I support that proposal 😁 Really an interesting series. You once mentioned 6 types of Gen IV reactors. While I heard of some I'm not sure to know of all six variants. Would like to learn on that.
I say skip to Gen V Funnel every penny being spent on frivolous fusion power into fission power. ya don't gotta be a rocket scientist to understand Lawson's criteria. It will be decades of it'll be here in thirty years before they admit defeat. Build us an SMR 500 megawatt thermal output that fits in a 40 foot hi-cube shipping container with a service life of 20 years so you can roll as many as needed to retrofit the current coal and natural gas turbogenerators at power stations and start enjoying that zero CO2 NO2 SO2 emissions nooclear goodness in the next five years. 😂
I'd love to hear more too, Elina. Also, in the UK I know highly radioactive waste is combined with glass (or at least it's called vitrification?) - would that affect its ability to be reprocessed into a future fuel as you mentioned?
I too want to hear more about this. I've been pro-nuclear all my life. I was born in the sixties and saw the disasters but I believe it is more efficient and less environmentally impacting than the other technologies
well Elina, you can explain as much reactor generations as you like. Since you are the friendly scientist and explain things so well, i'll watch it all. 🙂
Elina, an excellent video. Yes, to answer your question, please do other videos on the Gen 4 reactor types - the general public needs to be informed that nuclear power is the answer to our energy needs.
Amazing video as always. Yes I think it would be so helpful in order to understand better all the reactor types if you did separate videos for each. Thank you for the amazing knowledge delivery.
Since no one has responded yet... It is quite simple. If the uranium enrichment (% of easily fissable uranium U-235) is naturally high enough uranium can sustain a nuclear chain reaction as long as there is a moderator like a graphite rod (Tsernobyl) or water (gen 2-3), as in the case of Okla. The moderator slows the neutrons down enough that they don't simply bounce off the uranium, but is absorbed splitting the Uranium, releasing fission products and even more free neutrons to hit other fissile Uranium atoms. As long as there is moderator (water) and the good Uranium concentration % stays at inside the sweet spot range the chain reaction can keep on happening naturally without any human involment. The reason Okla is so special, is that unlike in Okla most other natural Uranium deposits we know of did not have high enough % of this "good" easily fissile Uranium with the proper conditions to naturally start and continue process, but first requires us to enrich it to raise the concentration % up to the required sweet spot range that maintain the chain reaction. There are most likely a lot of such natural reactors all around the Earth, but Okla is the only one we have found so far To get a bit more technical on the "good" Uranium and sweet spot, here is a quote from world nuclear org that explains it perfectly: _"Uranium found in nature consists largely of two isotopes, U-235 and U-238. The production of energy in nuclear reactors is from the 'fission' or splitting of the U-235 atoms, a process which releases energy in the form of heat. U-235 is the main fissile isotope of uranium.Natural uranium contains 0.7% of the U-235 isotope._ _The remaining 99.3% is mostly the U-238 isotope which does not contribute directly to the fission process (though it does so indirectly by the formation of fissile isotopes of plutonium). Isotope separation is a physical process to concentrate (‘enrich’) one isotope relative to others. Most reactors are light water reactors (of two types - PWR and BWR) and require uranium to be enriched from 0.7% to 3-5% U-235 in their fuel. This is normal low-enriched uranium (LEU). There is some interest in taking enrichment levels to about 7%, and even close to 20% for certain special power reactor fuels, as high-assay LEU (HALEU)."_
@@Songfugel I know its simple on the surface but you could probably make a 1 hr video on the specifics. What radiation and isotopes and neutron activation goes on? I have so many questions besides, water moderates, boils off becomes non critical, repeat.
@beingsentient The problem isn't with dirt to uranium ratio, it is the ratio of U235 to U238 in the uranium fuel. Current reactors use 5% U235 enriched fuel, but 10% are planned for the new plants, and research plants use up to 20% enriched uranium. Nuclear weapons require 90%+ enriched uranium I'm not proposing anything, just explaining how nuclear reactions have and are happening on Earth naturally with the right conditions. Nuclear power is the most natural source of energy, not the opposite
I would absolutely love videos about the different types of generation IV reactors currently under development. I really appreciate your channel, I must say. I'm in the middle of transitioning careers, and I'm heavily considering pursuing energy as a sector of focus in part because of you and your channel.
If I remember correctly, France abandoned research on Generation 4 reactors a few years back--maybe in 2019?--and I thought at the time, "Now this is a truly stupid idea! France should be ramping up funding, not ending it!"
Love your video Elina. Very interesting as always. You are so gifted at making quite complex nuclear concepts understandable to the masses with your charming Spanish accent. If possible, could you work in a little more of how minor actinides are transmuted in fast reactors and what they are transmuted into?
Yes! Thank you! I needed to know more about this! For myself and people I have discussions with =) Whom seems to gently become more open to listening to information about nuclear reactors. Sentiment (at least in the Netherlands) seems to gently be shifting.
I'm happy that we have such a cool nuclear physicist here in Sweden, since the environmentalists have shut down several reactors and pushed for only wind and solar power. We desperately need new reactors, preferably of the generation 4 kind. I hope that you nuclear scientists make good progress in your research.
My Dad worked in the 1st gen Calder Hall reactor in the UK in the late 50’s early 60’s. He then worked in the AGR on the same site until he retired in the 80’s. He worked in the control room and I always smile watch Homer in the Simpson. 😀😂❤️
This was the lecture I've needed. Thank you for helping me to understand the basic differences between the reactor types. Gen 4 and smaller, mass-produced reactors have fascinating possibilities. Thank you. On another topic, have you considered posting a table of contents for your videos, with timestamps linking to the different chapters? I would have found it useful with this video.
