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Tag: nuclear fission

  • Sensor Survives Reactor-Level Heat and Radiation, Paving the Way for Real-Time Monitoring

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    Generating nuclear power takes a lot of energy—extreme heat, pressure, and radiation—that every part of a reactor must withstand each time. Naturally, engineering the perfect apparatus is a difficult task, but researchers continue to discover astonishing ways to advance nuclear technology, the latest of which involves a tiny chip with not-so-tiny performance.

    In a recent release, University of Maine researchers announced new microelectronic sensors that tolerate both the radiation levels and extreme temperatures of a nuclear reactor’s core. At the same time, the sensor captures real-time operational data, giving engineers and operators invaluable insight into the reactor’s activity.

    “Since many advanced reactors currently under development operate at these temperatures, there is a high demand on the sensors to monitor them,” Mauricio Pereira da Cunha, the project’s principal investigator, said in the release. “The successful development of these sensors will address and alleviate technology barriers that currently hinder the rollout of advanced nuclear reactors.”

    Firing up the heat

    The sensor is intended to live inside the furnace of reactors for nuclear fission, which generates large loads of energy by splitting two heavy molecules. Specifically, the researchers hope to install the sensors in advanced high-temperature reactors, which run on helium gas and contain ceramic materials to more efficiently and safely generate nuclear energy.

    However, these reactors reach higher temperatures than what existing sensors can withstand, as their advantages come with the “higher thermal efficiencies that are attained at higher temperatures,” the researchers explained.

    The team, on the other hand, had two decades of expertise in refining similar sensors. This motivated them to spend the last two years developing and testing a sensor strong enough for the next-generation reactors—and, while they were at it, make the sensor tiny to widen its range of applications.

    Small chip, big implications

    For the project, the team created seven sensors, all tested at the Nuclear Reactor Laboratory at the Ohio State University, according to a report by the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy. Each sensor was 100 nanometers thick—roughly 1,000 times thinner than a strand of hair—and carried platinum-based alloy electrodes packed with alumina caps.

    Photographs of the sensor installed in the Nuclear Reactor Laboratory at the Ohio State University. Credit: Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation Newsletter/Department of Energy

    Impressively, all seven sensors “remained functional” and “showed no signs of degradation” despite five days of the reactor blasting them at its maximum power, at about 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit (800 degrees Celsius), the report explained. Early analyses also implied that the sensors were resilient against radiation, too.

    “In addition to extreme temperatures, we’re now also exposing these sensors to intense, in-core levels of nuclear radiation at the same time,” Luke Doucette, the project’s senior research scientist, said in the release. “This adds an entirely new dimension of difficulty in terms of what types of sensor materials can survive in these conditions and remain functional.”

    Related article: A Greener Way to Fuel Nuclear Fusion

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    Gayoung Lee

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  • Engineer launches quest to address dangerous threat at nuclear power plants: ‘Revolutionize the design’

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    Both spatially and financially, nuclear reactors are costly projects — especially when deterred by natural earthly causes. In particular, nuclear infrastructure can easily be disrupted by seismic activity.

    To address the issue, University of Wyoming researcher Ankit Saxena recently received a two-year grant of nearly $200,000 from the National Science Foundation in order to pursue the study of particle dampers.

    According to the university release, the project’s aim is to “revolutionize the design of particle dampers using topology optimization, an advanced engineering design technique” in the hopes of affording nuclear infrastructure better protection from seismic waves.

    Conventional particle dampers involve a cavity in which entrapped particles can sense and respond to external vibrations, dissipating any interference as it arrives. Unfortunately, the development of these dampers has proved complex and expensive in the past, so Saxena intends to simplify and optimize their design with an emphasis on dispelling seismic frequencies.

    Meanwhile, Saxena and his team aim to establish research partnerships with universities across the United States, boosting the project’s visibility and scope in the long term, per the Wyoming release.

    Discovering and stabilizing a diversity of cleaner energy resources can facilitate our transition toward a more sustainable future. With global electricity demand on the rise, traditional fuel-based power plants are working overtime to keep up, releasing carbon pollution at higher rates into our atmosphere and driving up our planet’s temperatures.

    Although solar and wind power tend to be the most commercially viable options when it comes to renewable energy, nuclear power isn’t far behind. While still an imperfect solution — considering the massive expenses required in developing nuclear reactors and the radioactive waste by-product of nuclear fission — nuclear plants are capable of yielding massive amounts of energy with far less pollution than that generated through the combustion of fossil fuels. The latest research grant may help bolster the reliability of nuclear energy in the face of seismic activity over the years to come.

    “While this NSF project specifically focuses on seismic protection of nuclear power plants, the topology optimization-based particle damper design methodology … has broad applicability across a wide range of real-world systems,” Saxena told the university.

