Mobile Nuclear Reactors Will Change Everything

there's a type of nuclear reactor that could completely revolutionize what we think about nuclear energy micro reactors and just like computers and phones that have shrunk down over the last few decades very small nuclear reactors open up a whole range of possibilities that we haven't even considered but what are microreactors and how can we use them and what do some of the most promising designs in the industry look like that'll blow you away well not literally so let's dive in on micro reactors and see why they might just be the next big thing picture this you're working in a remote mining Village up north in Alaska your miles from the next nearest town and there are bears roaming the streets you don't see the Sun for months and for weeks every year raging snowstorms mean you're completely locked in with nothing but your cup of hot cocoa the only thing keeping you and the other villagers alive is a rusty old diesel generator that relies on regular deliveries of fuel oil but because of the storm there's only a few days left before it runs out and the trucks can't come through and is everybody going to freeze to death well that's pretty Grim but that's where scientists say micro reactors are designed to fit in a new type of nuclear reactor made to work in completely remote places like this with fail-proof safety and they can provide electricity and heat for years before needing refueling you'd probably say yeah that sounds great give me one of those smaller than traditional reactors and some are even portable they aim to be used in places that need long-term reliable power where refueling can be difficult or even impossible but hold on do these reactors actually exist or are they just ideas made up in a lab how close to reality are we after all nuclear has made promises of Miracle technology before and what about the safety of operating nuclear reactors and such remote and hostile locations that are full of Storms and grizzly bears so let's look at some of the most promising micro reactors how they can be used and what challenges they'll still have to overcome first what are microreactors from the name you can probably guess that these are smaller reactors compared to larger traditional ones but just how small are we talking could you fit one in the back of your car while micro reactors are not down to the size where you could carry one although that would be pretty cool most of them are able to fit on the back of a truck about the size of a shipping container compared to traditional large reactors which can occupy several square miles or kilometers and even small modular reactors micro reactors bring about a whole new level of compactness that we don't normally associate with nuclear energy and that comes in the power output as well you can think of splitting nuclear reactors into three different groups large small and micro there's no medium Just Go With It large reactors usually produce over 1 000 megawatts of electricity enough to power a million homes or more small modular reactors are usually between 50 megawatts and 300 megawatts of electricity enough to power 50 000 or 300 000 homes micro reactors on the other hand are usually under 10 megawatts meaning even at full capacity they're only producing enough energy for a relatively small town and while most towns are close enough to be connected to the larger electrical grid that's not true everywhere remote towns and Mining operations that are too far away to be connected by transmission lines instead rely on local diesel generators essentially producing energy for their own microgrid just for the town and that's where the comparison to microreactors really starts to makes sense big diesel generators produce about the same amount of electricity they can be stationary or brought in by truck the main difference though is that diesel generators require a constant resupply of fossil fuels which depending upon the location could be difficult to maintain a steady supply micro reactors on the other hand are often equipped with enough fuel to run for years without needing any refueling and it's this advantage that could be the game changer for many applications I mean have you ever been camping who wouldn't want an unlimited supply of electricity while you're out in the woods but it goes even further than that in areas like disaster relief remote operations and even military conflict zones microreactors could be rapidly deployed versatile sources of almost unlimited energy for use in the most critical situations the city of Valdez Alaska is one such community that is seriously looking at how it can be connected with a new microreactor surrounded by mountains to the North and the Gulf of Alaska to the South and West there is only one Road in or out in the winter the town relies on the Valdez diesel plant which becomes the primary source of electricity for the nearly 4 000 residents however recent changes to Alaska's regulations have made it possible to move forward with installing a microreactor with much less red tape than the past giving them more options to end their dependence on diesel and heating oil in the Alaska Center for energy and power has identified several sites throughout the state that could be good candidates for small and micro reactors the state is rich in natural resources but they are often in remote locations this is where micro reactors come in and Supply electricity and heat without the need for continuous diesel fuel and oil supplies to be brought in by trucks which can be challenging in the winter meaning dozens of towns just like Valdez could be put into a more environmentally friendly and secure position with microreactors and it's not just remote locations how many times have we seen flooded streets down power lines and hospitals