[ RadSafe ] Chinese fast reactor starts supplying electricity 21July 11

Wed Jul 27 12:38:46 CDT 2011

I was a MARFette, the rodless wonder, back in 83/84.

Don't we still have the sodium reactor at Hanford?  I know it's been shut down forever, but did they disassemble the unit?

DeWayne Holcomb

-----Original Message-----
From: Dixon, John E. (CDC/ONDIEH/NCEH) [mailto:gyf7 at cdc.gov] 
Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 3:16 PM
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Chinese fast reactor starts supplying electricity 21July 11

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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