The history of nuclear power technology is often as much a political study as it is a technical study. Perhaps no other technological development has ever been so tied to the actions and interests of government bodies and foreign affairs. In this issue of AEI we will focus on the early market struggle between the […]
Gas Cooled Reactors
Water vs. Gas Cooled Reactors: Round 1
In the period from 1966 to 1964, there were two basic reactor choices being offered for commercial electric power production. American companies were offering reactors that used ordinary water under pressure as the reactor coolant. British and French companies were offering reactors using pressurized CO2 gas as the reactor coolant. There were substantial technical differences […]
Fuel Element Designs: Unique Selection Criteria
After making the coolant and moderator choices, certain other details moved higher on the priority list. Core engineers needed to choose a cladding material, fuel material composition, and fuel element configurations. The choices designers made for the first reactors played an important role in the long term competitiveness of the early gas cooled reactor designs. […]
Pressure Vessel Construction: Lower Pressure Makes it Easier
Like the American pressurized water reactor systems, gas cooled reactors operate at elevated pressures. Unlike water, however, which is kept under extreme pressure in a reactor to prevent it from changing phase, carbon dioxide is kept under pressure in a reactor to improve its ability to remove heat by increasing its density. The actual pressure […]
Letter from the Editor: First Nuclear Power Stations
In the December 1995 issue we focused on the design decisions made by the U. S. Navy submarine reactor designers. As most people involved in the nuclear industry know, the technical direction taken by Rickover and his people had a major influence in the development of the commercial nuclear power industry. Interestingly enough, the first […]
CO2: First Choice for Power Reactors
During the period from 1946 until 1954, the single most important constraint governing the development of peaceful uses of atomic power was the Atomic Energy Act of 1946. This American law – passed after a failed attempt to establish an international control regime for nuclear materials – made it illegal to trade in nuclear knowledge […]
