Unlike in a conventional reactor design, the fuel pellets in this design
would not be constrained in a fixed fuel array. Instead, they'd be
suspended in the coolant. See the sketch. Each fuel pellet should
probably be spherical. I expect that spherical pellets would be easier
to manufacture. There might be a reason to use some other shape but I don't know what it would be. The optimum size and shape of the pellets
would be a function of various related parameters. For example, smaller
pellets might require less coolant flow to keep them suspended. There
might be reasons to use pellets of different sizes and shapes at the same
time. The determination of the optimum pellet configuration would be
a complex calculation, involving the effects of many variables.
The nuclear reaction rate would be easily controllable by variation of the coolant flow rate. At a higher flow rate, coolant flow would force the
fuel pellets together into the small part of the reaction zone plenum, tending
to produce a critical mass and a nuclear reaction. At a low flow rate,
the fuel, lacking buoyancy, would settle away from the small end of the reaction
zone plenum, and sink toward or into the shutdown zone plenum.
As the pellets moved downward, and drifted apart, the reaction rate would
decrease. In this reactor design, the dreaded loss of flow accident
would simply shut down the reactor. That is, in response to a loss
of coolant flow, the pellets would simply disperse. If boron or some
other such poison was used in or near the shutdown zone boundary structure,
then that would increase the effectiveness of the shutdown process.
The shutdown zone boundary structure would have, at its lower edge, a circumferential
shutdown groove into which the fuel pellets would settle after they dropped
into the shutdown zone plenum. In the circumferential shutdown groove,
pellet dispersal would be such that the nuclear reaction would stop.
As long as fuel pellets didn't stick together in a big clump, melting of
the fuel would be impossible.
Using appropriate plumbing, fuel pellets could be transferred through the
reactor pressure vessel wall during full power operation, or at any other
time. In the sketch, for simplicity, I've shown an orifice that would
allow the insertion of pellets at any time, but removal of them only during
reactor shutdown. However, other orifices, at other locations in the
reactor pressure vessel, could allow the removal or insertion of fuel during
any operating condition.
It might be a good idea if all fuel management responsibilities were subcontracted. The fuel could even be owned by the subcontractor. Then, the owner of
the reactor could be responsible only for reactor operation. Fuel management
could be provided by the subcontractor. Administrative controls and
reactor design could insure that only the subcontractor would have access
to the fuel. The way the world is becoming a one-world enforcement
authority, the subcontractor would probably be the International Atomic Energy
Agency. By the way, it's nuclear energy, not atomic energy.
See Milam's Dictionary of Distinctions, Differences, and Other
Odds and Ends, in The Sovereign's Library.
Electricity generated by such reactors could be used to produce hydrogen
for fuel, and to run electrified railroads. It could be used to address
such problems as global warming and resource depletion. Of course,
those kinds of problems are merely consequences of human overpopulation. See Problem One, in the July 2021 issue. Because
of human overpopulation, it seems likely to me that we're facing a global
extinction event. Whatever the case, and until the overpopulation problem
corrects itself, we're going to need a lot of food. Growing that much
food is going to require a lot of energy and a lot of water. Doing
it with only so-called green energy is a pipe dream. The kind of reactors
that I'm suggesting could produce both electricity and clean water.
They could do it when the wind isn't blowing, when the sun isn't shining,
and without releasing greenhouse gas. Some people don't like nuclear energy but, as the old saying goes, any port in a storm.![10x5 Page Background GIF Image](../../Images/10x5_Page_Background.gif)
| Beyond a critical point within a finite space,
freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans in
the finite space of a planetary ecosystem as it is of gas molecules in a
sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive
within the system but what kind of existence is possible for those who do
survive.—from Dune, 1965by Frank Herbert ![5x5 Page Background GIF Image](../../Images/5x5_Page_Background.gif)
I can understand the impatience of youth and
the world is in a sad state so you want to do things, however, there are
too many people already so don't be in too much of a hurry to increase the
population. I am very concerned about the future welfare of the young
people now growing up. I try to never predict because if I'm right,
no one remembers it, and if I'm wrong, no one ever forgets it. If the
present trend does not reverse very soon, I can see only cannibalism
as the final conclusion.—Sam Aurelius Milam, Jr. Monday, March 17, 1969 |
|
January 2022 | Frontiersman,0c/o 4984 Peach Mountain Drive, Gainesville,
Georgia 30507 http://frontiersman.org.uk/ | Page 3 | |