struggling to treat patients after earthquakes and hurricane strike that's exactly what happened to Puerto Rico in 2017 after Hurricane Maria devastated the island while for some people a few days without electricity may be an inconvenience electricity has become life or death for many others the islands hospitals quickly ran out of diesel fuel leaving them unable to properly treat victims including Children's Hospitals isolation and lack of regular fuel supplies meant the island suffered for weeks after the hurricane while waiting for support from the mainland this isn't meant to be just a sad story but this is a case where micro reactors could play a part in an emergency response unlike the more permanent installations used in remote locations micro reactors as part of an emergency response could be brought in by truck boat or even aircraft within a day and then connected to the local electricity grid after water food and shelter electricity quickly becomes essential in disaster relief and microreactors could provide a reliable life-saving source of energy this portability and adaptability of microreactors opens up a whole host of other possibilities as well take for example their support in military operations and remote bases here we're not talking about deploying nuclear reactors on the front lines of a conflict rather the idea is that base is in hard to reach locations either due to the remote geographical position or the presence of hostile enemy forces nearby could significantly benefit from having a a portable microreactor on hand most bases rely on diesel fuel to supply generators this means they need regular deliveries from trucks to keep going which in a conflict zone are attractive targets for hostile forces but by using a micro reactor instead the logistics of having regular refueling supplies can be eliminated allowing the base to focus more on its core Mission recently the U.S Air Force announced a pilot project that it would build a micro reactor at the eielson Air Force Base in you guessed it Alaska anticipated to be operational by 2027 it will provide the installation with a clean reliable and resilient nuclear energy Supply technology for critical National Security infrastructure all of these cases for remote towns in Alaska disaster relief and protecting the Armed Forces generally revolve around the accessibility and reliability of fuel which micro reactors are uniquely positioned to be able to provide and with some designs that can run for 10 years without needing refueling they really provide a flexible and long-term solution there are some really creative designs for micro reactors made by some very talented people who understand the physics to be able to to turn a large reactor into something that could fit on the back of a truck and being able to understand the core science that's behind these reactors is free and easy with this video sponsor brilliant brilliant gives you an exciting platform for you to be able to intuitively understand the science behind new technologies in an interactive bite-sized way enabling you to be part of or even lead the conversations on these Cutting Edge developments and because you're participating not just watching someone else lecture you retain the information better and longer with thousands of fun and practical lessons on data science mathematics and computer science there's something for everyone from the very Basics all the way to the advanced and what's more brilliant customizes What you see based on your skill level allowing you to solve challenges comfortably at your own pace and level of difficulty I've been out of school for a while now and in just 15 minutes a day Brilliance courses on science and engineering provide me with an excellent straightforward refresher on the core principles that are actually being applied in new reactor technologies that we're seeing today and new topics are added every month ensuring that you're always in sync with the latest trends and breakthroughs to explore the wide-ranging and continually expanding Universe of brilliant free for a full 30 days visit brilliant.org atomicblender or click on the link in the description as an added bonus the first 200 of you will receive a 20 discount on brilliant's annual premium subscription which is an excellent deal that you won't want to miss out on thanks to brilliant for sponsoring this video and now let's see how these principles are being applied in micro reactors one of the most intriguing designs is the eventually micro reactor this comes from the well-established Westinghouse electric company who have been building reactors for over 70 years the evangi design hits a nice sweet spot in terms of power output at just 5 megawatts electric which is enough for about 5 000 homes Westinghouse says the design can be built in a factory and then transported to the site where assembly is more or less just unloading the reactor and making the electrical connections which can be up and running within 30 days and while traditional reactors use uranium fuel enriched up to about five percent even she uses enrichments up to 20 meaning it can fit more fissionable uranium into a smaller space this allows it to operate for much longer periods before the fuel is exhausted Westinghouse says it can operate for up to eight years before needing refueling at which point the reactor is packed up and sent back to the factory also taking a very unique approach is that unlike traditional plants that use pumps to push water through the reactor core to get heat out even she takes a page out of a concept that's actually used to cool smartphones only on a much larger scale something that's called heat pipes essentially heat pipes work to cool somewhat like your body's sweat system similar to how sweat cools your skin a liquid inside one end of the