The world's smallest nuclear reactor has been approved in the United States

Despite the boom in the so-called green energy, developments in the field of peaceful nuclear energy do not stop for a minute. A real breakthrough in this area can be considered the approval by the US authorities of the design of the first miniature nuclear modular reactor, designed for 50 megawatts. I'll tell you about this novelty now.

Green light for modular nuclear reactors

An American startup NuScale is developing a new modular reactor in miniature. Representatives of this company submitted a draft of the project itself to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for consideration. the world's smallest reactor - which, for a minute, is several dozen times smaller in size than existing analogs.

The proposed modular design of the NuScale reactor will be simple not only during operation, but also during production and maintenance.

As the company representatives emphasize, the safety of their reactor will be even higher than the level of safety in the most modern large nuclear reactors.

What is a miniature reactor

Structurally, the reactor is made in the form of a steel cylinder 23 meters high and 5 meters wide. Uranium fuel rods are located inside the cylinder, which, due to the occurrence of a nuclear reaction, heat the coolant (water) in the internal circuit.

Then the coolant transfers the temperature to the external steam circuit through a heat exchanger. Next, the steam makes the turbine rotate, which generates electricity.

So, according to the projects, a typical NPP plant implemented on such reactors can consist of 12 small reactors. At the same time, safety is ensured at the highest level.

After all, the module is completely immersed in water, which allows you to effectively remove excess heat, and if If an emergency situation occurs, the reactor will be automatically loaded into a special tank (pool). Thus, active protection is backed up by additional passive protection.

This is how increased protection is achieved.

When the reactors will be fully commercialized

Of course, the approval received is a big step, but it does not mean that in just a couple of weeks these reactors will be widely used. There is still a long way to go to a full-fledged nuclear power plant at these reactors.

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