Design the traveling wave reactor design also operates at atmospheric pressure, which removes the possibility of a pressurerelated destabilizing event. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. This reactor does not implement a slow traveling solitonlike wave of neutronnuclear burning mode. A private company called terrapower which is funded by bill gates among others has supposedly completed a design and is looking to actually build the first reactor. At ted 2010, bill gates spoke of a new project that could be a game changer in energy production.
If you want to convert a html file to pdf, if you use a webpage or rely on database publishing there is a way to turn even complex html into pdf. Apr 09, 2010 has anyone here ever heard of a terrapower reactor or traveling wave reactor. Terrapower is working on both a traveling wave reactor, which could use depleted uranium as fuel, and a molten chloride fast reactor that could. May 19, 2014 this animation shows how our traveling wave reactor design works.
It is expected that the present code could be used for the design and safety analysis of travelling wave reactor to be developed in china. Nuclear experts head to china to test experimental reactors. Once started, a steadystate wave of power propagates through the reactor core. Traveling wave reactor wikipedia republished wiki 2. But six years after it was founded, terrapower has not yet produced a. These reactors reach sustainability levels attainable by typical fast reactors, but do so without requiring the reprocessing plants that were the main concern when politicians effectively abandoned the us fast reactor. Abstractthe traveling wave reactor twr is a oncethrough reactor that uses in situ breeding to greatly reduce the need for enrichment and reprocessing. The traveling wave reactor design also operates at atmospheric pressure, which removes the possibility of a pressurerelated destabilizing event. Travelingwave reactor we need them badly physics forums. Convert html to pdf, html to pdf converter pdfreactor. Some of the new designs, including terrapowers traveling wave unit, are breeder reactors that produce more atomic fuel than they consume, reducing. Going to completely reinvent our energy grid over the next 50 years and if you want to take advantage of that and be a part of it have a career and a future in it it all starts with your education and lemare it is a smart way to do college instead. Twrs take advantage of a breedandburn process by which fissile material is bred in situ from natural or depleted uranium du to sustain power operations for decades without enrichment or reprocessing.
Jul 27, 2011 advanced reactor gets closer to reality. It is a sodiumcooled fast reactor design in which neutrons are not slowed down and the heat created by fission is carried away by liquid sodium, which is used to boil water. Terrapowers future nuclear plant could be powered by a traveling wave reactor or a molten salt reactor. On the basis of the condition for nuclear burning wave existence in the neutron multiplying media upu and thu cycles we show the. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website.
However, limitations on both computational capabilities and fuel assembly structural materials prevented. Nrc said to invite terrapowers nathan myhrvold to speak. A travelingwave reactor twr is a proposed type of nuclear fission reactor that can convert fertile material into usable fuel through nuclear transmutation. The design is based on the elements of sodium cooled, fast reactor technology. A 30person company, terrapower llc, at bellevue, washington, with bill gates, microsofts founder, as a chairperson, proposes a conceptual design of a reactor that would use spent fuel from light water reactors, lwrs and depleted uranium. Traveling wave reactor traveling wave reactor \u00a9m.
The concept of a reactor that could breed its own fuel inside the reactor core was initially proposed and studied in 1958 by savely moiseevich feinberg, who called it a breedandburn reactor. The waves that breed and deeply burn fissile nuclides insitu travel relative to. The more complete burnup of the fuel rod meant less waste would be produced as fewer rods were needed, and the decadeslong fuel cycle meant far fewer. Dec 04, 20 terrapowers traveling wave reactor twr incorporates inherent safety features and reduces the risk for proliferation in the nuclear energy supply chain. On some fundamental peculiarities of the traveling wave reactor. Travelingwave reactor twr technology, being developed by terrapower, llc, represents a potential solution to these limitations by offering a nuclear energy resource which is truly sustainable at full global scale for the indefinite future and is deployable in the nearterm. The ultimate advantages of the twr are realized when the reload fuel is depleted uranium, where after the startup period, no enrichment facilities. Creep rupture analysis of candidate steels for the traveling. It helps that the reactor is the product of a team of top scientists backed by the deep pockets of microsoft founder bill gates.
Travelingwave fault locating schweitzer engineering. The traveling wave reactor twr is a proposed reactor design that belongs to a set known as generation iv designs that are different in a number of respects than the current commercial designs which use water to cool the reactor and slow down. Doeid nepa cx determination idaho national laboratory. The traveling wave reactor twr is a oncethrough reactor that uses in situ breeding to greatly reduce the need for enrichment and reprocessing. His fission company, terrapower, alters its traveling wave reactor, explores thorium, liquid fuel and alternative designs. Physical fundamentals of traveling wave reactor are considered.
