Overview
With the nuclear industry becoming a potential candidate for a clean source of energy in the future, the technology in the nuclear industry has been rapidly expanding and improving. Below explains the two of the many new reactor designs that were made to ensure safety, limit wastes produced, and possibly utilize other sources of fuel.
Fast Neutron Reactor
The Fast Neutron Reactor got its name by describing exactly what it does: the neutrons emitted from the fission reactions move at a much greater speed than the conventional Boiling Water Reactors and Pressurized Water Reactors. Therefore, as these particles collide with other atoms, they collide with more force, initiating a high energy fission reaction.
Peter Hodgson and Dennis Anderson, authors of the article "Do We Need Nuclear Power?" wrote about the new technologies being presented in the nuclear industry. One of the reactor designs that they depicted was the "fast reactor" which has the incredible ability to actually burn part of the radioactive wastes produced during the fission process which decreases the amount of radioactive wastes produced (Hodgson and Anderson 4).
Another extremely valuable aspect of fast reactors is the intrinsic ability to produce and utilize another source of fuel, Plutonium, simultaneously within the reactor due to the speed of the impacting neutron. Often described as a "breeder reactor" the World Nuclear Association discusses more about why the Fast Neutron Reactor got this name by saying "natural uranium contains about 0.7% U-235 and 99.3% U-238. In any reactor some of the U-238 component is turned into several isotopes of plutonium during its operation. Two of these, Pu-239 and Pu-241, then undergo fission in the same way as U-235 to produce heat. In an FNR [Fast Nuclear Reactor] this process can be optimized so that it 'breeds' fuel" ("Fast" 3). The World Nuclear Association continues to describe this unique ability of Fast Neutron Reactors by providing a statistic saying that the Fast Neutron Reactors are able to use the initial fuel, Uranium, nearly 60 times as effective than a normal nuclear reactor such as the Boiling Water Reactor ("Fast 3"). The reason being is that during a fission reaction within the reactor core of a Fast Neutron Reactor (FNR), the quickly moving neutrons collide with the Uranium atoms as it does in any standard nuclear reactor. With the FNR, however, these neutrons collide with Uranium-238 atoms -- which are naturally non-fissile atoms -- and turns them into the highly-fissile Plutonium-239 atoms which are able to sustain the high-energy fission reactions within the core as well as emit the fast moving neutrons needed to keep the process of turning Uranium-238 into Plutonium-239. These Plutonium-239 atoms then undergo nuclear fission and result in a higher output of energy than the normal U-235 -- fissile Uranium atoms that are used to enrich the U-238 to a level that is able to readily fission. With this ability to turn non-fissile U-238 into Plutonium-239, it increases the fuel duration within the nuclear reactor as well as the world's supply of Uranium because now the abundant U-238 atoms are able to be utilized within these reactors. Jerry Johnstone, author of the "Nuclear Energy" section within the "Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Social Issues" depicts this extension in the fuel supply as a result of the FNR by saying "With the current style of reactor, the supply of uranium may last 50 years, but with the newer breeder-style reactors being developed, that time frame would extend to thousands of years. Per gram, the uranium used in breeder reactors has 2.7 million times more energy than coal. Making the supply of fuel last longer is one aim, but reusing spent fuel is another" (Johnstone 1564).
Peter Hodgson and Dennis Anderson, authors of the article "Do We Need Nuclear Power?" wrote about the new technologies being presented in the nuclear industry. One of the reactor designs that they depicted was the "fast reactor" which has the incredible ability to actually burn part of the radioactive wastes produced during the fission process which decreases the amount of radioactive wastes produced (Hodgson and Anderson 4).
Another extremely valuable aspect of fast reactors is the intrinsic ability to produce and utilize another source of fuel, Plutonium, simultaneously within the reactor due to the speed of the impacting neutron. Often described as a "breeder reactor" the World Nuclear Association discusses more about why the Fast Neutron Reactor got this name by saying "natural uranium contains about 0.7% U-235 and 99.3% U-238. In any reactor some of the U-238 component is turned into several isotopes of plutonium during its operation. Two of these, Pu-239 and Pu-241, then undergo fission in the same way as U-235 to produce heat. In an FNR [Fast Nuclear Reactor] this process can be optimized so that it 'breeds' fuel" ("Fast" 3). The World Nuclear Association continues to describe this unique ability of Fast Neutron Reactors by providing a statistic saying that the Fast Neutron Reactors are able to use the initial fuel, Uranium, nearly 60 times as effective than a normal nuclear reactor such as the Boiling Water Reactor ("Fast 3"). The reason being is that during a fission reaction within the reactor core of a Fast Neutron Reactor (FNR), the quickly moving neutrons collide with the Uranium atoms as it does in any standard nuclear reactor. With the FNR, however, these neutrons collide with Uranium-238 atoms -- which are naturally non-fissile atoms -- and turns them into the highly-fissile Plutonium-239 atoms which are able to sustain the high-energy fission reactions within the core as well as emit the fast moving neutrons needed to keep the process of turning Uranium-238 into Plutonium-239. These Plutonium-239 atoms then undergo nuclear fission and result in a higher output of energy than the normal U-235 -- fissile Uranium atoms that are used to enrich the U-238 to a level that is able to readily fission. With this ability to turn non-fissile U-238 into Plutonium-239, it increases the fuel duration within the nuclear reactor as well as the world's supply of Uranium because now the abundant U-238 atoms are able to be utilized within these reactors. Jerry Johnstone, author of the "Nuclear Energy" section within the "Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Social Issues" depicts this extension in the fuel supply as a result of the FNR by saying "With the current style of reactor, the supply of uranium may last 50 years, but with the newer breeder-style reactors being developed, that time frame would extend to thousands of years. Per gram, the uranium used in breeder reactors has 2.7 million times more energy than coal. Making the supply of fuel last longer is one aim, but reusing spent fuel is another" (Johnstone 1564).
Figure 1
High-Temperature Gas REactor
This nuclear reactor, although it does not produce as high of a level of energy as other reactors, is renowned for the variety of safety features incorporated into the design. The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) organization depicts that the design of the High-Temperature Gas Reactors ensure that there are no radioactive particles released under any condition ("The High" 1). In addition, another safety feature implemented into the design of these reactor types is the "complete shutdown [that] is achieved through automatic insertion of control rods into the reactor core by gravity" ("The High" 1). These control rods completely stop all fission reactions and prevent the reactor core from continuing to produce energy. The complete insertion of the control rods would occur automatically if the nuclear reactor temperatures begin to exceed the natural operating temperatures.
Figure 2