But the new salt works at a slightly higher temperature than the previous one, so Transatomic will run tests to confirm that other materials in the reactor can withstand these higher temperatures. Transatomic is also using a new type of molten salt that should allow the reactor to burn nuclear waste, and also enable it to use nuclear material that couldn’t easily be repurposed to make a nuclear weapon. ![]() the areas natural radioactive background dose is about 100-125 millirem per. Among other things, the new experiments will determine whether that cladding will work as expected. This was the most serious accident in U.S. But the new material has to be protected from the corrosive molten salts by silicon carbide. Transatomic’s design instead uses zirconium hydride, a more efficient material that should allow the reactor to be far smaller. nuclear power plants in recent years as striking. The Oak Ridge design uses graphite for the part of a nuclear reactor that keeps nuclear reactions going by controlling the speed of neutrons emitted by the fission reactions. The experiments are a key step in an ambitious goal of building a demonstration reactor in the United States by 2020, Dewan says. Transatomic is paying to use facilities at MIT to conduct the experiments under a three-year agreement. CEO and cofounder Leslie Dewan says the company will conduct experiments to determine whether these new materials will perform as expected under the radioactive, high-temperature, and highly corrosive conditions found in a reactor.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |