China’s Plan to Replace Coal Energy With Nuclear

Fast neutron reactors of Russian design can increase the usable uranium and nuclear fuel by 100 times. Russia alone has already accumulated about 1 million tonnes of depleted uranium hexafluoride. U-238 of near-nuclear purity can be used to produce fuel for fast reactors. Russia’s depleted uranium alone carries energy which is 100 times greater than global annual uranium production.

Russia is developing next generation fast reactors. BN-1200M currently under development and the BREST-OD-300 experimental demonstration reactor already under construction. China is buying Russian fast reactors and the fast reactor technology.

The CFR600 demonstration fast reactor (CDFR) is the first major step in China Institute of Atomic Energy’s (CIAE’s) program. CIAE projections show fast reactors increasing to at least 200 GWe by 2050 and 1400 GWe by 2100. China will more than double the US nuclear fission power industry (just under 100 Gigawatts) by 2050 and 14 times by 2100. Fast reactor technology needs to work and get economically mass produced for China’s plan to replace coal power with a mix of fast reactors and conventional reactors.

Fast reactors will also be able to transmute their own minor actinides. What is left takes 200 years to reach the radioactive level of natural uranium versus ten thousand years for conventional nuclear waste.

The BN-1200 concept is essentially a further developed BN-800 design with the twin goals of being more economically attractive while also meeting Generation IV reactor safety limits. To improve economics, it uses a new fueling procedure that is simpler than the one on the BN-600 and BN-800 designs, and has an extended design lifetime of 60 years. Safety enhancements are the elimination of outer primary circuit sodium pipelines and a passive emergency heat removal.

The design has a breeding ratio of 1.2 to 1.3–1.35 for mixed uranium-plutonium oxide fuel and 1.45 for nitride fuel. Boron carbide would be used for in-reactor shielding. Thermal power should be nominal 2900 MW with an electric output of 1220 MW. Primary coolant temperature at the intermediate heat exchanger is 550 °C and at the steam generator 527 °C. Gross efficiency is expected to be 42%, net 39%. It is intended to be a Generation IV design and produce electricity at RUR 0.65/kWh (US 2.23 cents/kWh).

The World Nuclear Association lists the BN-1200 as a commercial reactor, in contrast to its predecessors. There is a design for a larger BN-1600 reactor.

China Working With Russia on Fast Reactors

China has completed a 600 Megawatt fast neutron reactor. They had Russian help and it is part of the plan to have Uranium, plutonium and nuclear energy independence. They will close the nuclear fuel cycle in the 2040s and use the nuclear waste which is 95% Uranium 238 by mass.

China first commercial scale large-capacity fast neutron reactors, the CFR-600 power unit (Xiapu NPP) in Fujian Province is the only nuclear power plant outside of Russia with a large-capacity fast neutron reactor. It is either started already and grid connected or will be within a couple of months.

The CFR600 demonstration fast reactor (CDFR) is the first major step in China Institute of Atomic Energy’s (CIAE’s) program.

CIAE projections show fast reactors increasing to at least 200 GWe by 2050 and 1400 GWe by 2100. China will more than double the US nuclear fission power industry (just under 100 Gigawatts) by 2050 and 14 times by 2100.

Closing the fuel cycle means there would be virtually no nuclear waste or unburned fuel. The plan would involve regular reactors, fast reactors and offsite reprocessing (recycling of fuel) facilities. Fast reactors means the designs generates neutrons that are a hundred to a thousand times faster to split the even numbered isotopes of uranium. Unburned nuclear fuel is mainly Uranium 238 by mass. If you hit Uranium 238 with a fast neutron it briefly becomes Plutonium 239 before splitting.

The impact is there if China follows through makes hundreds of reactors based on this technology. They could leverage this to phase out coal power significantly starting around 2040. This would save hundreds of thousands of lives each year from lower air pollution.

For those who are scientifically and technically aware, you will notice that the breeders also make a lot of plutonium. The CFR-600 can make 200 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium each year, enough for about 50 nuclear warheads. If there were over 300 hundred such reactors then yes China would help the environment by stopping coal air pollution but they could also make 15,000 plutonium bombs per year. China already likely has over 1000 nuclear weapons. The US will have the SpaceX Starship, which can be the best hypersonic bomber in the world. It will have a reusable payload of over 200 tons. Ball bearings released at a speed of 20 times the speed of the sound would have more kinetic energy than the equivalent chemical high explosive. There would be no missile, plane or drone that could fly under a ball bearing loaded SpaceX Starship without permission.

The CFR-600 will be 1500 MWt, 600 MWe, with 41% thermal efficiency, using MOX fuel with 100 GWd/t burn-up, and with two sodium coolant loops producing steam at 480°C. Later fuel will be metal with burn-up 100-120 GWd/t. Most pressure water reactors have fuel burn-up (an efficiency measure) at 50-70 GWd/t while older versions were at 45 GWd/t.

GWd/t means gigawatt days per ton. A one gigawatt fast reactor would need 3.65 tons of uranium per year at 100 GWd/t while an older regular gigawatt reactor needing 7.3 tons of uranium per year with 50 GWd/t efficiency.

Breeding ratio is about 1.1, design operational lifetime 40 years. It is to have active and passive shutdown systems and passive decay heat removal.

China plans a commercial CFR1000 1000-1200 MWe fast reactor that might be completed in mid-2030. It would use metal U-Pu-Zr fuel and have 120-150 GWd/t burn-up.

China has plans and designs for 350 GWd/t burnup reactors. Those would need about 1 ton of uranium per year per gigawatt.