TerraPower

TerraPower, LLC
Private
Industry Nuclear Power
Headquarters Bellevue, Washington, USA
Key people
 John Gilleland, CEO
Products Traveling wave reactor

TerraPower is a nuclear reactor design company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, in the United States. TerraPower is a class of nuclear fast reactors called the traveling wave reactor (TWR).[1] TerraPower also works with Los Alamos National Laboratory who hopes this partnership will help strengthen and expand their science and energy programs.[2] Unlike standard light water reactors such as PWRs or BWRs which operate by using enriched uranium as fuel, TWR uses depleted uranium instead, with an estimated operation period from 40 to 60 years. The byproduct of the Uranium-235 fission can be re-used for other TWR reactors.

Traveling wave reactor

TerraPower has chosen TWRs as a technology for further development. The major benefits of these reactors are that they can get high fuel utilization (enhancing sustainability) in a manner that does not require reprocessing and could eventually eliminate the need to enrich uranium.[3] TWRs are designed to convert typically unusable fertile nuclides such as U-238 into fissile nuclides like Pu-239 in-situ and then shift the power from the highly burned region to the freshly bred region. This allows the benefits of a closed fuel cycle without the expensive and proliferation-sensitive enrichment and reprocessing plants typically required to get them. All the fuel required for between 40 to 60 years of operation could be in the reactor from the beginning. Executives at TerraPower say their reactor could even be buried below ground, where it could run for an estimated 100 years.[4]

TerraPower plans to have a TWR prototype built by 2020 producing electricity for the grid in the several-hundred megawatt capacity range.[5]

Effects on the environment

By using existing stockpiles of depleted uranium as fuel, the new reactor type could potentially reduce the amount of nuclear waste.[6] TerraPower says there are 700 000 metric tons of spent fuel in the U.S. alone, and 8 metric tons could power 2.5 million homes for a year.[7] Some reports claim that the high fuel efficiency of TWRs, combined with the ability to use uranium recovered from river or sea water, means enough fuel is available to generate electricity for 10 billion people at U.S. per capita levels for million-year time-scales.[8]

Research and Development

The TWR design is still in the research and development phase. The company has no existing governmental contract for the TWR's construction or operation at this time. The conceptual framework of the TWR operations was simulated by supercomputers with an empirical evidence for theoretical feasibility. As of 2015 the TerraPower is seeking a country willing to consider the construction of the experimental reactor. The U.S. regulators postponed the construction of the experimental reactor for a decade due extended documentation for a certification process that the reactors like TerraPower need.[4] On November 6, 2009, Bill Gates and TerraPower executives visited Toshiba's Yokohama and Keihin Factories in Japan, and concluded a non-disclosure agreement with them on December 1.[9][10][11][11] Toshiba already developed an ultracompact reactor, the 4S, that can operate continuously for 30 years without fuel handlings and generates 10 megawatts.[11][12][13] Some of the technologies used in 4S are considered to be transferable to TWRs.[10]

Organization

One of TerraPower's primary investors is Bill Gates.[1] Other investors include Charles River Ventures and Khosla Ventures, who reportedly invested $35 million in 2010.[2] TerraPower is led by chief executive officer, John Gilleland, a member of the American Nuclear Society.[3] In December 2011 India's Reliance Industries bought a minority stake through one of its subsidiaries. Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani will join the company's board. The TerraPower team includes[14] scientists and engineers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Fast Flux Test Facility, Microsoft, and various universities, as well as management with experience at Siemens A.G., Areva|Areva NP, the ITER project, and the United States Department of Energy|U.S. Department of Energy.

Objectives

Objectives of the company include:[15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ RIL buys stake in US's Terra Power , www.moneycontrol.com
  2. ↑ Delacruz, Vanessa (August 2012). "Fiscal Year 2012 Institutional Commitments Midyear Progress Report". Energy Citation Database: 1–37. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  3. ↑ John Gilleland. "TR10: Traveling-Wave Reactor". Technology Review. Retrieved 2010-04-19.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Gurth, Robert (February 27, 2011). "A Window Into the Nuclear Future". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  5. ↑ John Gilleland. "Bill Gates’s Nuclear Miracle? John Gilleland Says TerraPower Needs Discipline, Not Divine Intervention". Xconomy. Retrieved 2010-04-19.
  6. ↑ Michal, Rick; Michael Blake (April 2010). "The nuclear news interview. John Gilleland. On the traveling-wave reactor". Internationale Zeitschrift fuer Kernenergie 41 (25): 249–252. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  7. ↑ "Depleted Uranium as Fuel Cuts Path to Less Waste". Intellectual Ventures Management, LLC. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  8. ↑ Ellis, T.; R. Petroski (2010). "Traveling-wave reactors: A truly sustainable and full-scale resource for global energy needs". American Nuclear Society 42 (44): 546–558. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  9. ↑ Bill Gates, Toshiba in early talks on nuclear reactor, Sydney Morning Herald, March 23, 2010
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "ゲイツ、原発挑戦の真相". The Nikkei. 2010-03-23. Retrieved 2010-03-24.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 "東芝、ゲイツ氏と次世代原発開発へ　維持コスト管理を低減". The Sankei Simbun. 2010-03-23. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
  12. ↑ "次世代原子炉：１００年連続運転の開発、ゲイツ氏が東芝とタッグ　私財数千億円投じ". Mainichi Newspapers. 2010-03-23. Retrieved 2010-03-24.
  13. ↑ "ゲイツ氏と東芝、原発開発でタッグ？　米企業が協力要請". The Asahi Simbun. 2010-03-24. Retrieved 2010-03-24.
  14. ↑ TerraPower Team Bios, www.TerraPower.com
  15. ↑ The TerraPower Initiative, berkeley.edu

External links