Not too much detail and nothing around safety case or engagement with the regulator - seems odd that they plan to utilise a new unlicensed site too but who knows ??
Moxi
Re: South Wales to get new Micro Nuclear power plant
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2024 1:18 pm
by dan_b
20MW "micronuclear" - what are these, old reactors out of nuclear subs or something?!
Re: South Wales to get new Micro Nuclear power plant
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2024 1:27 pm
by Moxi
No Dan these are much much smaller approximately 23 times smaller in fact than a PWR used for submarines.
I'm thinking that they are probably some sort of pebble bed system, I haven't looked the company up yet to check but I recall in the early naughties there was talk of having micro pebble bed reactors in Japanese high rise buildings as the standalone heat and power supply those were around that sort of scale.
Moxi
Re: South Wales to get new Micro Nuclear power plant
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2024 1:46 pm
by GaryH
And the Welsh Government supports these pocket-nukes?
Re: South Wales to get new Micro Nuclear power plant
Re: South Wales to get new Micro Nuclear power plant
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2024 2:20 pm
by Moxi
Well its a PWR,
"The assembly of Last Energy’s PWR-20 plants has been likened to Lego as factory-built modules are designed to be put together swiftly onsite within two years"
Its surprisingly similar to the SL1 prototype reactor from the 1950's so actually I amend my earlier statement and say its smaller than modern sub reactors but really similar to the type you would have found in the engine compartment of Nautilus. I think - dont quote me - that there are several university reactors similar to this around America as well - they train the students to operate and maintain them and do some really impressive experiments to further scientific understanding.
SL1 was a bit unfortunate as there was an accident and the operators where all killed with one of them being pinned to the ceiling with a fuel rod through the chest - at least it would have been quick!
There are other channels that cover it but this one seems grounded in detail
Moxi
Re: South Wales to get new Micro Nuclear power plant
The design power was 3 MW (thermal), but some 4.7 MW tests had been performed in the months before the accident. Useful power output was 200 kW electrical and 400 kW for space heating. During the accident, the core power level reached nearly 20 GW within four milliseconds, causing the explosion.
