Terrapowers traveling wave reactor twr is designed to be a liquid sodium cooled fast reactor that uses depleted uranium as fuel. And while government researchers intermittently bring out new reactor designs, the travelingwave reactor is noteworthy for having come from something that barely exists in the nuclear industry. Terrapowers traveling wave design is a breeder reactor that produce more atomic fuel than they. As a function of time, the latest design represents a standing wave or a soliton, rather than a traveling wave. It doesnt necessarily lend itself better to one or the other. On some fundamental peculiarities of the traveling wave. The traveling wave reactor, first conceived in 1958, has been intensively investigated only since about 2006. On the basis of the condition for nuclear burning wave existence in the neutronmultiplying media upu and thu cycles we show the possibility of surmounting the socalled dpaparameter problem and suggest an algorithm of the optimal nuclear burning wave mode adjustment, which is supposed to yield the wave parameters fluenceneutron flux, width and speed of nuclear burning wave that. Chapter in nber book merger movements in american industry, 18951956 1959, ralph l. A travelingwave reactor could use widely available depleted uranium and operate for 60 years without refueling. The company is exploring proposed reactor designs such as the traveling wave reactor and the molten salt reactor to find one that would be more costcompetitive and less accidentprone than past.
Energy equivalent of 1 pound of the above 2,000,000 lbs of coal wastecomparatively miniscule currently we have 104 nuclear reactors in operation in the us, which generate about 20% of our electricity. Bill gates has a joint venture with china nuclear corp to build. A travelingwave reactor twr is a proposed type of nuclear fission reactor that can convert fertile material into usable fuel through nuclear transmutation. Bill gates terrapower project and the traveling wave reactor answers with joe duration.
A travelingwave reactor twr is a type of nuclear fission reactor that can convert fertile material into usable fuel through nuclear transmutation, in tandem with the burnup of fissile material. The traveling wave reactor twr is a proposed reactor design that belongs to a set known as generation iv designs that are different in a number of respects than the current commercial designs which use water to cool the reactor and slow down moderate the neutrons that sustain the chain reaction. We also have plans for a 1,000 mw electric reactor. Study of traveling wave reactor twr and candle strategy. Some have operated well, while others have done poorly. A spinoff from a bill gates backed company called terrapower is working with the design, but its really nothing new. Terrapower, llc traveling wave reactor development program overview article pdf available in nuclear engineering and technology 456 november 20 with 488 reads how we measure reads. Terrapowers traveling wave reactor twr incorporates inherent safety features and reduces the risk for proliferation in the nuclear energy supply chain. Twr, sstar, and similar proposals differ from previous fast breeders by putting a. Comments on terrapowers travelling wave reactor printable pdf version here by dr george s. A wave reactor on fast neutrons in selfregulating neutronnuclear mode of the second kind is known. Shenhua, which is in the middle of a merger with state power giant guodian, is seeking to. Pdf terrapower, llc traveling wave reactor development. Sodiumcooled fast reactors have a checkered history.
The department of energy definition for a small reactor is a reactor that produces 300 mw electric or lower. The steady state operating reactor current equals 1932 amps, with the capacitor banks in service simultaneously. Travlos june 2011 we examine the characteristics of the sixth merger wave that started in 2003 and came to an end approximately in late2007. The twr has been studied since the late 1950s and there are several articles in the literature that describe the theory of the units. The travelling wave reactor concept is for a novel, fast neutron spectrum reactor that would use insitu breeding of its nuclear fuel essentially, the creation of the fuel within the reactor to. The constant coefficient telegraphers equations form. The drivers of this wave lie primarily in the availability of abundant liquidity, in line with neoclassical explanations of merger waves. George is is a nuclear reactor physicist, part of the team that developed the integral fast reactor. The traveling wave reactor twr is a oncethrough reactor that uses in situ breeding to greatly.
Since the q for new or used plant and equipment equals 1. All of these designs have proven to be immune to the meltdown type accidents like. Furthermore, breed and burn or traveling wave reactor once through cycles based. In 2006, terrapower launched an effort to develop the first practical engineering embodiment of a breedand burn fast reactor, producing a design concept known as a travelingwave reactor twr. But, when it comes to the traveling wave reactor, his money is not. The concept of the traveling wave reactor twr was first proposed in 1958 at a international atomic energy meeting. To create the traveling wave reactor twr design, terrapower has put together a team that boasts unparalleled expertise in nuclear engineering, simulation. China is becoming the testing ground for a new breed of nuclear power stations designed to be safer and cheaper, as scientists from the u. Online wav merger, install it and run start wav merger to start the join process, doubleclick the magic audio merger shortcut on your desktop after the program starts, browse to the location where you have the wav files that you want to merge.