The most recent commercial demonstration reactors belong in the latter category. The most practical embodiments of the twr involve moving the fuel while keeping the nuclear reactions in one place. The travelling wave reactor system analysis code currently for the thermalhydraulic analysis of primary heat transport system was finished. The sel411l and selt400l relays can record traveling wave data in order to provide a highly accurate fault location. The advanced fuel qualification methodology report will be developed for metallic fuel in a sodium fast reactor sfr environment. This technology has been well researched and tested as a viable example. The traveling wave nuclear reactor does not solve all of these problems completely. Travelingwave reactors only need one batch of matches before they can run on wax depleted uranium for a very long time. On the basis of the condition for nuclear burning wave existence in the neutronmultiplying media upu and thu cycles we show the. Our vision is to be a world leader in new nuclear technologies that bring the world sustainable, affordable, and safe energy and create high benefit products. In a wave that moves through the core at only a centimeter per year, this. Bill gates stops chasing nuclear wave, pursues variety of reactors. Unlike todays reactors, a traveling wave reactor requires very little enriched uranium, reducing the risk of weapons proliferation.
The traveling wave reactor design is an ingenuitive piece of engineering that compartmentalizes many of the reactors functions to make the reactor more efficient and safer. Twrs differ from other kinds of fastneutron and breeder reactors in their ability to use fuel efficiently without uranium enrichment or reprocessing, instead directly using depleted uranium, natural. Gates invested in terrapower in 2011 with the hope of helping to prove the companys core concept. And while government researchers intermittently bring out new reactor designs, the travelingwave reactor is noteworthy for having come from something that barely exists in the nuclear industry. Some of the fastspectrum neutrons produced by fission are absorbed by neutron capture in adjacent fertile fuel i. The traveling reactor the potential to approach the ideal system burning will propagate through fertile indefinitely defthrough core pu239 the wave fissions the bred pu239 as well as some of the u238 directly wast e a viable fuel sufficient for tens of thousands of. Introduction the concept of a breedandburn reactor was envisioned many years ago as a potential alternative to the traditional breeder reactor design which relies on reprocessing of the nuclear fuel feinberg, 1958. Today the idea of a wavelike neutronnuclear burning is almost undisputed. Bill gates on the wrong path with travelling wave reactors. Feb 27, 2010 could the traveling wave reaction be adapted as a particlebed reactor design, to allow it to serve the higher power demands and variable power demands of aerospace propulsion applications. Travelingwave reactor we need them badly what is the fuel pu239. Bill gatess experimental nuclear power plant halts.
There is no evidence that the traveling wave reactor will overcome any of these. Terrapower, a startup funded in part by nathan myhrvold and bill gates, is moving closer to building a new type of nuclear reactor called a traveling wave reactor that runs on an abundant form of. The traveling wave reactor, twr constitutes a reformulation of the liquid metal fast reactor, lmfbr and the coupled cores concepts and a reformulation of battery reactors based on naval propulsion reactors designs. When there is a termination of a line, the effect of traveling waves is most. For example, could it be used to power a launch vehicle for the 20minutes it might take to get to orbit. Candle traveling wave reactor engine is kerbal concept of traveling. I hope at least one of the main competitors to the 4th gen race will produce some commercial reactors in the next years, i heard about also elysium,transatom. On the basis of conditions for existence of nuclear burning wave in neutronmultiplicating media upu and thu cycles we show the possibility of surmounting. The traveling wave reactor, first conceived in 1958, has been intensively investigated only since about 2006. One of the key material properties required to predict material damage and remaining lifetime of key in reactor components is the thermal creep rupture time.
This combination creates a rugged, light weight device suitable for any military airborne or groundbased platform. Traveling wave reactors were first proposed in the 1950s and have been studied intermittently. Our conventional traveling wave tubes are of metalceramic construction for severe environmental conditions and utilize rare earth periodic permanent magnets for powerfree focusing. The reactor uses depleteduranium fuel packed inside hundreds of hexagonal pillars shown in black and green.
Traveling wave reactors twrs are advanced nuclear reactors that are capable of eventually running forever given only depleted uranium fuel. After years in a status closer to science fiction than reality, the traveling wave nuclear reactor is emerging as a potential game changer, according to a u. But these reactors arent fully operational just yet. Sodiumcooled fast reactors have a checkered history. Oct 21, 2015 terrapower quietly explores new nuclear reactor strategy the startup is exploring a molten chloride reactor concept, but says it remains committed to traveling wave reactors. George is is a nuclear reactor physicist, part of the team that developed the integral fast reactor. Advanced reactor gets closer to reality mit technology. Twrs differ from other kinds of fastneutron and breeder reactors in their ability to use fuel efficiently without uranium enrichment or reprocessing, instead directly using depleted uranium.
Terrapower is a nuclear reactor design company headquartered in bellevue, washington, united states. Some have operated well, while others have done poorly. Breeding converts incoming subcritical reload fuel. Breeding converts incoming subcritical reload fuel into new critical fuel, allowing a breedburn wave to propagate. It is this traveling wave characteristic of transients that lead to reflections and refractions on the system. This kind of reactor doesnt require enriched fuels, so it avoids proliferation problems and can even consume some depleted uranium waste as fuel. Terrapowers traveling wave reactor twr incorporates inherent safety features and reduces the risk for proliferation in the nuclear energy supply chain. Terrapower has developed sophisticated computational analysis tools to support the design and fabrication of high temperature components to be used in the traveling wave reactor twr. As to the issue of generating nuclear waste, the traveling wave nuclear reactor actually utilizes for its fuel the waste thats generated by these first and second generation nuclear reactors. The molten chloride fast reactor meets terrapowers vision for advanced nuclear power.
