discovered_01_2015 - Safety for Generation IV Reactors

RESEARCH// THE HZDR RESEARCH MAGAZINE WWW.HZDR.DE 24 25 Germany is phasing out nuclear energy, but elsewhere nations are just getting on board. Peaceful use of nuclear energy is an important carbon-neutral option to satisfy the voracious demand for energy, not just in highly developed European countries such as Finland, the UK or France. Large Asian countries like India or China also bank on nuclear power. While Germany’s nuclear power plants are exclusively 2nd generation light water reactors, Russia, France, Japan, India and China are planning Generation IV reactors. These facilities generate power with fast neutrons, using a coolant such as sodium. Experts are divided on this issue. While proponents emphasize that sodium-cooled reactors have an inherently high degree of passive safety, opponents claim that they are fundamentally dangerous and cannot be operated economically. The US- based ‘International Panel on Fissile Materials’ is among the critics. In a research report of February 2010, it stated: ‘The reliability of light-water reactors has increased to the point where, on average, they operate at about 80 percent of their generating capacity. By contrast, a large fraction of sodium- cooled demonstration reactors have been shut down most of the time that they should have been generating electric power.’ (see: http://fissilematerials. org/library/rr08.pdf, page 9) A catalyst for uranium ‘Fast neutrons’ means the energy range of particles needed for the chain reaction. In principle, nuclear power plants utilize the fact that neutrons can split atomic nuclei. In each fission reaction, more neutrons are released than were used. // In a current publication in the journal ‘Applied Energy‘, nuclear technology expert Bruno Merk explains how reactors can operate safely with fast neutrons. _TEXT . Christine Bohnet SAFETY FOR GENERATION IV REACTORS UPSTREAM: For over 30 years, the sodium-cooled fast reactor BN-600 has been generating power in the Russian town of Beloyarsk. Photo: Rosenergoatom

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