Intrinsically Safe
Since 1993, when General Atomics initiated a joint venture with the Russian Federation Ministry for Atomic Energy (MINATOM) to develop the GT-MHR for disposition of Russian weapons-grade plutonium, safety has always been an overriding concern.
Using special ceramic-coated TRISO fuel particles loaded into prismatic graphite fuel elements, the GT-MHR is passively safe from an operational standpoint. The fuel particles are designed to not crack due to the stresses from nuclear processes (such as differential thermal expansion or fission gas pressure) at temperatures beyond 1600 degrees Celsius, and therefore can contain the fuel in the worst of accident scenarios in a properly designed reactor.
From a proliferation standpoint, the TRISO particles are so small and hard, it would be extremely difficult to extract any significant amount fission products from them for weapons use.
Less than one millimeter in diameter, TRISO particles are extremely difficult to reprocess into material for a weapon. This electron micrograph shows the silicon carbide and pyrocarbon coatings, which also act as miniature containment barriers -- highly resistant to corrosion and pressure buildup, even on a geologic timescale.
“The helium reactor opens a new opportunity for nuclear power -- the high-temperature fuel is passively safe and totally melt-down proof,” states Schultz. “And you don’t have to rely on redundant safety systems or human capability (because) nature will keep the reactor cool enough that the fuel will not fail and you’ll never get a melt-down.”
The basic design of the GT-MHR means that even in the case of complete coolant loss, the reactor will never exceed the upper temperature design limit of the fuel or the containment system. “Eventually, you can recover things and put the fuel rods in and get completely shut down. But in the meantime, nothing happens,” says Schultz.
“Do remember that Three Mile Island was a reactor meltdown,” Schultz recalls. “You remember that nobody got hurt. We’ll go even one better -- we won’t hurt anybody and we won’t even damage the plant.”
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