Bill Gates Bets On Next-Gen Nuclear

[Mr. Sparkle]

Gates plans to invest in a partnership between Toshiba and next-generation nuclear company TerraPower.

After releasing fireflies onto his audience at this year's TED conference, Bill Gates announced his plans to fund a viable, next-generation nuclear technology called a traveling-wave reactor. Now Gates has announced an exploration between TerraPower, a traveling-wave reactor nuclear company he largely funds, and Toshiba Corporation, a leader in the commercial nuclear power business.

Traveling-wave reactors have been discussed for decades as a cheaper and safer alternative to typical fission reactors, but until now the supercomputers required to make such technology possible were simply not affordable. It is thus no coincidence that Gates has found the perfect match for both his humanitarian and technological aims.

The prototype developed by TerraPower will rely upon Microsoft's ( MSFT - news - people ) supercomputing prowess and a whole lot of computer hardware--1,024 Xeon core processors assembled on 128 blade servers offering "over 1,000 times the computational ability as a desktop computer."

This may be one of the first times I'm actually excited about nuclear energy. In one of my original posts called The 6 Myths of Nuclear Energy, I clearly lay out all the reasons why today's version of nuclear technology is simply not viable--too expensive, too dangerous, too water-consuming, too politically destabilizing, and on and on. There are so many reasons NOT to fund current nuclear reactor technologies even with the advancements that have been made over the last decade.

But traveling-wave reactors are a real game-changer. Instead of requiring enriched uranium, it can burn depleted uranium and other low-grade radioactive fuel stocks. It can also burn them for a long, long time. With this new reactor, a long-term reaction is created in which the waste from breeding the fuel is recombined to create more fuel inside the reactor. Theoretically, a nuclear reactor could operate for 100 years without changing the fuel rods, and the resultant waste would be much less radioactive than the waste of our modern-day reactors.

In this video TerraPower CEO John Gilleland explains how it works.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIfMmqKYC6w

http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/24/nuclear-power-innovation-technology-ecotech-bill-gates.html?boxes=Homepagechannels">Article Link

[ret5hd]

1. Well, this oughta give new meaning to "blue screen of death"!

[sabbat hunter]

2. a big thumbs up

to Mr. Bill Gates.

Question now is how far away are we from being able to build reactors like this on a commercial basis?

[Zoeisright]

3. FAIL.

For God's sake, if you don't know by now that nuclear has been heavily subsidized by the government, is unbelievably expensive and unreliable, and we don't have any way of controlling the poison it produces, you're hopeless.

We are decades, hopefully, away from building any more nuclear reactors. Don't be stupid.

[sabbat hunter]

4. actually

Nuclear power is quite safe and reliable. If it has to be subsidized by the government to help build them, then so be it. The reason it is so expensive to build is because of all the safety features that are part of the design.

But if you think it is unreliable, then why isn't France in a constant state of blackouts, since they get 50% of their power from nuclear.

[bananas]

5. France is heavily dependent on the European grid

Nukes suck for load following, France sells electricity at a loss off-peak and imports expensive peak-load electricity.
And when it gets hot, they have to shut the nukes down - something which has been happening more frequently,
with serious problems in 2003, 2006, and 2009:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/utilities/article6626811.ece

July 3, 2009
France imports UK electricity as plants shut
Robin Pagnamenta, Energy and Environment Editor

France is being forced to import electricity from Britain to cope with a summer heatwave that has helped to put a third of its nuclear power stations out of action.

With temperatures across much of France surging above 30C this week, EDF’s reactors are generating the lowest level of electricity in six years, forcing the state-owned utility to turn to Britain for additional capacity.

Fourteen of France’s 19 nuclear power stations are located inland and use river water rather than seawater for cooling. When water temperatures rise, EDF is forced to shut down the reactors to prevent their casings from exceeding 50C.

A spokesman for National Grid said that electricity flows from Britain to France during the peak demand yesterday morning were as high as 1,000MW — roughly equivalent to the output of Dungeness nuclear power station on the Kent coast.

<snip>

In 2003, the situation grew so severe that the French nuclear safety regulator granted special exemptions to three plants, allowing them temporarily to discharge water into rivers at temperatures as high as 30C. France has five plants located by the sea and EDF tries to avoid carrying out any repairs to them during the summer because they do not suffer from cooling problems.

<snip>

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34121

ENVIRONMENT: Heat Wave Shows Limits of Nuclear Energy
By Julio Godoy

PARIS, Jul 27, 2006 (IPS) - The extreme hot summer in Europe is restricting nuclear energy generation and showing up the limits of nuclear power, leading environmental activists and scientists say.

The heat wave since mid-June has led authorities in France, Germany, Spain and elsewhere in Europe to override their own environmental norms on the maximum temperature of water drained from the plants' cooling systems.

The French government announced Jul. 24 that nuclear power plants situated along rivers will be allowed to drain hot water into rivers at higher temperature. The measure is intended "to guarantee the provision of electricity for the country," according to an official note.

France has 58 nuclear power plants, which produce almost 80 percent of electricity generated in the country. Of these, 37 are situated near rivers, and use them as outlet for water from their cooling systems.

<snip>

[formercia]

6. All controlled by a Microsoft Operating System.

100 years without failure using MS?

:rofl: