 2021 at the earliest. After the PFBR, there will be six further Commercial Fast Breeder Reactors (CFBRs), each with a capacity of 600 MWe.

The oxide-fueled fast breeder reactor and the metal-fueled integrated fast reactor are two concepts that are already in development for sodium-cooled fast breeder reactors. The Gen IV SFR is a project that expands on these two initiatives.

The objective is to reduce the requirement for any transuranic isotopes to ever leave the site in order to maximize the effectiveness of the use of uranium. This will be accomplished via the production of plutonium. An unmoderated core powered by fast neutrons is employed in the construction of the reactor. This configuration is intended to facilitate the consumption of any transuranic isotope (and in some cases used as fuel). The fuel for the SFR expands when the reactor gets too hot, which causes the chain reaction to automatically slow down. This is in addition to the advantages that come from eliminating long-half-life transuranics from the waste cycle. It is safe in a non-active sense in this way.

One design for an SFR reactor has it being cooled by liquid sodium and being fuelled by either a metallic alloy of uranium and plutonium or spent nuclear fuel, which is the nuclear waste produced by light water reactors. The SFR fuel is encased in steel cladding, and liquid sodium fills the space between the clad parts that comprise the fuel assembly. The fuel assembly is what makes up the SFR. An SFR has a number of obstacles in terms of its design, one of which being the dangers associated with handling sodium. Sodium has an explosive reaction when it comes into touch with water. However, rather of using water as the coolant, liquid metal is used instead. This enables the system to operate at atmospheric pressure, which in turn reduces the chance of leakage.

The European Sustainable Nuclear Industrial Initiative has provided funding for three Generation IV reactor systems. One of them was an advanced sodium technical reactor for industrial demonstrations (ASTRID), which is a sodium-cooled fast reactor.

There are several progenitors of the Gen IV SFR located all over the globe. One such progenitor is the 400 MWe Fast Flux Test Facility, which has been operating effectively at the Hanford site in Washington State for the last 10 years.

At the Idaho National Laboratory, the 20 MWe EBR II was in operation for nearly thirty years until it was shut down in 1994. During that time, it ran smoothly and effectively.

Argonne National Laboratory was responsible for the development of the technology that was used in the Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) between the years 1984 and 1994. GE Hitachi's PRISM reactor is an updated and commercialized use of that technology. Instead of producing fresh fuel, the major objective of the PRISM project is to recycle used nuclear fuel from existing reactors by combusting it. The concept, which was presented as an alternative to the traditional method of burying spent nuclear fuel and waste, shortens the half lives of the fissionable components that are present in spent nuclear fuel while simultaneously producing energy in a significant part as a by-product.

The lead-cooled fast reactor has a lead or lead/bismuth eutectic (LBE) liquid-metal-cooled reactor with a closed fuel cycle. This kind of reactor produces rapid neutron spectrum radiation.

Among the available choices are a variety of plant ratings, includes a battery that can store anywhere from 50 to 150 MW of power and has a very long time between refuelings, a modular system with output ratings between 300 and 400 MW, as well as a big monolithic plant option with a capacity of 1,200 MW (the name battery alludes to the long-lasting, core that was made at the plant, in contradiction with any provision for the electrochemical conversion of energy).

The fuel is composed of a metal or a nitride and includes both fertile uranium and transuranics.

The reactor is cooled by natural convection with a reactor outlet coolant temperature of 550 °C, possibly ranging up to 800 °C with advanced materials.

The greater temperature makes it possible for thermochemical reactions to produce hydrogen.

The European Sustainable Nuclear Industrial Initiative is providing funding for three different Generation IV reactor systems. One of these is a lead-cooled fast reactor that is also