Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has announced the development of a new nuclear reactor which quickly varies output to compensate for renewable source fluctuations.
The new reactor will reach completion in the mid-2030s and will be able to adjust its power output quickly in response to fluctuations in power generation from renewable energy sources, reports the Nikkei Asian Review.
The technology should make nuclear as nimble as thermal power as a supply source, and is expected to facilitate greater use of renewable energy in the power system.
Power outages occur when power supply doesn’t match demand. One way of rectifying this is by using fossil-fueled power to plug gaps in the power supply from renewable sources.
The response time according to the Nikkei is usually around 10 minutes.
At present, nuclear power requires about an hour to adjust, which limits its use to providing a constant base load supply.
The reactor Mitsubishi is developing will be mid-size with output ranging from 600 megawatts to a gigawatt.
It will employ a new drive system for its control rods, enabling the reactor to cut output by half in just 17 minutes – a quarter of the time at present, says Mitsubishi.
Smaller adjustments can also be made in less time and the new reactor will be large enough to replace existing reactors.
According to Mitsubishi, the cost of power for the new fast-responding reactor will be 8.8 cents per kilowatt hour: This includes the cost of installing safety systems and getting fuel reprocessed.
The new reactor’s containment vessel will feature double walls and other protective systems, reducing the risk of breach to one tenth of that in existing models.
The cost of building a new reactor would be equivalent to an existing 1.2 GW nuclear plant ($5.3 billion).
Mitsubishi is also developing a smaller 300 MＷ reactor to meet customer demand amd it hopes to make the same available in the 2040s.
Image and content: Reuters/Nikkei Asian Review