Superb summary. I appreciate the straight talking and also the energetic pace of delivery keeping it interesting. The last point about learning through use is very important. Here in the U.K. it’s all taking too long with insufficient rapid prototyping.
Excellent video. I would definitely like to see a deeper dive into the different reactor designs. The pros and cons. A look at the different emphasis each country puts on different systems. Can CANDU reactors be considered gen 4 since they can use natural uranium? Are all small modular reactors being developed considered gen 4? Is the traveling wave reactor considered gen 4? Also can the new passive safety systems be adapted to gen 3 reactors? Thanks for your videos.
Excellent video Elina, this was very useful and provided me with a good base to start my Research project!! Would love to see more of these informative and accessible videos on this particularly interesting sector of the scientific world- Thanks again for all your great work!!
Excellent job on this video and please do more ! Any and all information on nuclear energy, uranium, uranium miners and any thing else that is connected to the nuclear industry. Thank you, you really did an outstanding job and you were so straight forward with the information.
Thanks for the video. I enjoyed it very much. Also may be a subject to discuss is your reaction to the release of treated water from Fukishima nuclear power plant
Very nice presentation. On the Gen 4 reactors, you mentioned the advantage of using reprocessed spent fuels from previous generation reactors. Are there facilities for doing this reprocessing, or would they need to be built as well? And what would the problems be in reprocessing such dangerous stuff? I know in Little Valley, NY that there was a reprocessing plant that was shut down. There were area contamination and clean up issues there in the shut down, and I suppose during the operation as well. And some shady things involving plutonium also occurred that I had heard yrs ago from the grape vine, as in "special" fuel rods that ended up in operating commercial reactors. Just wondering.
Loving this! I watched as Wolf Creek (Gen 2) was built in Kansas it was part of a concept called SNUPPS (standardized nuclear power plant system). The concept was focused on standardization and repeatability. Experienced the normal legal challenges and delays that all plants did in that generation. IIRC, there were two units built to this model. I'm so looking forward to distributed nuclear generation! ❤
Elina, thank you. You're my kind of scientist. I wish there were a million Elinas out there: humanity would have conquered the energy crisis in a heartbeat. Please keep up the good work. And yes, I would like to hear more about Generation IV reactors.
Thanks Elina for the explanation!! Good to have people like you out there providing information instead of news organisations or activists. Which to me are quite biased. Keep em coming!
You know I can basically guarantee that representatives or outright CEOs from the different companies developing Gen 4 reactors would be happy to be interviewed and included in the video.
Great video, thanks! If there’s one piece of positive feedback I have, then maybe it’s easier to follow all the branching of stuff if you put like keywords up on the sides of the screen? Like ”now we’re talking about this thing, which is related to that”. I’m just viewing this as a leisure, not as a formal lecture. But it might be easier to follow. But also… Fantastisk tröja, och fortsätt göra fantastiska videor! 👍
Hi there, thoroughly enjoying your videos. i worked in the UK at Hunterston A and B nuclear power stations in Scotland for 30 years in various engineering capacities. I noticed you didn’t mention the UK’s Magnox and AGR gas cooled reactors. Both had negative void co-coefficients where raised temperature acts as a negative feedback thus limiting runaway reactions. This seems similar to the goal of self regulation of the reactor power using the methods now envisioned for the gen 4 reactors you discussed. Another advantage of gas cooling is that the control rods would fall in under gravity in an emergency shutdown rather than having to be motorised. Handy in a case of loss of electrical power. I’m not a physicist so appreciate your ability to explain the physics side of nuclear fission in layman’s terms without losing your audience in the complexities of the physics. You are right that fission is totally confused with fusion in the eyes of the public. This has been a major problem with the publics perception of the nuclear power industry. People equate fusion with the atomic bomb, a basic mistake that has held back the industry for years. Regardless of the inane green arguments against nuclear power it is the only real sustainable power source we have for the future. i think this is now beginning at last to be realised in the UK and hopefully we will return to building a renewed and substantial nuclear power capability. Keep up the good work. The more transparency and education we have the better. Thank you.❤
Great video as always, I particularly like the balance you bring to the discussions, good points and bad of a given approach. I'd love to hear your views on the EPR reactors since we're building a few of them over here.
Hi Elina, can you make an educated guess about how long we would need to wait until we see the first gen4 reactors running? I would like to know if there are still big hurdles to be solved.
It's my understanding that cultural inertia is the biggest hurdle to adopting a new generation of nuclear powerplants. Both governments and industry are extremely reluctant to change how they are doing something that they've been doing for decades. It isn't enough to say to them "Look! I have a new way to do your thing that is in every way better!" You have to overcome the entrenched mindset based on the sunk cost fallacy. They'd rather throw more money at what they have because they understand it, than to take a chance on something new that they don't understand.
Take a look at Terrestrial Energy, they are more than halfway through the Canadian licensing process, so before 2030 and others are not far behind. Each country has its own licensing process, Canada's is very long so others could be on the grid sooner.
I'm afraid the stubbornness of the regulatory apparatus and the corruption in the financial sources are major hurdles also. At plant Vogtle if an inspector found a single piece of rebar even 1mm out of place the whole form had to be ripped out and redone. We lost the project at V C Summer when Westinghouse and Toshiba made the money disappear without building the reactors. 18:42
Hi Elina, your channel is gold! Love your content! I was wondering, under which generation of reactor would a pebble bed reactor fall and how common is its use?
What an amazing explanation, the nuclear energy is in a constant evolution, and far away from the Hollywood vision of the dirty unsafe energy. I'm in love 😅
Excellent video Elina. Don’t forget the UK, which is producing the Moltex flex reactor. Moltex energy are also producing the stable salt reactor waste burner in Canada, which will use their WATSS waste to stable salt technology to recycle CANDU nuclear waste. The main advantage of the stable salt reactor design is there is no pumping of active fuel through pipes, valves, heat exchangers and a chemical processing unit. Instead the molten salt stays in vertical tubes, and fission gases bubble safely out at the top where as I understand it most of them decay into something else. This design reduces the cost enormously. Also they are planning to store heat for up to a week, so that they have plenty of energy to generate electricity when there is no wind or sun to drive renewables. That heat storage mechanism is called grid reserve.
It's been awhile since this was posted, but it was a great rundown of past, current, and future facilities. I love my actinides, they have amazing properties. Most people watch TV or cartoons for entertainment, I like to learn. Still, nuclear sciences are very dangerous, never forget Marie. Without her and her husband, we would know so little.
I’d live to see some details about designs of Gen4 reactors. Which coolants, which core designs, which kinds of fuels, how do passive safety and negative stability features work, etc
Great video Elina, very easy to understand and enjoyable to watch! I live in Australia, nuclear power is for some reason frowned upon. There's a big push for wind and solar to move us towards Net Zero. Due to the cost to setup enough wind and solar and the infrastructure required, people have started to ask why nuclear power power is not considered. Nuclear proliferation plays a part in the decision, but if its a matter of being able to power the country sufficiently, providing a reliable base load, nuclear is really the only option moving forward. Gen4 reactors sound great, such a shame they are so far away from being available. A Gen3+ reactor should suffice, the government just need to get their act together and spend the money.
This information and these discussions need to be shared more. We need to be educated to reduce the NIMBY fear of Fission. Fusion would be nice, but why are we decommissioning so many fission facilities before it's necessary? More research and RND needs to be done because that is the best way to improve technology. Great video!
My first exposure to you Elina. Can I direct your viewers to the documentary “Pandoras Promise”! This would compliment the information you are trying to articulate quite nicely.
I've been playing a game called Terra Invicta, which is set in the near future and has a lot of information about fission power (and space propulsion) in it. These videos help me actually understand what all the words mean.
Lovely! What about space reactors, we have a few blown up in (Higher) Earth Orbit. An since we're at the subject, could the Van Allen Belts have been made more radioactive by that test of a nuke in the upper atmosphere. I believe they nuked the upper atmosphere before the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts... I've always wondered about this. Thank you, the way you structure your presentation inspires confidence and trust in the info presented!😌👽🤖😸🤓
Yes, more videos about each gen4 reactor please! Love watching your vids. Hope, soon nuclear energy will be not so scary for people and science will dominate stupidity. Thank you for your work.
Great video, here some nitpick: 12:13 correct me if Im wrong but Im pretty sure you meant the reduction of reactivity in the fuel and with that the drop in power production (stop heating up) as I don't see how it would suddenly cool below the coolant's temperature :D (maybe just my english failed me :( ) 15:40 CANDU already can use natural Uranium it does not necessary requires fast spectrum, also MOX (plutonium uranium mix) can be used in PWRs
Hi, I’ve only recently found (and subscribed to) your channel. Very interesting and, although I was around at the time of the Chernobyl disaster (I was 27 years old) and have previously seen the series numerous times, I learned a lot while watching along with you. I’d be interested in your thoughts/‘reaction’ on the following 1986 animated movie “WHEN THE WIND BLOWS” (7.7 rating on IMDB) and shows the traumatising after effects of a nuclear detonation on an elderly - somewhat naive - couple. I think you’d enjoy it.
Plus one! Please inform me of the Gen IV reactor types. Please include stage of development and plus and minus of each type. Thank you for educating me in this important field!
Yes please Elina, continue with gen 4 reactors. This is very interesting. I feel it is important to learn more about this because every day the evomentalists argue how dirty and dangerous the nuclear power industry is. As a Swede, I know that we have a lot of nuclear waste that we will bury forever and the alarm in me screams that it is wrong. I feel it is wrong to bury a spent nuclear fuel for future generations to deal with, when today you can use it as a perfect fuel for gen 4 reactors making it "less dangerous". Then I have some questions: I am curious to get in-depth information about the difference between pressurized water reactors and boiling water reactors. Another question I have is that there are light water reactors. Are there even heavy water reactors? If so, what is the difference and what are heavy water reactors used for.
She has a video about candu reactors, which are heavy water reactors. They don't require enriched uranium but if I'm remembering this right they need more fuel.
You kind of left out an interim stage, the thermal spectrum MSRs, these will be the first gen. IV reactors to market. The main feature that they share with breeders is the high-temperature output, this is a huge advantage not just for fuel utilization but for energy storage. 700c output allows for the separation of the nuclear core from the power conversion equipment with a thermal storage buffer. None of the storage or power conversion equipment needs nuclear certification, saving a fortune. As a bonus, the power plant can load follow even better than natural gas. Terrestrial Energy looks like it will be first to market, as they are very far along in the Canadian licensing process. Others that are not far behind are Seaborg, Copenhagen, Thorcon, Moltex, and others.
I would like to see more discussion of HALEU as a fuel option and TRISO as temperature resistant fuel packaging. In my view, HALEU enriched to about 18% with TRISO packaging would be an excellent option to make the new most common standard.
Got a slightly off topic video. Earlier i was watching one of thoes channels that does a 5 minute google to create a 30 minute episode. This episode was on surviving a nuclear blast. It got me thinking what did they get right what did they get wrong? Would you make a video based on your knowlege level of how to survive a major neuclear disaster (bomb or meltdown)?
