The DOE announced awards totaling $40 million for Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP)

[Statistical]

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The U.S. Department of Energy Monday announced awards totaling $40 million for two teams proposals for the DOE's Next Generation Nuclear Plant project.

The Department said the results of work by Westinghouse Electric Co. and General Atomics would help determine whether the Administration will move forward with the next generation demonstration project.

The demonstration would test the viability of high-temperature gas-cooled reactor technology to produce electricity and heat for industrial applications, the DOE said. Combined heat-and-power projects increase energy efficiency.

The Department said it will now negotiate the final terms and conditions for the awards with the intention of completing conceptual designs by Aug. 31, 2010.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100308-709846.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

NGNP is a Very High Temperature - Gas Cooled - Gen IV reactor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_high_temperature_reactor



The higher temperature and gas cooled nature reduces water usage and heat wasted into cooling water. This open up new possibilities:
a) combined cycle generation (steam + turbine) for thermal efficiency >40%
b) high temperature hydrogen production (at high enough temperature and pressure water can be cracked into H2 and O2 without electrolysis).
c) electricity + industrial heat applications

DOE eventually wants to build a prototype to test real world efficiencies.

Commercial Gen IV plants won't be ready to construction for at least two decades so this is the first baby step but still good to see tax dollars working on emission free future solutions.

[BeFree]

1. Fucking waste

If nukes, once considered "too cheap to meter" were worth it, private companies would be beating down the gates to throw money in. Instead the damned socialists robbers in capitalist clothing, beg the government for money.

[Statistical]

2. Coal is cheapest form of power.

Want to go that route.

Hell solar & wind wouldn't have ever even got to the point they are now without govt assistance.
This is a research project. It will never produce commercial power or hydrogen.

Without govt intervention over last couple decades our power grid today would be about 60% coal, 10% hydro, and 30% natural gas.

[BeFree]

3. With out reagan..

.... it would probably be 50% solar. Carter was a nuke something or another and he wanted solar and the end of nukes. How he lost the election I'll never know. But you know the nukies sure worked hard for reagan. Fuck 'em.

[joshcryer]

4. I don't see any passive safety here, what happens if that pump fails?

Retract the control rods?

[Statistical]

6. Lowering control rods and/or neutrons poison stops fission but that is the easy part.

Even current reactor designs will halt fission in about 15-30 seconds in emergency scram.

The harder situation to handle is the decay heat. Without active fission heat in reactor falls about 90% to 95% however even the remaining "residual heat" is massive so all reactors must

a) halt fission (control rods, neutron poison)
b) cool reactor to remove decay heat.

The DOE hasn't stated in the the NGNP will be pebble bed or primsatic however many of the safety features are the same.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_bed_reactor#Safety_features

Basically a high temp reactor is designed to operate at extreme temp 800 - 1000 deg. As such there is nothing to melt down. Also the gas is nitrogen or helium so there is nothing to ignite, and nothing to produce a steam explosion. The combination of being able to handle high temperatures and the reactor being cooled by non-flamable gas eliminates many of the emergency risks in a traditional (PWR or BWR) reactor.

The theory is to build a reactor that simply halts a high temperature creating the ultimate negative feedback loop. Reactor overheats and it simply halts fission and radiates away the decay heat.

Once again I stress that a lot of this is theory and DOE has not selected a reactor design yet but it should help you understand the differences between high temp gas cooled reactors and traditional "low temp", high pressure water cooled reactors.

[Odin2005]

5. Cool!