Kansas Becomes Testing Ground for a Radical Nuclear Reactor Design
China Tightens Its Grip on Namibia's Next Energy Boom Governments and private companies continue… Haley Zaremba is an energy journalist and researcher with more than a decade of professional experience covering global energy systems, land and natural resources, and… An unconventional approach to nuclear energy production just got one step closer to reality.
A prototype reactor canister just arrived at its installation site in Kansas, where it will soon be part of a proof of concept for a first-of-its-kind underground small modular reactor system.
California-based startup Deep Fission believes that by burying a small nuclear reactor deep under the ground, they can make nuclear energy cheaper and safer at a time when round-the-clock carbon-free energy is needed more than ever before.
“The prototype has completed fabrication, hydrostatic testing, and delivery, allowing the company to move into the next phase of non-nuclear testing as it prepares for large-diameter drilling at the Kansas site,” Interesting Engineeringreports.
The proof-of-concept site is testing out a next-gen approach to nuclear energy that would place a modular reactor a mile underground, covered by pressurized water, which would help cool the system and maintain operating pressure.
This “gravity reactor” design eliminates the need for an external cooling system and the huge and expensive surface pressure vessels found in standard nuclear power plants.
Plus, the surrounding bedrock could offer a greater degree of safety for the system.
“The arrival of our prototype reactor canister at the Kansas site is a clear step forward in moving from design to deployed infrastructure,” Mark Pérès, Chief Nuclear Officer of Deep Fission, recently told Interesting Engineering.
“Successfully manufacturing, testing, and delivering this hardware demonstrates performance of our design and supply chain capabilities.” SetOilPrice.comas a preferred source in Googlehere.
Deep Fission claims that this design could slash operational costs byas much as 80 percentwhen compared to conventional nuclear fission reactors.
“By utilizing Earth’s natural geology, the design achieves several breakthroughs,” Interesting Engineering wrote in a Februaryreport.
“At a depth of one mile, a column of water naturally provides the 160 atmospheres of pressure required for the reactor to function, which eliminates the need for massive and expensive surface pressure vessels.” Deep Fission’s innovative design is part of a broader effort to reinvent nuclear energy in the United States and around the world.
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