In this article we demonstrate the use of 2450mhz microwave traveling wave reactor to heat the catalyst bed for thermocatalytic upgrading of pyrolysis vapors. The basic design of the fast uraniumplutonium nuclear travelingwave reactor with a soft ened neutron spectrum is developed, which solves. A wave reactor on fast neutrons in selfregulating neutronnuclear mode of the second kind is known. Dec 01, 2011 the traveling wave reactor is a liquidmetalcooled, fastneutron breeder reactor, with many of the same advantages and disadvantages as other fast breeder reactors. Terrapower is developing a class of nuclear fast reactors called the traveling wave reactor twr. Bill gates terrapower project and the traveling wave. As it runs, the core in a traveling wave reactor gradually converts nonfissile material into the fuel it needs. What are competitions and alternatives to terrapower.
Sep 22, 2010 comments on terrapowers travelling wave reactor printable pdf version here by dr george s. Sep 21, 2017 nuclear experts head to china to test experimental reactors by. Unlike todays reactors, a travelingwave reactor requires very little enriched uranium, reducing the risk of weapons proliferation. A twr is a class of reactor that is uniquely designed to operate indefinitely. A reactor that burns depleted fuel emerges as a potential. The wave doesnt actually move at all, but this is the easiest way. A travelingwave reactor twr is a proposed type of nuclear fission reactor that can convert fertile material into usable fuel through nuclear transmutation, in tandem with the burnup of fissile material.
The traveling wave reaction will then slowly convert the depleted uranium to plutonium and consume this new fuel. From the principle of fourier analysis, an anharmonic traveling wave can be decomposed into a sum of traveling harmonic wave components, i. A traveling wave reactor twr is a type of nuclear fission reactor that can convert fertile material into usable fuel through nuclear transmutation, in tandem with the burnup of fissile material. With pdfreactor you count on a powerful html to pdf converter software. The twr concept places a small core of enriched fuel in the center of a much larger mass of nonfissile material, in this case depleted uranium. These reflections of the wave at points on the system where the system characteristics change are the most significant reason for transients above 1pu. Cahalan, sassys manual, anlfra19963, volume 1, august 1996. Contribute to sswelmksp interstellarextended development by creating an account on github.
The traveling wave that the reactors name references moves through the units core at a rate of only one centimeter per year. He is now retired from argonne national laboratory after a career. The wide range of functions exceed most converter tools and bring your pdf converting to the next level. Preliminary development of system analysis code for traveling.
The traveling wave reactor twr is a proposed reactor design that. A comparison of advanced nuclear technologies 2 center on global energy policy columbia sipa acknowledgments the author wishes to thank nicola deblasio, richard nephew, phil sharp, sue tierny, matt robinson, tim frazier. Terrapowers travelling wave reactor why not use an ifr. Terrapower is a technology company headquartered in washington, united states that does research on traveling wave reactors twrs. U238 for aerospace propulsion traveling wave reactor. The basic design of the fast uraniumplutonium nuclear travelingwave reactor with a soft ened neutron spectrum is developed, which solves the problem of the radiation resistance of the fuel claddings material. It will be capable of utilizing fuel made from depleted uranium a waste byproduct of the uranium enrichment process allowing it to gradually convert the fuel through a nuclear reaction without. First it was presented in papers 5,6 and its advanced implementation was patented in 14. The traveling wave reactor twr is a proposed reactor design that belongs to a set known as generation iv designs that are different in a number of respects than the current commercial designs which use water to cool the reactor and slow down moderate the neutrons that sustain the chain reaction. Bill gates stops chasing nuclear wave, pursues variety. Terrapower quietly explores new nuclear reactor strategy.
Traveling wave reactor twr technology, being developed by terrapower, llc, represents a potential solution to these limitations by offering a nuclear energy resource which is truly sustainable at full global scale for the indefinite future and is deployable in the nearterm. We show that the condition of existence of nuclear burning solitonlike wave in a neutronmultiplying medium is determined in general by two conditions. Nov 17, 2010 the traveling wave that the reactor s name references moves through the units core at a rate of only one centimeter per year. The reactor is fueled primarily by depleted uranium, but requires a small amount of enriched uranium or other fissile fuel to initiate fission. As a function of time, the latest design represents a standing wave or a soliton, rather than a traveling wave. Energy equivalent of 1 pound of the above 2,000,000 lbs of coal wastecomparatively miniscule currently we have 104 nuclear reactors in operation in the us, which generate about 20% of our electricity. Traveling wave reactor and condition of existence of nuclear. On some essential peculiarities of the traveling wave reactor. It will greatly simplify the current nuclear fuel cycle, reducing the need for uranium mining and spent fuel storage facilities. The most recent commercial demonstration reactors belong.
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