Errymath: molten salt reactors

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   <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MoltenSaltReactor?src=hash"><b>Molten Salt Reactor</b></a> <br />
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<b>Beijing <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2122977/china-hopes-cold-war-nuclear-energy-tech-will-power-warships" target="_blank">pumping billions</a> into the development of ‘molten salt’ reactors,
 amid revived interest among nations in the potentially safer and more 
powerful technology.</b><br />
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China is to spend 22 billion yuan (US$3.3 billion) trying to perfect a 
form of technology largely discarded in the cold war which could produce
 a safer but more powerful form of nuclear energy.<br />
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The cash is to develop two “molten salt” reactors in the Gobi Desert in northern China.
Researchers hope that if they can solve a number
 of technical problems the reactors will lead to a range of 
applications, including nuclear-powered warships and drones.
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The technology, in theory, can create more heat 
and power than existing forms of nuclear reactors that use uranium, 
while producing only one thousandth of the radioactive waste.</div>
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It also has the advantage for China of using 
thorium as its main fuel. China has some of the world’s largest reserves
 of the metal.</div>
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China is not alone in trying to revive the 
technology because of the potential benefits. Companies in the United 
States are working in the field, while Japan, Russia and France have all
 expressed renewed interest in the technology.</div>
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The Chinese project has been funded by the 
central government and the two reactors are to be built at Wuwei in 
Gansu province, according to a statement on the website of the Chinese 
Academy of Sciences. The lead scientist on the project is Jiang Mianheng
 – the son of the former Chinese president Jiang Zemin – and it is hoped
 the reactors will be up and running by 2020.</div>
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The US air force built a 2.5-megawatt molten 
salt reactor in the 1950s as part of a programme to develop 
nuclear-powered aircraft engines.</div>
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The reactors use molten salt rather than water 
as a coolant, allowing them to create temperatures of over 800 degrees 
Celsius, nearly three times the heat produced by a commercial nuclear 
plant fuelled with uranium. The superhot air had the potential to drive 
turbines and jet engines and in theory keep a bomber flying at 
supersonic speed for days.</div>
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The US project was shelved in the 1970s. 
Problems were encountered trying to reduce the size and weight of the 
reactor, and there were public concerns over the safety of the 
technology when placed in an aircraft.</div>
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Another problem was the erosion to pipes and the reactor chamber caused by the hot salt used in the fission process.</div>
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Yan Long, a researcher involved in the Chinese 
project at the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, said the Gansu 
facility might eventually help China develop a thorium-powered warship 
or aircraft.</div>
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He said it was now possible to build a very 
small molten salt reactor and that after years of research and 
government funding, scientists had developed special alloy and coating 
materials to prevent chemical corrosion.</div>
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The reactors in Gansu were designed to demonstrate the feasibility of the technology, he said.</div>
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<span class="image-caption-container image-caption-container-none" style="clear: none; display: inline-block; float: none; width: 660px;"><img class="caption lazyload-processed magic-processed loaded" data-ignore="true" data-original="https://cdn1.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2017/12/05/4e5468d6-d997-11e7-91af-f34de211f924_1320x770_221025.JPG" data-resolution="2" src="https://cdn1.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2017/12/05/4e5468d6-d997-11e7-91af-f34de211f924_1320x770_221025.JPG" style="height: 385px; width: 660px;" title="The Convair NB-36H Peacemaker experimental aircraft was part of the US’s Nuclear Aircraft Programme in the 1950s. Photo: Wikimedia Commons" /><span class="image-caption hover-processed" style="display: block;"></span></span></div>
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<span class="image-caption-container image-caption-container-none" style="clear: none; display: inline-block; float: none; width: 660px;"><span class="image-caption hover-processed active" style="display: block;">The
 Convair NB-36H Peacemaker experimental aircraft was part of the US’s 
Nuclear Aircraft Programme in the 1950s. Photo: Wikimedia Commons</span></span><br />
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The research facility in Gansu will be built by a lake with high salt levels, according to the project blueprints.</div>
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Both reactors will be underground and the heat 
they generate will reach 12 megawatts. The heat will be channelled to a 
power generation plant, several factories and a desalination plant by 
the lake to produce electricity, hydrogen, industrial chemicals, 
drinking water and minerals.</div>
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After the experiment, China may move on to commercial or military use of the technology on a larger scale, Yan said.</div>
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“We are now developing new materials for 
warships. The materials must come with relatively low cost for mass 
production and they must be compact and light, otherwise the reactor 
won’t fit in a ship,” he said.</div>
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Chen Fu, a thermal physicist at the Harbin 
Institute of Technology involved in the development of new power 
generation systems for China’s navy, said the heat generated by a 
thorium molten salt reactor could be perfect to help generate power on a
 warship.</div>
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“It should be able to generate enough electricity for propulsion and electric equipment on an aircraft carrier,” he said.</div>
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Chen said the higher the temperature, the higher
 the power generation efficiency – a thorium-powered carrier could 
operate faster and longer than existing carriers using uranium as fuel.</div>
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“But the ship will need a very different 
structure to accommodate the new power source. It will be a difficult 
and tricky job because the rest of the ship must be strengthened to 
handle the increased power,” he said.</div>
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<span class="image-caption-container image-caption-container-none" style="clear: none; display: inline-block; float: none; width: 486px;"><img class="caption lazyload-processed magic-processed loaded" data-ignore="true" data-original="https://cdn2.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2017/12/05/8543a040-d9a2-11e7-91af-f34de211f924_972x_221025.JPG" data-resolution="2" height="640" src="https://cdn2.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2017/12/05/8543a040-d9a2-11e7-91af-f34de211f924_972x_221025.JPG" title="An artist’s impression of the proposed facility. Photo: Handout" width="615" /><span class="image-caption hover-processed" style="display: block;"></span></span></div>
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Artist <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2122977/china-hopes-cold-war-nuclear-energy-tech-will-power-warships" target="_blank">impression</a> of the molten salt reactor.</div>
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A military drone researcher in Beijing said a 
molten salt reactor could be used on a new generation of large, 
endurance drones operating at very high altitudes because it could be 
made very small and its operation did not require water.</div>
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“These drones would stay aloft over the oceans 
such as the Pacific. They would serve as a platform for surveillance, 
communication or weapon delivery to deter nuclear and other threats from
 hostile countries,” said the researcher, who asked not to be named.</div>
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“A nuclear-powered drone may be technically more
 feasible than manned aircraft because it does not require building a 
cockpit with lead to protect the human crew from radiation. It will also
 have more public acceptance. If an accident happens, it crashes into 
the sea,” the person said.</div>
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Yan said, however, that the aircraft research 
project still faced many challenges. To mount a reactor on an aircraft 
would require ultralight, super-strong materials which were still under 
development in the laboratory.</div>
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“This is where the Americans have failed,” he said.</div>
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Beijing pumping billions into the development of ‘molten salt’ reactors

Molten Salt Reactor Beijing pumping billions into the development of ‘molten salt’ reactors, amid revived interest among nations...

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Beijing pumping billions into the development of ‘molten salt’ reactors

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