We are getting a 4th gen in my home state of Wyoming. I believe ours is going to be a molten salt. I think the salt part is for storing heat to supplement "green" energy.
I'd love to see an in-depth explanation on GenIV reactors. I'm not sure if it's 100% correct, but I thought I saw a reactor design that used high-temp gas for a fast reactor, specifically helium.
Yes, I have seen a proposal for a reactor with a ceramic pebble bed core ( no fuel rods!) cooled with pressurized helium, which turns out to have an amazingly high heat transfer capacity.
I could get behind Gen 4 reactors. Waste has always been my major issue with nuclear (Mainly because I don't trust how some countries treat their waste). It's hard to convince me humans can make a safe space for tens of thousands of years. In that lapse of time, language and signs will possibly have evolved in a way few will be able to understand the warning signs.
This was an awesome video and one I will watch at least one more time! Too much info to only watch it once! For Gen 3 reactors, approximately how much U-235 is left when the core needs to be replaced or the plant is decommissioned?
As I understand it the current reactors only burn about 3% or less of the available fuel in the rods therefore there is about 97% of the energy or fuel still left in the so called 'waste fuel'. Of course that left over fuel has long lived actinides within the fuel rods that make it unsafe for long periods of time. I think the 'fast reactors' being developed could burn this waste fuel and actinides which would result in the leftover unburned fuel only needing to be stored for 200 to 300 years. In addition we could create thousands of years of electricity generation without needing to mine and process new fuel which would be a major benefit to the earth's environment. It's a win-win-win as I see it and I would not worry about building waste storage at all but charge ahead with new designs for waste fuel burning reactors that would eliminate the storage problem, create more energy and help save the environment. If we got serious as we did with the Manhattan Project or Moon shot I think it could be achieved in the next 10 years.
@@WJV9 Which can be 'easily' turned (converted) into UO2 pellets (Uranium dioxide) and reused as fuel in most Gen IV reactors types.. I think there are currently 6 Gen IV types.. GFR (Gas-cooled fast reactor), LFR (Lead-cooled fast reactor), MSR (Molten salt reactor), SFR (Sodium-cooled fast reactor), SCWR (Supercritical water-cooled reactor), and VHTR (Very high-temperature gas reactor)...
Hi Elina. When speaking of safety systems perhaps at some time in the future, you mentioned the possibility of dropping the core into a coolant to avoid a meltdown. Wouldn't dropping something so hot into something so cold cause an explosion due to the sudden change in temperatures? Great video as always. Have a wonderful day, take care!
not a scientist but I think the only reason you can get the explosion from rapid temperature change is because the steam is taking up more space than the water was so if it is in like a pipe the pressure will build up, or in some situations the steam can cause like cavities of steam in the water and that is what then stops the cooling power because steam doesn't cool things down like water does and does not absorb the radiation particles so well. interesting note on core catchers, it was developed while Chornobyl was still hot and they feared the Caesium was burning through the floor, so a man developed the theory of a graphite and concrete sandwich underneath, excavation was done but then the melting things cooled down and they just filled it back in with concrete. They also considered injecting a whole bunch of nitrogen under there to freeze the ground, which seems like an insane idea!
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Yes, please explain the different Gen IV reactor concepts. That would be a nice video series.
I support that proposal 😁
Really an interesting series. You once mentioned 6 types of Gen IV reactors. While I heard of some I'm not sure to know of all six variants. Would like to learn on that.
I say skip to Gen V
Funnel every penny being spent on frivolous fusion power into fission power.
ya don't gotta be a rocket scientist to understand Lawson's criteria.
It will be decades of it'll be here in thirty years before they admit defeat.
Build us an SMR 500 megawatt thermal output that fits in a 40 foot hi-cube shipping container with a service life of 20 years so you can roll as many as needed to retrofit the current coal and natural gas turbogenerators at power stations and start enjoying that zero
CO2
NO2
SO2
emissions nooclear goodness in the next five years. 😂
I'd love to hear more too, Elina.
Also, in the UK I know highly radioactive waste is combined with glass (or at least it's called vitrification?) - would that affect its ability to be reprocessed into a future fuel as you mentioned?
I too want to hear more about this. I've been pro-nuclear all my life. I was born in the sixties and saw the disasters but I believe it is more efficient and less environmentally impacting than the other technologies
The gen 4 reactors are concept reactors and all have POTENTIAL technological advantages. But realize the same exact thing can be said of fusion
Awesome summation Elina! Yes, please do individual videos on each of the Generation IV reactors.
well Elina, you can explain as much reactor generations as you like. Since you are the friendly scientist and explain things so well, i'll watch it all. 🙂
Elina, an excellent video. Yes, to answer your question, please do other videos on the Gen 4 reactor types - the general public needs to be informed that nuclear power is the answer to our energy needs.
I really appreciate you Elina you are doing a great job
Amazing video as always. Yes I think it would be so helpful in order to understand better all the reactor types if you did separate videos for each. Thank you for the amazing knowledge delivery.
As more of a geology enthusiast, I'd love to hear your take on Oklo, and how natural nuclear reactions occur.
Love your channel!
Cheers!
Since no one has responded yet... It is quite simple. If the uranium enrichment (% of easily fissable uranium U-235) is naturally high enough uranium can sustain a nuclear chain reaction as long as there is a moderator like a graphite rod (Tsernobyl) or water (gen 2-3), as in the case of Okla.
The moderator slows the neutrons down enough that they don't simply bounce off the uranium, but is absorbed splitting the Uranium, releasing fission products and even more free neutrons to hit other fissile Uranium atoms.
