The American Nuclear Society publication Nuclear News reported July 24 that “China’s Shidaowan nuclear power plant has confirmed its ability to be naturally cooled down, an industry-first [worldwide] milestone for achieving commercial-scale inherent safety, according to researchers. The Shidaowan plant, a demonstration high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor with a pebble-bed module (HTR-PM), went into commercial operation last December.”
The Shidaowan reactor has two small, modular 100-MW units, with tiny uranium capsules encased in graphite shells that are about the size of billiard balls. The energy density of the fuel, and the resulting power rating of the reactor modules, are relatively low, but the operating temperature of the reactor is quite high—up to 900°C. As LaRouche organizations have reported for many years, the high temperature and gas cooling make this type of reactor suitable for many industrial-heat applications—including desalination of water—as well as electrical power. The heat from the reactor operation, Nuclear News points out, disperses quickly and makes a passive cooling, “automatic shutdown” process work.