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  • Nuclear startup Deep Fission goes public in a curious SPAC | TechCrunch

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    Nuclear startup Deep Fission announced Monday that it has gone public in a reverse merger, netting the company $30 million.

    No, it’s not 2021.

    The startup is proposing to build small, cylindrical nuclear power plants and lower them into 30-inch diameter holes drilled one mile down into the Earth. By burying the reactors, the company hopes to solve several problems that plague current reactors, including concerns over meltdowns and potential terrorist attacks.

    Deep Fission’s 15-megawatt reactors are cooled using pressurized water, the same type found in nuclear submarines and many existing power plants.

    Earlier this year, Deep Fission inked a deal with data center developer Endeavor to build 2 gigawatts of underground reactors. 

    As recently as April, the startup had been attempting to raise a $15 million seed round. In August, Deep Fission and nine other nuclear fission startups were selected to be a part of the Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program, essentially a streamlined permitting process.

    Under the terms of the reverse merger with four-year-old Surfside Acquisition Inc., the offering was priced at $3 per share, below the customary $10 that other SPACs target. The new entity will retain the Deep Fission name, and though its shares aren’t yet trading, it says it intends to quote on the OTCQB.

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    The circumstances around the SPAC — the share price, the selected equity market, and the timing of the transaction — suggest that Deep Fission wasn’t able to raise cash from new or existing shareholders, who first capitalized the company with a $4 million check last year. 

    The proceeds of the merger give the startup a bit more runway than its ill-fated seed round would have, but it also imposes SEC reporting costs for what is likely a small company operating in a very expensive sector. Deep Fission is hoping to start its first reactor by July 2026.

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    Tim De Chant

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  • Engineers achieve ‘pivotal’ breakthrough on quest to create new-age nuclear reactor: ‘Nothing similar anywhere in the world’

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    Engineers at the Idaho National Laboratory have completed a successful test campaign of a coolant system for nuclear microreactors that have the potential to launch the world into the next energy age.

    Carlo Parisi, one of the engineers, envisioned creating a next-gen cooling system for the Microreactor Applications Research Validation (Marvel) project. Five years later, it’s now a reality and marks “a milestone of innovation in the nuclear sector,” per a laboratory news release.

    The Primary Coolant Apparatus Test, “a non-nuclear integrated test facility,” is an almost exact replica of Marvel’s primary cooling loop, but it uses electricity rather than nuclear power to produce heat. In nuclear reactors, the primary loop circulates coolant to remove excess heat and transfer it to another system, which is then used to generate heat or electricity.

    The idea behind the PCAT is to test the cooling system’s performance and components of the test microreactor to ensure the actual reactor will run safely and efficiently. The team also wanted to check that the software for the thermal-hydraulic design of Marvel accurately models certain features of the system.

    One problem Marvel faced in the beginning was the Stirling engine that regulates the system’s heat causing excessive vibrations that could damage the reactor, but the team was able to replace it with a “more stable radiator-like setup.”

    “That was a pivotal moment for us,” Parisi said. “We had to rethink our approach to ensure the system’s effectiveness and reliability.”

    The tests showed encouraging results for the Marvel reactor, confirming that “a stable natural circulation flow can be established to operate safely and allow Marvel to generate as much as 100 kilowatts of thermal power,” per the release.

    It also revealed that the RELAP5-3D, the software used to perform safety analyses of Marvel, closely matched the data obtained from PCAT, meaning it will be able to predict safety issues with a high level of accuracy.

    The path forward will involve preparing for the reactor’s construction at the Idaho National Laboratory’s Transient Reactor Test Facility and submitting the proper paperwork to the Department of Energy. Once the engineers analyze the data gathered from the PCAT tests, they will share the findings with scientists worldwide.

    The advancement of microreactor technologies could lead to a revolution in nuclear energy production in the U.S. However, it’s worth noting that because microreactors operate on the principle of nuclear fission, they still produce some radioactive waste that must be managed carefully.

    In addition, nuclear experts such as Edwin Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists have spoken of some downsides of reactors, including their vulnerability to accidents and sabotage.

    Nuclear plants can also be expensive and time-consuming to build, which may offset the benefits achieved by reduced carbon pollution. However, all things considered, they’re much healthier for the environment and humans than fossil fuels, and they are likely to be a major part of our energy mix for a considerable time.

    “Marvel has a unique combination of fuel, coolant and geometrical configuration that has never been used by any other reactor,” Parisi said. “It was crucial to create this mock-up for testing because there was nothing similar anywhere in the world for comparison.”

    “Knowing that we have accomplished something unique and groundbreaking is incredibly rewarding,” Parisi added. “We’ve created a system and a wealth of knowledge that will not only benefit our project but also potentially help the entire industry.”

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