As long as there is moderator (water) and the good Uranium concentration % stays at inside the sweet spot range the chain reaction can keep on happening naturally without any human involment.
The reason Okla is so special, is that unlike in Okla most other natural Uranium deposits we know of did not have high enough % of this "good" easily fissile Uranium with the proper conditions to naturally start and continue process, but first requires us to enrich it to raise the concentration % up to the required sweet spot range that maintain the chain reaction.
There are most likely a lot of such natural reactors all around the Earth, but Okla is the only one we have found so far
To get a bit more technical on the "good" Uranium and sweet spot, here is a quote from world nuclear org that explains it perfectly:
_"Uranium found in nature consists largely of two isotopes, U-235 and U-238. The production of energy in nuclear reactors is from the 'fission' or splitting of the U-235 atoms, a process which releases energy in the form of heat. U-235 is the main fissile isotope of uranium.Natural uranium contains 0.7% of the U-235 isotope._
_The remaining 99.3% is mostly the U-238 isotope which does not contribute directly to the fission process (though it does so indirectly by the formation of fissile isotopes of plutonium). Isotope separation is a physical process to concentrate (‘enrich’) one isotope relative to others. Most reactors are light water reactors (of two types - PWR and BWR) and require uranium to be enriched from 0.7% to 3-5% U-235 in their fuel. This is normal low-enriched uranium (LEU). There is some interest in taking enrichment levels to about 7%, and even close to 20% for certain special power reactor fuels, as high-assay LEU (HALEU)."_
@@Songfugel dang! You could make your own video on it! Thanks for the detailed response! Cheers!
@@Songfugel I know its simple on the surface but you could probably make a 1 hr video on the specifics. What radiation and isotopes and neutron activation goes on? I have so many questions besides, water moderates, boils off becomes non critical, repeat.
@@lexinexi-hj7zo true
@beingsentient The problem isn't with dirt to uranium ratio, it is the ratio of U235 to U238 in the uranium fuel. Current reactors use 5% U235 enriched fuel, but 10% are planned for the new plants, and research plants use up to 20% enriched uranium.
Nuclear weapons require 90%+ enriched uranium
I'm not proposing anything, just explaining how nuclear reactions have and are happening on Earth naturally with the right conditions. Nuclear power is the most natural source of energy, not the opposite
Yes!!! I’ve wanted someone knowledgeable to teach us all how the new designs are better. Not just disaster porn looking back
I would absolutely love videos about the different types of generation IV reactors currently under development. I really appreciate your channel, I must say. I'm in the middle of transitioning careers, and I'm heavily considering pursuing energy as a sector of focus in part because of you and your channel.
Финансировать ядерную энергетику на должном уровне и правильно управлять её развитием под силу только государству.
If I remember correctly, France abandoned research on Generation 4 reactors a few years back--maybe in 2019?--and I thought at the time, "Now this is a truly stupid idea! France should be ramping up funding, not ending it!"
Франции не удалось справиться с управлением реактором Супер Феникс. Выступали зелёные. И даже был терракт против реактора.
A very well designed and presented video. Yes...I would like to see videos on the different "new" Gen4 reactors.
Thanks for your video !!!
Love your video Elina. Very interesting as always. You are so gifted at making quite complex nuclear concepts understandable to the masses with your charming Spanish accent.
If possible, could you work in a little more of how minor actinides are transmuted in fast reactors and what they are transmuted into?
Yes! Thank you! I needed to know more about this! For myself and people I have discussions with =)
Whom seems to gently become more open to listening to information about nuclear reactors. Sentiment (at least in the Netherlands) seems to gently be shifting.
I'm happy that we have such a cool nuclear physicist here in Sweden, since the environmentalists have shut down several reactors and pushed for only wind and solar power. We desperately need new reactors, preferably of the generation 4 kind. I hope that you nuclear scientists make good progress in your research.
My Dad worked in the 1st gen Calder Hall reactor in the UK in the late 50’s early 60’s. He then worked in the AGR on the same site until he retired in the 80’s. He worked in the control room and I always smile watch Homer in the Simpson. 😀😂❤️
Thanks for a wonderful lesson. For me as an interpreter at a nuclear power plant that was really valuable, informative and intelligible.
Great video. Useful, informative, and really well explained. Thanks for all the work you put into these.
Thank you for this! I like your teaching style and look forward to the next one 😊
This was the lecture I've needed. Thank you for helping me to understand the basic differences between the reactor types. Gen 4 and smaller, mass-produced reactors have fascinating possibilities. Thank you. On another topic, have you considered posting a table of contents for your videos, with timestamps linking to the different chapters? I would have found it useful with this video.
By far my new go-to nuclear education site. Yes, please, explain next Gen. IV, please :)
Very good video! Thanks for posting this.
❤ your videos as usual Very informative. 😊
Wonderful video; thank you for making it!!!
Very enlightening! I look forward to getting more updates/results from the actual experiments and trial operations of the countries you've mentioned.
Great!! This is just what I have been looking for!!
Superb summary. I appreciate the straight talking and also the energetic pace of delivery keeping it interesting. The last point about learning through use is very important. Here in the U.K. it’s all taking too long with insufficient rapid prototyping.
Thank you so much for your comment. It means a lot 🙏🏼☢️👩🏽🔬
I would love a dive into the types of Gen4 with the different pros and cons of each. Thanks for your clear and accurate information.😊😊
Thank you, this was very helpful.
