China to build commercial fast reactor by 2035
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-06-08 15:21 Fast reactors are expected to
enter the Chinese nuclear power market by 2035, a leading scientist has said.
Wang Naiyan, member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and director of
the CAS Atomic Energy Institute, said Wednesday at an annual national conference
of the academy that China would develop commercial fast reactors in about 30
years and fast reactors are expected to develop steadily by 2050 and become a
major force in nuclear energy.
"Thanks to advanced technology, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster won't happen
again," Wang said. "While upgrading our thermal reactor technology, we should
take every opportunity to develop the fast reactor technology, known as an
industry for tomorrow."
He said the fast reactor system included a series of complicated
technological and engineering issues as mixed oxide fuel (MOX) technology and
fast reactor fuel fabrication.
The only fissile material found in nature is uranium-235, which makes up less
than one percent of natural uranium. While some fissile plutonium is produced in
a thermal reactor, it is not enough to replace the uranium-235 used. In a fast
reactor, however, enough plutonium can be produced and fissioned to more than
make up for the uranium-235 used.
In addition, many of the long-lived actinide elements that cannot be
fissioned in a thermal reactor can be burned in a fast reactor, so the fast
reactor is capable of destroying the major source of long-life radiotoxicity in
spent fuel. Thus, the fast reactor can create new fuel and destroy long-life
nuclear waste and plutonium while it produces electricity.
"The fast reactor and the nuclear fuel closed cycle technologies will enable
the natural uranium to be used for thousands of years," Wang acknowledged.
"China has not yet started research and development of the fast reactor fuel
closed cycle because it is a very difficult problem. China should learn from
foreign experience and develop our own scheme."
|
