Materials hurdles for advanced nuclear reactors
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Energy Sector Analysis
Radiation-induced defects such as voids restrict materials choices for fourth-generation reactors.
Materials hurdles for advanced nuclear reactors By Arthur L. Robinson Feature Editor Gary S. Was
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he International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) lists 440 operating nuclear plants in 31 countries providing 11% of the world’s electricity. Many of these have been in service for 40 years or more, and relicensing to extend their lifetimes another 20 years is ongoing. But to continue providing reliable base-load electricity to satisfy the world’s ever-growing energy appetite, the nuclear fleet will eventually have to be replaced and expanded. Generation IV (GEN-IV) nuclear reactors, foreseen to gradually come into service after 2030, promise improved efficiency, safety, and proliferation resistance, along with longer lifetimes and less radioactive waste. There is a hitch, though—many of the materials necessary to build them still need to be identified. Most reactors in today’s nuclear landscape are second- and third-generation designs dominated by light water (pressurized and boiling) reactors (LWRs). While this LWR technology offers a well-developed alternative to fossil fuels and their greenhousegas emissions, standing still is not a path to future success. “To continue to be viable, nuclear technology must continuously improve,” said Steven Zinkle of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. “It’s just like the auto industry’s progression toward better manufacturing efficiency, fuel economy, and safety.” Rudy Konings, of the Institute for Transuranium Elements at the European Union’s Joint Research Centre in Karlsruhe, points to the LWR’s once-through fuel cycle that taps less than 1% of uranium’s energy content, so that depending on the future growth of nuclear power, uranium resources could be depleted by the end of the century. On the public opinion’s side, observers mention that rare reactor failures and the need to safely store highly radioactive waste for many millennia can shake consumer confidence. In the face of the aging reactor fleet, these and other concerns have steered the nuclear industry toward the six GEN-IV reactor designs now under development around the world under the umbrella of the 13-member GEN-IV International Forum (GIF). In 2002, GIF selected six reactor concepts on which to concentrate: Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (GFR), Lead-Cooled Fast Reactor (LFR), Molten Salt Reactor (MSR), Supercritical WaterCooled Reactor (SCWR), Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor (SFR), and Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR). These are not simply evolutionary versions of advanced LWRs. Of the GEN-IV designs, SFR and VHTR are closest to fruition. Each GEN-IV reactor has its own set of operating environments and associated challenges, but collectively the materials will face
Gary S. Was, University of Michigan, USA Arthur L. Robinson, [email protected]
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MRS BULLETIN
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VOLUME 40 • JULY 2015
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www.mrs.org/bulletin • Energy Quarterly
unprecedented combinations of higher radiation levels, higher
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