Excellent video. I would definitely like to see a deeper dive into the different reactor designs. The pros and cons. A look at the different emphasis each country puts on different systems. Can CANDU reactors be considered gen 4 since they can use natural uranium? Are all small modular reactors being developed considered gen 4? Is the traveling wave reactor considered gen 4? Also can the new passive safety systems be adapted to gen 3 reactors? Thanks for your videos.
Excellent video Elina, this was very useful and provided me with a good base to start my Research project!! Would love to see more of these informative and accessible videos on this particularly interesting sector of the scientific world- Thanks again for all your great work!!
Just discovered your channel and love the content so far! Yes, please do a breakdown of the different Gen 4 systems. 😃
Great explanation, more videos on Gen IV would be really cool
Subscribed!! Excellent and brief explaination.
Very nice. You were very knowledgeable & fluent and the talk could be understood easily by anyone. Thank you
Excellent job on this video and please do more ! Any and all information on nuclear energy, uranium, uranium miners and any thing else that is connected to the nuclear industry. Thank you, you really did an outstanding job and you were so straight forward with the information.
Thanks for the video. I enjoyed it very much. Also may be a subject to discuss is your reaction to the release of treated water from Fukishima nuclear power plant
Fascinating. Really well explained. Liked and subscribed.
Thank you for your work. I would like to know more about the funds we need to develop Generation IV reactors.
Very nice presentation. On the Gen 4 reactors, you mentioned the advantage of using reprocessed spent fuels from previous generation reactors. Are there facilities for doing this reprocessing, or would they need to be built as well? And what would the problems be in reprocessing such dangerous stuff? I know in Little Valley, NY that there was a reprocessing plant that was shut down. There were area contamination and clean up issues there in the shut down, and I suppose during the operation as well. And some shady things involving plutonium also occurred that I had heard yrs ago from the grape vine, as in "special" fuel rods that ended up in operating commercial reactors. Just wondering.
В России при каждом(если он будет 1 на АЭС) реакторе на быстрых нейтронах будет комплекс по переработке работавшего топлива и изготовлению нового.
Thank you and well done presentation. I hope the rare greenie who can think and question is watching.
Loving this! I watched as Wolf Creek (Gen 2) was built in Kansas it was part of a concept called SNUPPS (standardized nuclear power plant system). The concept was focused on standardization and repeatability. Experienced the normal legal challenges and delays that all plants did in that generation. IIRC, there were two units built to this model. I'm so looking forward to distributed nuclear generation! ❤
I would watch any content you make that teaches me about your field of expertise.
Excellent summary on the state of nuclear power!
Thank you" was trying to find some videos like this regarding history of reactor designs
Elina, thank you. You're my kind of scientist. I wish there were a million Elinas out there: humanity would have conquered the energy crisis in a heartbeat. Please keep up the good work.
And yes, I would like to hear more about Generation IV reactors.
Thanks for the overview. That was pretty informative.
a full explainer on gen 4 would be great, possibly with a video explaining all gen 3 currently in use so we could understand everything better
Loving the shirt! 👍
Excellent video, as always
Yes, you are a friendly nuclear physicist!. As your T-shirt says. Great job in explaining the generations. Have you covered H3 reactors ?.
Great video, thank you!
very good and very interesting! thank you.
Thanks Elina for the explanation!! Good to have people like you out there providing information instead of news organisations or activists. Which to me are quite biased. Keep em coming!
I'd love to see your explanation of the Gen 4 reactor types! :D
Love and like your explanarion, very informative indeed. Take care always.
What an information dump my head is spinning 😄 Sounds like Gen IV is a great leap for a new nuclear era. Yay! 🎉
gen IV is a pipe dream. it is economically obsolete, because each produced kWh costs 4-10x more than any other electricity source.
I love this channel ♥️
You know I can basically guarantee that representatives or outright CEOs from the different companies developing Gen 4 reactors would be happy to be interviewed and included in the video.
Nice explanation...🌍👽
Great video, thanks!
If there’s one piece of positive feedback I have, then maybe it’s easier to follow all the branching of stuff if you put like keywords up on the sides of the screen? Like ”now we’re talking about this thing, which is related to that”. I’m just viewing this as a leisure, not as a formal lecture. But it might be easier to follow.
But also… Fantastisk tröja, och fortsätt göra fantastiska videor! 👍
Notification squad! Let's go!
Hi there, thoroughly enjoying your videos. i worked in the UK at Hunterston A and B nuclear power stations in Scotland for 30 years in various engineering capacities. I noticed you didn’t mention the UK’s Magnox and AGR gas cooled reactors. Both had negative void co-coefficients where raised temperature acts as a negative feedback thus limiting runaway reactions. This seems similar to the goal of self regulation of the reactor power using the methods now envisioned for the gen 4 reactors you discussed. Another advantage of gas cooling is that the control rods would fall in under gravity in an emergency shutdown rather than having to be motorised. Handy in a case of loss of electrical power. I’m not a physicist so appreciate your ability to explain the physics side of nuclear fission in layman’s terms without losing your audience in the complexities of the physics. You are right that fission is totally confused with fusion in the eyes of the public. This has been a major problem with the publics perception of the nuclear power industry. People equate fusion with the atomic bomb, a basic mistake that has held back the industry for years. Regardless of the inane green arguments against nuclear power it is the only real sustainable power source we have for the future. i think this is now beginning at last to be realised in the UK and hopefully we will return to building a renewed and substantial nuclear power capability. Keep up the good work. The more transparency and education we have the better. Thank you.❤
Very helpful, thank you :)
Great video as always, I particularly like the balance you bring to the discussions, good points and bad of a given approach. I'd love to hear your views on the EPR reactors since we're building a few of them over here.
Elina a discussion of gen 4 reactors with some images explaining how they produce electricity would be great, I see you have started this, thank you.
