Advanced nuclear energy: the safest and most renewable clean energy. (March 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rehm, Thomas E
• Is Part Of: Current opinion in chemical engineering. Volume 39(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-03
• Subjects: Nuclear energy -- Legacy nuclear -- Advanced nuclear -- Renewables -- Energy transition -- Safety -- Solar -- Capacity factor -- Nuclear waste -- Mineral reserves -- Uranium -- Thorium -- Small Modular Reactor (SMR) -- High Temperature Gas Reactor (HTGR) -- Nuclear biorefinery -- Biofuels; Gen-IV Fourth-generation nuclear reactor technology, also known as advanced nuclear -- HTGR High Temperature Gas Reactor -- HTR-PM Chinese high-temperature gas-cooled pebble-bed Gen-IV reactor technology -- kWh Kilowatt-hour is an amount of electricity produced or consumed -- LFTR Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor -- LNT Linear-Non-Threshold model of radiation exposure -- LWR Light Water Reactor -- MWe Megawatt electricity output of a power plant -- MWt Megawatt thermal energy required to produce MWe at a power plant -- Pu239 Plutonium-239 has 94 protons and 145 neutrons (94 + 145 = 239) -- PWR Pressurized Water Reactor -- RBMK Russian graphite-moderated nuclear reactor, reaktor bolshoy moshchnosti kanalnyy -- Th232 Thorium-232 has 90 protons and 142 neutrons (90 + 142 = 232) -- TWe Terrawatt electricity output of a power plant -- TWe-year Terrawatt-electricity-year is an amount of electricity produced or consumed -- TWt Terrawatt thermal energy required to produce TWe at a power plant -- U233 Uranium-233 has 92 protons and 141 neutrons (92 + 141 = 233) -- U235 Uranium-235 has 92 protons and 143 neutrons (92 + 143 = 235) -- U238 Uranium-238 has 92 protons and 146 neutrons (92 + 146 = 238) -- EURACTIV A pan-European media network specialized in EU policies -- NRC Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- BWX BWX Technologies, a supplier of nuclear components, is a 2015 spinoff of Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises. -- MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- INL Idaho National Laboratory -- USDA United States Department of Agriculture; Chemical engineering -- Periodicals; Chemical engineering; Periodicals; 660.05
• DOI: 10.1016/j.coche.2022.100878
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2211-3398

Abstract

Abstract : Although legacy nuclear energy has been the safest form of electricity generation, it has been demonized as unsafe since the 1960s. The three well-known nuclear accidents, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima, were legacy nuclear designs. Even with the best safety record of all types of electricity generation, it is time to move away from legacy nuclear to reap the benefits of a truly renewable source of safe clean energy, advanced nuclear. Solar and wind cannot hold a renewable candle to the vast renewable potential of advanced nuclear energy. The transition to carbon-neutral energy can best be made with advanced nuclear, in safety, waste minimization, true renewability for thousands of years, process heat for manufacturing, and a viable means of replacing our chemical manufacturing dependence on fossil fuels. Some of my colleagues tell me, "There are few opportunities for chemical engineers in nuclear". I disagree. Opportunities include design and operation of high-temperature (550–750 °C) plants involving molten salts, liquid metal, and helium; application of this high-temperature capability for industrial process heating; recycling legacy nuclear 'waste' to provide fuel for advanced reactors; integration of the hydrogen economy into nuclear plant design and operation; improvement in moving pebble-bed advanced reactor technology; mining improvements for uranium and thorium, including mining uranium from seawater; molten salt storage systems for improving load following functionality and to provide process heat functionality; resolving corrosion challenges in molten salt reactors; and retrofitting existing oil-and-gas-based refineries to operate as nuclear biorefineries.