Nuclear energy is riding a wave of innovation that could be a gamechanger for nuclear power and the nations energy mix. Likewise, a typical reactor today produces 21 metric. Terrapowers traveling wave reactor twr is designed to be a liquid sodiumcooled fast reactor that uses depleted uranium as fuel. Bill gates and china partner on worldfirst nuclear technology. In a wave that moves through the core at only a centimeter per year, this.
Merger waves economists and historians refer to five waves of mergers in the u. Nuclear experts head to china to test experimental reactors. Unlike todays reactors, a travelingwave reactor requires very little enriched uranium, reducing the risk of weapons proliferation. The traveling wave reactor is a liquidmetalcooled, fastneutron breeder reactor, with many of the same advantages and disadvantages as other fast breeder reactors. Through the development of the traveling wave reactor twr program and molten chloride fast. Twrs differ from other kinds of fastneutron and breeder reactors in their ability to use fuel efficiently without uranium enrichment or reprocessing, instead directly using depleted uranium. Terrapowers travelling wave reactor why not use an ifr. The clustering of waves can be tied to various technological, economic, and regulatory shocks.
Wav merger, wav joiner merge wav, combine wav, merge wav files together. Our plans call for a 500 mw electric demonstration reactor. The most recent commercial demonstration reactors belong. As i said, i believe a sixth wave started three years ago. Travelingwave reactor we need them badly what is the fuel pu239. The traveling wave reactor has the ability to operate using natural uranium or even. The travelling wave analysis consists of finding solutions of the telegraphers equations, bearing in mind the characteristics of the transmission lines, the equipment to which they will be connected and the nature of the signals likely to be experienced in power system transient situations. First it was presented in papers 5,6 and its advanced implementation was patented in 14. Breeding converts incoming subcritical reload fuel into new critical fuel, allowing a breedburn wave to propagate. Terrapower expects a typical 1,200megawatt traveling wave reactor to produce 5 metric tons of waste per gigawatt year, not 5 metric megatons. Terrapowers nuclear reactor could power the 21st century.
A private company called terrapower which is funded by bill gates among others has supposedly completed a design and is looking to actually build the first reactor. Travelingwave reactor we need them badly physics forums. Traveling wave reactors that convert fertile material into fissile fuel. Traveling wave reactors ahmed sharif march 21, 2011 submitted as coursework for physics 241, stanford university, winter 2011 history and current status. Department of energy doe during a panel discussion at the bloomberg future of energy global summit in. China isnt building a traveling wave nuclear plant yet. The reactor uses depleteduranium fuel packed inside hundreds of hexagonal pillars shown in black and green. He is known for insightful articles that combine business and technical analysis that catches the. The mechanism can be used for constructing a reactor for long operation duration with high fuel utilization, which.
That was the message driven home by ed mcginnis of the u. The traveling wave that the reactors name references moves through the units core at a rate of only one centimeter per year. A new report from the nonprofit institute for energy and environmental research ieer think tank finds that the traveling wave reactor twr concept championed by terrapower, in which bill gates, of microsoft, is a key. Challenges of the current merger wave atr department. Increasing fuel utilization of breed and burn reactors by christian. China nuclear energy and coal company partner to make traveling. Twrs differ from other kinds of fastneutron and breeder reactors in their ability to use fuel efficiently without uranium enrichment or reprocessing, instead directly using depleted uranium, natural. This reactor does not implement a slow traveling solitonlike wave of neutronnuclear burning mode. The traveling wave reactor, twr constitutes a reformulation of the liquid metal fast reactor, lmfbr and the coupled cores concepts and a reformulation of battery reactors based on naval propulsion reactors designs.
Wav merger, wav joiner merge wav, combine wav, join wav. The traveling wave reactor twr is a oncethrough reactor that uses in situ breeding to greatly reduce the need for enrichment and reprocessing. Bill gates on the wrong path with travelling wave reactors. In 1958, feinberg feinberg, 1958 first proposed that nuclear breedingburning waves can selfsustain and propagate in fissile material. The wave doesnt actually move at all, but this is the easiest way. In a global perspective, six merger waves have taken place since the 19th century. It is possible both to increase the speed, the thermal power and the nal uence as well as decrease them. Lately there has been some press on the traveling wave reactor twr.