Yes please for the explanation of each Gen4 type separately.
Hi Elina, can you make an educated guess about how long we would need to wait until we see the first gen4 reactors running? I would like to know if there are still big hurdles to be solved.
Me too
It's my understanding that cultural inertia is the biggest hurdle to adopting a new generation of nuclear powerplants. Both governments and industry are extremely reluctant to change how they are doing something that they've been doing for decades. It isn't enough to say to them "Look! I have a new way to do your thing that is in every way better!" You have to overcome the entrenched mindset based on the sunk cost fallacy. They'd rather throw more money at what they have because they understand it, than to take a chance on something new that they don't understand.
Take a look at Terrestrial Energy, they are more than halfway through the Canadian licensing process, so before 2030 and others are not far behind. Each country has its own licensing process, Canada's is very long so others could be on the grid sooner.
I'm afraid the stubbornness of the regulatory apparatus and the corruption in the financial sources are major hurdles also. At plant Vogtle if an inspector found a single piece of rebar even 1mm out of place the whole form had to be ripped out and redone. We lost the project at V C Summer when Westinghouse and Toshiba made the money disappear without building the reactors. 18:42
It's not when, it's where
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beloyarsk_Nuclear_Power_Station
Hi Elina, your channel is gold! Love your content! I was wondering, under which generation of reactor would a pebble bed reactor fall and how common is its use?
What an amazing explanation, the nuclear energy is in a constant evolution, and far away from the Hollywood vision of the dirty unsafe energy. I'm in love 😅
i loved it!
sure we do!
see u soon!
Nice video! Maybe next time showcase a specific gen 4 reactor design and talk about how these features are implemented in that reactor.
Please cover the nuclear waste controversy in Japanese sea, keep up the good work and thank you!
Excellent video Elina. Don’t forget the UK, which is producing the Moltex flex reactor. Moltex energy are also producing the stable salt reactor waste burner in Canada, which will use their WATSS waste to stable salt technology to recycle CANDU nuclear waste. The main advantage of the stable salt reactor design is there is no pumping of active fuel through pipes, valves, heat exchangers and a chemical processing unit. Instead the molten salt stays in vertical tubes, and fission gases bubble safely out at the top where as I understand it most of them decay into something else. This design reduces the cost enormously. Also they are planning to store heat for up to a week, so that they have plenty of energy to generate electricity when there is no wind or sun to drive renewables. That heat storage mechanism is called grid reserve.
It's been awhile since this was posted, but it was a great rundown of past, current, and future facilities. I love my actinides, they have amazing properties. Most people watch TV or cartoons for entertainment, I like to learn. Still, nuclear sciences are very dangerous, never forget Marie. Without her and her husband, we would know so little.
I’d live to see some details about designs of Gen4 reactors. Which coolants, which core designs, which kinds of fuels, how do passive safety and negative stability features work, etc
Great video Elina, very easy to understand and enjoyable to watch! I live in Australia, nuclear power is for some reason frowned upon. There's a big push for wind and solar to move us towards Net Zero. Due to the cost to setup enough wind and solar and the infrastructure required, people have started to ask why nuclear power power is not considered. Nuclear proliferation plays a part in the decision, but if its a matter of being able to power the country sufficiently, providing a reliable base load, nuclear is really the only option moving forward. Gen4 reactors sound great, such a shame they are so far away from being available. A Gen3+ reactor should suffice, the government just need to get their act together and spend the money.
This information and these discussions need to be shared more. We need to be educated to reduce the NIMBY fear of Fission. Fusion would be nice, but why are we decommissioning so many fission facilities before it's necessary? More research and RND needs to be done because that is the best way to improve technology. Great video!
Excellent! You are interesting, highly educated and very informative. Only problem is they all far to brief. More please and thank you.
My first exposure to you Elina. Can I direct your viewers to the documentary “Pandoras Promise”! This would compliment the information you are trying to articulate quite nicely.
I've been playing a game called Terra Invicta, which is set in the near future and has a lot of information about fission power (and space propulsion) in it. These videos help me actually understand what all the words mean.
Huh
Lovely! What about space reactors, we have a few blown up in (Higher) Earth Orbit. An since we're at the subject, could the Van Allen Belts have been made more radioactive by that test of a nuke in the upper atmosphere. I believe they nuked the upper atmosphere before the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts... I've always wondered about this. Thank you, the way you structure your presentation inspires confidence and trust in the info presented!😌👽🤖😸🤓
Can't wait for Oppenheimer reaction vid.
Yes, more videos about each gen4 reactor please!
Love watching your vids. Hope, soon nuclear energy will be not so scary for people and science will dominate stupidity.
Thank you for your work.
Great video, here some nitpick:
12:13 correct me if Im wrong but Im pretty sure you meant the reduction of reactivity in the fuel and with that the drop in power production (stop heating up) as I don't see how it would suddenly cool below the coolant's temperature :D (maybe just my english failed me :( )
15:40 CANDU already can use natural Uranium it does not necessary requires fast spectrum, also MOX (plutonium uranium mix) can be used in PWRs
Hi, I’ve only recently found (and subscribed to) your channel. Very interesting and, although I was around at the time of the Chernobyl disaster (I was 27 years old) and have previously seen the series numerous times, I learned a lot while watching along with you.
I’d be interested in your thoughts/‘reaction’ on the following 1986 animated movie “WHEN THE WIND BLOWS” (7.7 rating on IMDB) and shows the traumatising after effects of a nuclear detonation on an elderly - somewhat naive - couple. I think you’d enjoy it.
