(Marie) Curie(nt) Events in Nuclear Power

There is always new things happening in the world of nuclear power every day.  Some days a new innovation is created, others a disaster happens, on other days, new legislation is passed, and some days are the anniversaries for big nuclear events.  This week alone all of these different events happened.  With so much going on, it is time that we take a look at these current events.  Today, we will look at two recent events in the news; one positive, a new innovative design for nuclear power plants, and one negative, the anniversary of the Three Mile Island accidents.  To begin we will look at a new innovative nuclear power plant design.

(Pixabay)

X-Energy, an organization committed to creating cleaner energy recently released their design for a new kind of nuclear power plant called Xe-100.  According to Forbes, Xe-100 is a nuclear reactor that can be built more easily and quickly because it is made from "factory-produced components."  It's design is also resistant to meltdowns, and can shut itself down in the event of an accident (like when the plumbing or cooling isn't working).  The power plant is also relatively small as compared to normal power plants, and it can function at much higher temperatures that past plants.  These are only some of the amazing innovations, the most interesting creation by X-Energy is there fuel source to run this plant.

Dr. Kam Ghaffarian, Founder & CEO of X-Energy

(X-Energy)

The fuel source for Xe-100 is known as the pebbles.  The pebbles, as Forbes puts it, are about the size of a tennis ball.  The core of these pebbles is made up of Uranium-235.  The core is surrounded by  a layer of pyrolytic granite, which sounds fancy, but just helps all of the uranium in the core to split during fission.  Around this layer is a final layer of silicon carbide which protects the inner layers.  A bunch of the pebbles are then put together to create the core of the reactor, and as they are used up, they simply fall off, like an apple from a tree.  The pebbles are also cooled by gases, which do not absorb the contaminants from the pebbles, resulting in much less radioactive waste.  These innovations to nuclear power plants seem very promising, but it is because of past event that these ideas are created.

X-Energy Logo

(X-Energy)

This past Tuesday marked the 38th anniversary of the Three Mile Island accident.  According to VOA News, the accident occurred at 4 a.m. at the Three Mile Island Power Plant, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (home to the capital of Pennsylvania and a Penn State branch campus).  The accident occurred due to a plumbing failure, that did not allow the power plant to cool its reactor.  This caused the reactor to continue to overheat, which the operators did not notice at first.  Finally, after half of the reactor core had melted, the operators realized what was going on.  The nuclear power plant was then brought back under control after about sixteen hours.  People most susceptible to radiation, such as pregnant woman and children, were then advised to evacuate the area due to radiation leaks from the accident.  President Jimmy Carter even went to visit power plant to see the damage, in bring calm to the country fearing the worst from the accident.  Overall, out of this disaster came many new safety regulations, as well as people wanting to innovate to make nuclear power plants safer.  It is for this reason that many new innovations, such as Xe-100 and the pebbles were created.

Three Mile Island Power Plant

(VOA News)

The story of nuclear power is still going strong, and will most likely continue on for many years to come.  With innovations like Xe-100 being created to prevent disasters such as Three Mile Island, the current disadvantages of nuclear power may one day no longer be a problem.  Now that we have looked far and wide at all of the history, advantages, disadvantages, and current events of nuclear power, it is time to bring our learning closer to home.  In our final post, we will look at a specific nuclear power plant that is very close to all of us.  More specifically, this nuclear reactor is right on the edge of our very own campus here, at Pennsylvania State University.

(Pixabay)