Chapter 384: Thorium-based molten salt reactor

Chuan Sheep, an important research institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Mr. Zhu Bingwen, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, came to a laboratory with a very high level of security.
He only saw him wearing heavy protective clothing, as if entering a metal lead box. After a series of authority confirmations and operations, a heavy door was opened.
He led a group of people into the laboratory with an alarm-like device in their hands.
There is a clear logo on the heavy gate, and its main body is pale yellow, as if it is a symbol of fan blades.
Even primary school students can recognize it at a glance. This sign is a nuclear sign, which means that in the laboratory they enter, there may be lethal nuclear radiation.
This institute is the Institute of Nuclear Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. They mainly study high-performance nuclear reactors.
From the small nuclear reactors used by ships to the large nuclear reactors of civilian nuclear power plants, the results of their research are used.
A large part of China's nuclear scientists and nuclear engineers are gathered here. All theoretical nuclear reactors in the world have experimental facilities here.
Zhu Bingwen came to the laboratory, where a nuclear reactor was standing.
Due to his limited body movements, he could only constantly observe the overall function of the nuclear reaction device with his eyes.
Afterwards, Zhu Bingwen picked up a small hammer and endured the sense of pockets on his body in protective clothing. Constantly hit the device with a small hammer.
With his ability to exercise over the years, he can tap the echo of the device. Accurately find the location of the failure, and by the way analyze the cause of the failure.
He is the only one in this research institute. In order to obtain first-hand scientific research data, he also had confidence in the equipment he studied, and did not think that a nuclear leak would occur in the reactor. Also came to the laboratory to test in person.
If it is detected by other methods, it can only be disassembled by the robot to find the cause.
In this way, his long-term efforts will be scrapped. It is not known how long it will take to rebuild an identical reactor.
Zhu Bingwen soon learned that the reactor stopped operating because of an accident.
He carefully recalled all the data he had learned, shaking his head and saying, "I didn't expect this small problem. It caused the reactor to stop operating.
Fortunately, it is a small problem, and we can solve it quickly. The best news is that no nuclear material has leaked from the reactor.
I led the scientific research team to develop a new generation of nuclear reactors, and I thought that there would be no problems in operation. Unexpectedly, because of this humble little problem, major consequences were caused.
Now the hafnium-based molten salt reactor has been successfully optimized by us. We want to improve its performance in the future, each step is very difficult. This is already the best match.
Today we must overcome this difficulty, and we must repair this major reactor. He is really important to our country.
We must know that our country is not only a lean country but also a uranium-depleted country. Fortunately, our country's plutonium resources are quite abundant.
Nuclear power currently uses uranium-5 as the main raw material, and mines with high uranium content are declining sharply. One of the nuclear fuels that can replace uranium-5 is uranium-3, but it does not exist in nature and must be manufactured from plutonium-2. "
After Zhu Bingwen detected the cause, he thought about how to repair the nuclear reactor. While encouraging the staff who came in with him, let them relax and work hard to repair this important nuclear reactor with him.
Soon he had a repair plan in place and the robot came with parts that needed replacement.
After his guidance, under the joint efforts of engineers and robots. Damaged reactor parts were replaced and the thorium-based molten salt reactor returned to normal in this experiment.
When Zhu Bingwen stepped out of the laboratory, he came to the decontamination room, and repeated decontamination to remove radioactive elements that may be carried on the protective clothing.
With the assistance of a professional robot, he took off the protective suit and walked towards his office.
He was very emotional. The proportion of China's power generation methods is now very uneven. More than 65% of the country's electricity is maintained by coal resources.
Now the western region has huge coal reserves, which is enough to support the country's huge electricity consumption.
But resources will always run out, and alternatives must be found. The only power generation method that can operate stably for a long time is nuclear power.
There have been many major nuclear power crisis in the world, but all countries in the world have not given up the development of nuclear power.
Even if it is like Germany, they say that they are giving up but still operating the nuclear power plant stably, and have not shut down a healthy nuclear power plant.
Because every country now consumes huge amounts of electricity. Not at all satisfying by conventional power generation methods. Shutting down the nuclear power plant is bound to make a joke. This has been proven on an island.
For example, in Germany, they just released the news that they would abandon nuclear power plants, and domestic electricity prices rose sharply to about double. If we really give up nuclear power, we are giving up industrial development.
To develop nuclear power, the most crucial determinant is not to possess advanced nuclear power technology, but to have sufficient nuclear fuel.
With current technical conditions, the only natural elements capable of nuclear fission are uranium and plutonium. The simplest is uranium, but its reserves are too small. At present, major scientific research institutions have set their sights on tadpoles.
There are six kinds of radioactive elements before tritium: thorium, thorium, thorium, thorium, radium, and thallium. They cannot be fissioned in the prior art and are very rare.
Both 砹 and 钫 are made artificially, and basically do not exist in nature. The elements after uranium are also made artificially. Therefore, only thorium and uranium can be used as fission fuel.
