[ RadSafe ] Chinese fast reactor starts supplying electricity21July 11

Wed Jul 27 07:39:03 CDT 2011

Dear RADSAFErs,

I have always regarded RADSAFE as a very valuable source of information. (This is why I did not leave it even after very harsh attacks.)  Now again I am confirmed as to my opinion. Having been very interested in the development or reactors, though far from being an expert, I was never aware of the very widespread use of liquid sodium and other similar teutectics. Is there any summary available? 

But having been at an IAEA meeting on the Kasachstan Breeder Reactor a long time ago I have been involved in such questions like remediating this NPP and the problems associated with the Cs-137 contamination of the sodium loop. Not an easy question. 

Best regards,

Franz 

---- "Dixon schrieb:
> I was a student and a staff ELT instructor at the D1G NPTU prototype in Ballston Spa, NY back in the 1980's. The first core in this prototype was a sodium cooled reactor core. Perhaps there is someone out there who remembers working at that facility.
> 
> John Dixon
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Ted de Castro
> Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 1:21 PM
> To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Chinese fast reactor starts supplying electricity 21July 11
> 
> Yes - all that sodium submerged in the huge water environment doesn't 
> seem to make much sense - at least on first blush.
> 
> I encountered the SeaWolf as a shipyard RadCon HP and got to see them 
> cut her in half and add a 30 ft section.  An interesting experience of 
> seeing brute force applied with finesse.  Or course she was a PWR by 
> then - distinguished from the new plants in that you could traverse the 
> length of the ship by walking through a section above the reactor 
> compartment - between the CRDM's - called I am told - "Sherwood Forest".
> 
> On 7/26/2011 10:01 AM, Brennan, Mike (DOH) wrote:
> > My first Captain on the Daniel Webster had been a junior officer on the
> > Seawolf when she had the sodium plant (they later replaced it with a
> > pressurized water reactor).  He said that it was a fairly intense
> > experience.  One of the jokes was that the Auxiliary Primary Coolant
> > Leak Alarm was sonar reporting repeated explosions amidships.
> >
> > I can take rad in stride, but tons of molten sodium, surrounded by
> > water, would make me nervous.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
> > [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Ted de Castro
> > Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 9:52 AM
> > To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
> > Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Chinese fast reactor starts supplying
> > electricity 21July 11
> >
> > Not to mention that the USS Seawolf was originally a sodium plant.  I
> > think maybe one or two other US subs were as well (George Washington
> > maybe??) - but can only assuredly speak to the Seawolf.
> >
> > On 7/26/2011 8:43 AM, Brennan, Mike (DOH) wrote:
> >> The Russians, back in the Soviet days, did do some interesting things
> >> with liquid metal cooled reactors.  I remember when I read the real
> >> scoop about the lead-bismuth reactors on the Alpha class submarines.
> > As
> >> a former submariner I was impressed by both the imagination needed to
> >> see that as a solution to the power-density problem, and the
> >> bone-headedness of not seeing why this might not be a good idea.  I'm
> >> not sure which would worry me more: the possibility of a primary
> > coolant
> >> leak, which means I'm sharing my tube of air with an uncontrolled
> > stream
> >> of molten metal, or a reactor shutdown that lasts so long the metal in
> >> the reactor starts to solidify, which can leave you a long way from
> > home
> >> with very limited resources for getting back.
> >>
> >> Still, I wish the Chinese the best of luck with their new reactor.
> > The
> >> world-wide nuclear power community could use a little good news.
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
> >> [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Maury
> >> Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 4:45 AM
> >> To: Radsafe
> >> Subject: [ RadSafe ] Chinese fast reactor starts supplying electricity
> >> 21July 11
> >>
> >> Forwarded by
> >> Maury&Dog [MaurySiskel  maurysis at peoplepc.com]
> >> ===========================================
> >> WNN
> >> New Nuclear
> >> Chinese fast reactor starts supplying electricity
> >> 21 July 2011
> >>
> >> Exactly one year after achieving first criticality, China's
> > experimental
> >> fast neutron reactor has been connected to the electricity grid.
> >>
> >> At 10.00am today, the head of China National Nuclear Corporation
> > (CNNC),
> >> Sun Qin, declared to workers and officials gathered in the Chinese
> >> Experimental Fast Reactor's (CEFR's) control room that the unit had
> >> successfully achieved grid connection.
> >>
> >> The sodium-cooled, pool-type fast reactor has been constructed with
> > some
> >> Russian assistance at the China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIEA),
> > near
> >> Beijing, which undertakes fundamental research on nuclear science and
> >> technology. The reactor has a thermal capacity of 65 MW and can
> > produce
> >> 20 MW in electrical power. The CEFR was built by Russia's OKBM
> >> Afrikantov in collaboration with OKB Gidropress, NIKIET and Kurchatov
> >> Institute.
> >>
> >> Xu Mi, chief engineer at the CEFR program at CIEA, told Bloomberg that
> >> the unit was connected to the grid at 40% capacity. "The next step for
> >> us is to increase the generating capacity of the reactor to 100% while
> >> connected to the grid," he said. "After that, we can use the
> > technology
> >> to build our own commercial fast reactors."
> >>
> >> Beyond the pilot plant, China once planned a 600 MWe commercial scale
> >> version by 2020 and a 1500 MWe version in 2030 but these ambitious
> > ideas
> >> have been overtaken by the import of ready-developed Russian designs.
> > In
> >> October 2009, an agreement was signed by CIAE and China Nuclear Energy
> >> Industry Corporation (CNEIC) with AtomStroyExport to start pre-project
> >> and design works for a commercial nuclear power plant with two BN-800
> >> reactors with construction to start in August 2011, probably at a
> >> coastal site. The project is expected to lead to bilateral cooperation
> >> of fuel cycles for fast reactors, which promise to vastly extend the
> >> fuel value of uranium as well as reduce radioactive wastes.
> >>
> >> In April 2010, a joint venture company was established for the
> >> construction of China's first commercial-scale fast neutron reactor,
> >> near the inland city of Sanming in Fujian province. The joint venture
> > -
> >> Sanming Nuclear Power Co Ltd - was established by CNNC, Fujian
> >> Investment and Development Corp and the municipal government of
> > Sanming
> >> city. CNNC holds a majority stake in the venture.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Researched and written
> >>
> >> by World Nuclear News
> >>
> >>
> >>
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--
Franz Schoenhofer, PhD, MinRat
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Austria
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