BEIJING - Chinese
scientists are planning super-efficient nuclear
reactors that can maximize uranium "burn" and
minimize waste in the generation of electricity.
[Ed: the word "burn" as used here means the
depletion of fission-competent uranium-235 nuclei
from a uranium fuel rod consisting mostly of
uranium-238; this is a meaning completely
different from the everyday meaning of the word
"burn", which implies a heat-producing chemical
oxidation reaction.] If the first experimental
reactor, set to be in operation by 2010, is
successful, the technology could help relieve
China's uranium supply problems as the country
accelerates nuclear power plant construction.
China Academy of Atomic Science President
Zhao Zhixiang said a team of scientists has
already mapped a detailed plan to speed up
research and utilization of the so-called
next-generation fast
reactors. The new reactors
are expected to "burn" 60-70% of their uranium
fuel - a conventional reactor consumes only 0.7%
of the uranium it is fed.
"This kind of
reactor can greatly improve the efficiency of fuel
"burn-up", and we are trying our best to put the
experimental reactor into use over the next five
years," Zhao said. Current reactors are only able
to harness the power of 0.7% of the radioactive
isotopes found in natural uranium. In the fast
reactor, the process is optimized so that more of
the previously untapped isotopes can be used to
generate electricity, "burning-up" fuel at least
60 times more efficiently than in a normal
reactor. "We will have no concerns over fuel
supply if such reactors are used to generate
electricity commercially," Zhao said.
China started research into fast nuclear
reactor technology in 1995 and invested 1.38
billion yuan (US$170.2 million) into the
construction of the experimental reactor. "I hope
an experimental reactor with a capacity of 200,000
kilowatts can be put into use by 2010," Zhao said.
He added that construction of the reactor is close
to completion but did not identify the site of the
project, being built under the High and New
Technology Research and Development Program of the
Chinese government.
He also said plans for
a fast-reactor prototype are expected to be
included in the country's medium- and long-term
science and technology development blueprints. The
prototype reactor, with a capacity of 600,000
kilowatts, will be constructed and put into
operation by 2020, Zhao said, adding: "After that,
we will consider commercial operation of the
reactor."
As China's economy keeps
developing rapidly, the demand for power also
keeps increasing. To meet its growing energy
demands, China has mapped out a national plan to
increase nuclear generating capacity to 36,000
megawatts by 2020, up from 8,700 megawatts today.
The proportion of national power output supplied
by nuclear energy is expected to rise from 2.3%
now to 4%.
A senior official from the
National Development and Reform Commission told
China Daily that the country will have an even
more ambitious plan to generate nuclear power
after 2020. "All the plans urged our researchers
to develop our own core technologies for the
reactors," said the official, who declined to be
named. "And I personally believe the fast reactor
will play a leading role during the 2040-50 period
in China's nuclear plant construction."
Apart from fast reactor research, China
has also made a breakthrough in gas-cooled nuclear
reactors, which can generate considerably higher
temperatures than conventional nuclear reactors,
leading to a higher power generating capacity (in
general, the efficiency of power generation plants
increases as the operating temperature increases).
Using helium as a coolant, the reactor, mainly
developed by researchers from Tsinghua University,
is also able to shut down and cool automatically
in an emergency.
Senior State Council
officials have called for the early commercial
application of China's first gas-cooled nuclear
reactor to help restructure China's energy supply
strategy. Most of the nuclear reactors currently
in operation in China rely on technology imported
from France and Russia.
