NUCLEAR POWER TO THE RESCUE

 

NUCLEAR POWER TO THE RESCUE
A revolutionary nuclear energy technology is being designed and built
in South Africa, but with suppliers and partners in many other nations,
says Paul Driessen, a senior policy adviser for the Congress of Racial
Equality and Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT).

The 165-megawatt Pebble Bed Modular Reactors (PBMR) are small and
inexpensive enough to provide electrical power for emerging economies,
individual cities or large industrial complexes.  However, multiple
units can be connected and operated from one control room, to meet the
needs of large or growing communities.

Process heat from PBMR reactors can also be used directly to desalinate
sea water, produce hydrogen from water, turn coal, oil shale and tar
sands into liquid petroleum, and power refineries, chemical plants and
tertiary recovery operations at mature oil fields.

The fuel comes in the form of baseball-sized graphite balls, each
containing sugar-grain-sized particles of uranium encapsulated in
high-temperature graphite and ceramic; this makes them easier and safer
to handle than conventional fuel rods, says Pretoria-based nuclear
physicist Dr. Kelvin Kemm.
It also reduces waste disposal problems and the danger of nuclear
weapons proliferation; conventional fuel rod assemblies are removed
long before complete burn-up, to avoid damage to their housings; but
PBMR fuel balls are burnt to depletion.
Because they are cooled by helium, the modules can be sited anywhere,
not just near bodies of water, and reactors cannot suffer meltdowns.
Since PBMRs can be built where needed, long, expensive power lines are
unnecessary; moreover, the simple design permits rapid construction (in
about 24 months), and the plants don't emit carbon dioxide.
PBMR technology could soon generate millions of jobs in research,
design and construction industries -- and millions in industries that
will prosper from having plentiful low-cost heat and electricity.   It
will help save habitats that are now being chopped into firewood -- and
improve health and living standards for countless families, says
Driessen.

Source: Paul Driessen, "Nuclear power to the rescue," Washington Times,
September 5, 2006.

For text (subscription required):

http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20060904-102546-8725r.htm

For more on Nuclear Energy:

http://eteam.ncpa.org/issues/?c=nuclear-energy

For more on Energy Issues:

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category"

 



lkgeo1 wrote:


There's nothing new about pebble-bed technology.

Graham

 

it figures, coming from a "cracker" !
Eeyore wrote:

 



lkgeo1 wrote:

There's nothing new about pebble-bed technology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_bed_reactor
http://www.google.com/search?client=opera&rls=en&q=pebble+bed+reactor&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

 

lkgeo1 wrote:

What the heck does this have to do with homepower?
Are you suggesting that we have a nuclear power plant
like this in our basement or back yard?

Anthony