heat pipe absorbs the heat boiling to become a vapor just like sweat evaporates off of your skin this hot vapor then naturally moves to the cooler areas releasing the Heat and then condenses back into a liquid a structure inside called a wick then naturally pulls the cooled liquid back to the heat Source like the flame of a candle pulling up wax ready to absorb more heat this cycle continues effectively pulling the heat out of the reactor heat pipes are entirely enclosed and generally have no moving Parts meaning they work completely passive making them safer and more reliable reducing the number of Parts simplifies the design allowing it to remain compact safe and simple to operate in fact the eventually design is completely air-cooled meaning it doesn't require any external source of water allowing it to operate in more challenging locations with that Westinghouse is taking a deliver setup and provide Power anywhere kind of approach currently Westinghouse has started a joint regulatory review in the U.S and Canada which will take several years before we see any of the eventually designs built but given the company's design reputation and experience I'm optimistic that we will see some action in the future another design is radiant nuclear's collidos radiant nuclear is a startup looking to introduce their microreactor with a focus on mobility and Rapid deployment the radiant design has a 1.2 megawatt reactor that also can provide an additional 1.9 megawatts of heat that can be used for other purposes like building heat or desalination like eventually the colitis design uses enrichments up to 20 percent allowing the reactor to operate much longer before the fuel is exhausted the reactor is designed to operate from for five years before needing refueling at which point it will be packed up and shipped back to the factory the reactor itself uses helium gas to extract the Heat and uses an automated system for controlling the reactor Radiance as it has developed real-time simulation models that will be used to control the reactor this means that the reactor can respond to external loads and events and control the output and although it has active helium cooling the design is meant to be Fail-Safe in the event of an emergency the reactor automatically shuts down and requires no further operator actions currently radiant has announced they have raised 40 million dollars to build a prototype in Idaho and expect to produce the first test operation in 2026. we'll have to see how they progress and check back in later as that date gets closer one of the more creative designs is from a company called holosgen building on Research done by General Electric on the nuclear-powered aircraft engines for the US Air Force in the 1960s the design Builds on the concept of a closed-loop jet engine instead of using heat from jet fuel to spin a turbine the combustion is replaced with heat from a nuclear reactor the project is supported by the US Military and like many others it uses uranium and enriched up to 20 percent the fuel is arranged in hexagonal blocks of graphite and cooled by helium gas however the design takes compactness to a whole new level the design modifies the typical open loop cycle used in a jet engine and converts it into a closed loop since there is no consumption of oxygen in a nuclear reactor they replace the normal combustion of the jet fuel into the sealed fuel cartridge to heat the gas and spin the turbine generator and naturally cool by the outside air on its own this is a more than creative approach but the design doesn't stop there a group of four of these sealed reactors can be placed together and move closer together to act as one interconnected reactor meaning that although each of the physical reactors is separate they are sharing neutrons between one another this type of dependent reactor operation is almost never seen because of the difficulty and control required however Holo says the design is robust and can be fit on the back of a truck for transport military operations where refueling diesel generators can be unreliable and since it is treated as a military design project it won't go through the normal review and approval processes for commercial reactors polos plans to build a Tesla using an electrical heat source to simulate the reactor in order to demonstrate the concept this type of specialized reactor could see military use in the future like I mentioned the US Air Force is looking to install a micro reactor in Alaska by 2027 and there are plenty of more designs out there that the future of microreactors looks bright the unique application of low power and portability means they're targeting a niche market but one that could be very successful given the significant advantages over diesel generators but none of these designs are built yet and most of them are still in the planning phases regulatory hurdles public perception funding and Technical challenges will all have to be overcome before we see any of these reactors in action but if you're in a remote town in the Alaska Wilderness or surviving after a hurricane these reactors can't come fast enough so do you think we'll see micro reactors anytime soon and with so many designs out there do you think there are any others worth investigating let me know in the comments below and don't forget to check out brilliant using the link down below to save 20 thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next one [Music]

Channel: AtomicBlender

Views: 29,916

Keywords: nuclear energy, nuclear power, nuclear, nuclear energy explained, small modular reactor, smr, nuclear waste, nuclear regulatory commission, nrc, advanced nuclear, carbon, nuclear reactor, thorium, fission, microreactor

Id: a4R2Fuzn87I

Length: 13min 57sec (837 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 15 2023