Plutonium is also possible, but it hardly exists in Tianyuan. It is the material produced when fission of uranium. The half-life is very short, and its cost performance is worse than uranium.
Plutonium can be used as a nuclear fuel because plutonium-2 can absorb a neutron and decay into uranium-3, which can also be used as a fission fuel.
But engineeringly speaking, fission conditions for uranium-3 are much more severe than for uranium-5. This technical problem must be solved, but fortunately under his leadership, their scientific research team has solved these problems.
It's just that the cost of nuclear reactors is higher than before, but these costs are completely acceptable.
Their laboratory also solved many nuclear engineering details, and Zhu Bingwen would like to thank Qingci Technology for its scientific research assistance system.
Although it is a bit more expensive, it really helps them solve many major problems.
Compared with plutonium for nuclear reactions, the uranium-3 produced in this way will also contain a small amount of uranium-2 impurities, which is very radioactive, which makes the nuclear reactor unsafe.
But through the scientific research auxiliary system, this problem is perfectly solved. The current plutonium-based molten salt reactor produces only uranium-3, which can completely eliminate uranium-2.
The reason why Zhu Bingwen was in a hurry to study the Yanji molten salt reactor was based on the secret information he came into contact with. The world has now entered the energy crisis.
Nuclear power generation is the most important solution to the energy crisis, but the low-cost uranium used in nuclear fission reactors is continuously being used in large quantities.
Foreign institutions are optimistic that they will deplete all natural uranium raw materials by the end of this century, but the situation in China is even more severe than them.
Natural uranium deposits with scarce reserves have a poor distribution in Huaxia. Most of them have no mining value.
His role as a scientist is to develop a safe and stable thorium-based molten salt reactor nuclear energy system for the country.
Zhu Bingwen thought of the thorium-based molten salt reactor nuclear energy system he was developing, which was an improvement from the thorium-based molten salt reactor, which is one of the six advanced nuclear reactors of the fourth generation.
It includes thorium-based nuclear fuel, molten salt reactor, and comprehensive utilization of nuclear energy. It has high inherent safety, less nuclear waste, better non-proliferation performance, and better economy.
Molten salt reactor uses high temperature molten salt as the coolant, which has the characteristics of high temperature, low pressure, high chemical stability, high heat capacity and other hot matter.
It eliminates the need for heavy and expensive pressure vessels and is suitable for building compact, lightweight and low-cost small modular reactors.
In addition, the molten salt reactor uses water-free cooling technology, which requires only a small amount of water to operate, and can achieve efficient power generation in arid areas.
Zhu Bingwen selected the Yanji molten salt reactor because it can be widely used in inland areas.
You should know that almost all nuclear plants in Huaxia are distributed in coastal areas. It is because current nuclear reactors need to consume a lot of water resources, which cannot be provided in the inland areas.
Nuclear power plants are all concentrated in one area, and it has little benefit to the country's entire energy strategy.
Zhu Bingwen walked into the office, and a colleague immediately asked, "Zhu, you go to the laboratory for inspection, we are all worried. We are too incompetent, and we want you to play in this age.
What problem did you find that caused the experimental reactor to stop running?
Fortunately, the thorium-based molten salt reactor designed by us has almost no leakage of nuclear material, and its safety is guaranteed. Otherwise, as a national treasure scientist, we will never let you go to the site for inspection. "
Zhu Bingwen immediately said: "I designed the reactor and I believe in its safety.
The cause of the problem has been identified and the damaged parts have been replaced.
The specific reason is that we have made major changes to the various structures of thorium-based molten salt reactors.
As a result, the reactor's working efficiency has been excessively increased, and the reason for the failure is due to this problem. "
Some colleagues did not understand, and said in surprise: "Zhu, how is this possible. We try our best to improve the efficiency of the reactor, and how can it fail because of this kind of thing.
Then we try to reduce the working efficiency of the reactor. Is it possible that the fault is resolved? "
Zhu Bingwen smiled bitterly: "How can we solve the problem in such a simple way. Our optimization of thorium-based molten salt reactor has reached the best standard. Even reducing the effect of any system will have a great impact on its safety performance ~ www. EbookFREE.me ~ We must find a solution to this problem on the basis of constant efficiency. The main intersection direction is thermally conductive molten salt.
The reactor effect is too good, causing too much heat to accumulate inside the molten salt, which cannot be transmitted. Finally, the high temperature park caused damage to a component. "
A colleague suggested: "Zhu Lao, I think the cause of the problem has been found, and it should be tried with a scientific research assistance system. He is still very efficient in dealing with this problem."
Zhu Bingwen agreed: "The efficiency of scientific research assistance systems has been very high.
Finding the problem of molten salt alone is not a secret technology. Try it with a scientific research support system. "
After the Chinese Academy of Sciences knew the benefits of the scientific research auxiliary system, they had made careful planning for the use of the scientific research auxiliary system.
In addition to the key confidential technology that must not be leaked. However, it is possible to separate technologies and use scientific research assistance systems to help insensitive technology research and development.
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