Well done! 😊
Plus one! Please inform me of the Gen IV reactor types. Please include stage of development and plus and minus of each type. Thank you for educating me in this important field!
Yes please Elina, continue with gen 4 reactors. This is very interesting. I feel it is important to learn more about this because every day the evomentalists argue how dirty and dangerous the nuclear power industry is. As a Swede, I know that we have a lot of nuclear waste that we will bury forever and the alarm in me screams that it is wrong. I feel it is wrong to bury a spent nuclear fuel for future generations to deal with, when today you can use it as a perfect fuel for gen 4 reactors making it "less dangerous".
Then I have some questions: I am curious to get in-depth information about the difference between pressurized water reactors and boiling water reactors. Another question I have is that there are light water reactors. Are there even heavy water reactors? If so, what is the difference and what are heavy water reactors used for.
She has a video about candu reactors, which are heavy water reactors. They don't require enriched uranium but if I'm remembering this right they need more fuel.
@@baxter1252 Thanks för the information! I gonna watch that video.
1, 2, 3 and 4 please
You kind of left out an interim stage, the thermal spectrum MSRs, these will be the first gen. IV reactors to market. The main feature that they share with breeders is the high-temperature output, this is a huge advantage not just for fuel utilization but for energy storage. 700c output allows for the separation of the nuclear core from the power conversion equipment with a thermal storage buffer. None of the storage or power conversion equipment needs nuclear certification, saving a fortune. As a bonus, the power plant can load follow even better than natural gas.
Terrestrial Energy looks like it will be first to market, as they are very far along in the Canadian licensing process. Others that are not far behind are Seaborg, Copenhagen, Thorcon, Moltex, and others.
I would like to see more discussion of HALEU as a fuel option and TRISO as temperature resistant fuel packaging. In my view, HALEU enriched to about 18% with TRISO packaging would be an excellent option to make the new most common standard.
Huh
Please make a video series about each gen lV reactors!
Got a slightly off topic video. Earlier i was watching one of thoes channels that does a 5 minute google to create a 30 minute episode. This episode was on surviving a nuclear blast. It got me thinking what did they get right what did they get wrong? Would you make a video based on your knowlege level of how to survive a major neuclear disaster (bomb or meltdown)?
We are getting a 4th gen in my home state of Wyoming. I believe ours is going to be a molten salt. I think the salt part is for storing heat to supplement "green" energy.
I'd love to see an in-depth explanation on GenIV reactors. I'm not sure if it's 100% correct, but I thought I saw a reactor design that used high-temp gas for a fast reactor, specifically helium.
Yes, I have seen a proposal for a reactor with a ceramic pebble bed core ( no fuel rods!) cooled with pressurized helium, which turns out to have an amazingly high heat transfer capacity.
I could get behind Gen 4 reactors. Waste has always been my major issue with nuclear (Mainly because I don't trust how some countries treat their waste). It's hard to convince me humans can make a safe space for tens of thousands of years. In that lapse of time, language and signs will possibly have evolved in a way few will be able to understand the warning signs.
This was an awesome video and one I will watch at least one more time! Too much info to only watch it once!
For Gen 3 reactors, approximately how much U-235 is left when the core needs to be replaced or the plant is decommissioned?
Usually about 1 % of the uranium in spent fuel is U235.
There is also some U234 and U236.
As I understand it the current reactors only burn about 3% or less of the available fuel in the rods therefore there is about 97% of the energy or fuel still left in the so called 'waste fuel'. Of course that left over fuel has long lived actinides within the fuel rods that make it unsafe for long periods of time. I think the 'fast reactors' being developed could burn this waste fuel and actinides which would result in the leftover unburned fuel only needing to be stored for 200 to 300 years. In addition we could create thousands of years of electricity generation without needing to mine and process new fuel which would be a major benefit to the earth's environment. It's a win-win-win as I see it and I would not worry about building waste storage at all but charge ahead with new designs for waste fuel burning reactors that would eliminate the storage problem, create more energy and help save the environment. If we got serious as we did with the Manhattan Project or Moon shot I think it could be achieved in the next 10 years.
@@WJV9 Which can be 'easily' turned (converted) into UO2 pellets (Uranium dioxide) and reused as fuel in most Gen IV reactors types.. I think there are currently 6 Gen IV types.. GFR (Gas-cooled fast reactor), LFR (Lead-cooled fast reactor), MSR (Molten salt reactor), SFR (Sodium-cooled fast reactor), SCWR (Supercritical water-cooled reactor), and VHTR (Very high-temperature gas reactor)...
Love your T-Shirt ... where could i buy it? ... and your channel ...
Cool, you got us more interested...
Hi Elina.
When speaking of safety systems perhaps at some time in the future, you mentioned the possibility of dropping the core into a coolant to avoid a meltdown.
Wouldn't dropping something so hot into something so cold cause an explosion due to the sudden change in temperatures?
Great video as always.
Have a wonderful day, take care!
@dariojurisic I get that but as the hot core enters the water, it can cause an exploration due to rapid temperature change.
not a scientist but I think the only reason you can get the explosion from rapid temperature change is because the steam is taking up more space than the water was so if it is in like a pipe the pressure will build up, or in some situations the steam can cause like cavities of steam in the water and that is what then stops the cooling power because steam doesn't cool things down like water does and does not absorb the radiation particles so well.
interesting note on core catchers, it was developed while Chornobyl was still hot and they feared the Caesium was burning through the floor, so a man developed the theory of a graphite and concrete sandwich underneath, excavation was done but then the melting things cooled down and they just filled it back in with concrete. They also considered injecting a whole bunch of nitrogen under there to freeze the ground, which seems like an insane idea!