China reveals nuclear energy breakthrough with world’s first ‘meltdown-proof’ plant — here’s how it could change the future of nuclear power
Researchers in China have developed the world’s first meltdown-proof nuclear power plant, The Independent reported.
Nuclear power is one clean alternative to dirty energy sources such as gas, oil, and coal — all of which produce massive amounts of planet-overheating air pollution. However, the development of more nuclear power plants has been hampered by public fear of catastrophic nuclear-plant meltdowns such as the widely known meltdowns at Chernobyl and Fukushima.
While disasters like these are rare, they are still a real concern, which makes China’s new meltdown-proof plant potentially exciting for the future of clean energy.
The researchers from Tsinghua University used several new methods to create the plant, which relies on a “pebble-bed reactor” to virtually eliminate the possibility of a meltdown. The reactor is cooled by helium instead of water and uses highly heat-resistant billiard-ball-sized graphite spheres filled with tiny uranium fuel particles in place of large fuel rods.
While the pebble-bed design cannot be retroactively applied to new nuclear power plants, it could serve as a blueprint for future plants, the scientists explained.
While wind and solar tend to garner more headlines as clean energy sources that can replace dirty energy, nuclear power also has an important role to play. One of the main challenges of replacing dirty energy lies in generating enough clean energy to meet demand, so diversifying and relying on a wider variety of sources makes a lot of sense.
In Wyoming, another nuclear power plant is being built on the site of a retired coal plant — that one also bills itself as being virtually meltdown-proof, by using liquid sodium as a coolant instead of water.
In addition, researchers have discovered a way to make nuclear power plants safer by getting water to boil off and evaporate at a lower temperature. Although nuclear power is already safer than many people believe, these discoveries and inventions are making it safer than ever for future generations.
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