Nuclear Warming

'Very high heat' reactors are generating megawatts of interest.

Since 1978, no American utility has ordered a new nuclear power plant. But as the Earth heats up -- and the price of fossil fuels skyrockets -- nuclear energy is suddenly looking more and more attractive.

Thus are scientists around the world racing to develop a "fourth generation" of nuclear power plants, facilities that would, in the words of boosters, reduce operating costs, enhance safety, minimize nuclear wastes, and further reduce the risk of weapons materials proliferation.

At MU, nuclear scientists are working with engineers from North Carolina State and Washington universities to perfect one of the more promising of these proposed next-generation models, the so-called very-high-temperature reactor.

Sudarshan K. Loyalka, Curators' Professor of Nuclear Engineering at MU and lead investigator for the three-university consortium, says the helium-cooled reactor's ability to generate high heat -- as much as 1,000 degrees Celsius, or 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit -- promises better efficiency and increased energy output. The current maximum temperature generated by light water reactors is about 300 degrees Celsius, he says. And because current third generation reactors typically achieve only a 33 percent efficiency rating, much of that heat isn't converted into electrical energy.

"Higher temperatures result in better efficiency, meaning more heat can be converted to electricity," Loyalka says. "These [very-high-temperature] reactors have efficiency rates of 45 to 50 percent."

Unfortunately, the nation won't be turning up the nuclear heat anytime soon. "This is the groundwork, and there are several challenges associated with fuel cycles, temperatures, materials and safety issues," says Loyalka. The goal, he adds, is to have a very-high-temperature reactor producing electricity and hydrogen in the U.S. by 2021.

Published by the Office of Research.

©2009 Curators of the University of Missouri. Click here to contact the editor.