Let me add something that I feel must ALWAYS be added when talking about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, because it often isn't: Yes, it was a pretty dire scenario that the power plant had to deal with... very strong earthquake followed by several tsunami waves. But actually, much like several other nuclear disasters, this one also came from mismanagement and corruption. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster#Investigations TEPCO, the main energy company behind several of Japan's power plants and electrical grid, together with the japanese government itself, ignored multiple warnings that a major earthquake event could cause a runaway incident. The warnings started back in 1991, getting reinforced multiple times in 2000 and 2008, with increased alarm every time it was raised. All the fail points that led to the meltdown were thoroughly addressed in risk accessment reports, including the possibility of diesel backup generators getting flooded and failing to work. The need for a secondary failsafe source of power came up in 1991, and from 2000 on the risk accessment warned multiple times about the tsunami risk. This often doesn't come out when talking about the disaster, but several energy officials, regulatory bodies heads and TEPCO executives were fired, some were prossecuted, but found not guilty... because you know how these things go. But really, the whole structure of safety and checks that Fukushima Daiichi was propped on was rotten from start. Regulators more worried about their careers and promotions rather than public safety. We have this image of honesty and hard work in Japan, but corruption, collusion and nepotism also does happen there, and it just so happens that the Fukushima disaster is directly tied to one such case. A conservative top down structure that led to corruption which allowed for the disaster to happen. Politicians and executives ignoring multiple studies and multiple warnings for decades of a disaster that ended up happening. And then, media coverage forgetting about it, as well as this part of the case getting sweeped under the rug because it doesn't look good for the japanese government and the most powerful energy company in Japan. This needs to be said everytime the subject comes up, or we learn nothing from mistakes. It was a disaster, but was no accident.

The US Navy has been operating small reactors safely for over 60 years without a serious leak.

This is by far my favorite science/engineering/technology explanation channel!!! Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication.

I live here in SC, near Vogtle; have some friends working there. They have literally dumped money just switching contractors and are literally running in circles when it comes to management.. The entire process would've been done if these "managers" would stop their ridiculous and pointless game of "management."

Singapore would definitely need these. The air pollution here is getting worse.

"Two Tsunamis, One Reactor" lmao

bingo spot on the "successful and safe reactor advancements and acception" bingo sheet of the spot of "smol, auto-shutdown capable reactors."

The issue with passive drop cooling rods in other designs, is that the rods and channels can warp with age and fail to drop. Hopefully the tolerances are loose enough.

Hah, I was just checking out your website and was wondering when your next video would be... Great timing!

No matter how complex it's still steam power.

What an incredible video with great detail and beautiful graphics. Thank you, Subject Zero Science. :)

Brilliant Explanation, love the quality of sounds in background. Overall top notch quality.

I let out an audible laugh at how simple the SCRAM system is. Reactor: loses power. Control rods: *plunk*

COOL!!! I would have one in my backyard, if that available...

love your informal videos, the whole style and most importantly the intro reminds of aperture science everytime I watch a video of yours :D

Excellent video again, the production value blows my mind every time, just wow! Also, really happy to see some positive outlooks on nuclear power, I have a personal history with it, and learned a lot, and would happily accept these in my back yard. I am pretty sure we need some of these here and there, wind & solar + battery packs may not be enough, in my opinion.

Isn’t nuclear only in decline in the west? My understanding g is that China is building lots of nuclear plants

We need MSRs with thorium, this are safer and this is what we should be working on.

The only SMR currently under construction in the world is the CAREM project prototype in Argentina, who developed the technology back in the 80's but because of budgetary problems and redesign delays couldn't start construction until 2014.

I really love your videos, are very beautiful in graphics and well explained, your channel is very underrated, I hope you will gain more subscribers in the near future, continue with the great work!

I love smart designs that use gravity. This one is definitely up there in terms of both safety and elegance!

Idk but I can't unsee a *Titanfall* battery XD Compact (and glowing green)

It's really nice to see SMRs on the spotlight. I'm about to joing a research team on SMRs and I'm really excited

Vert nicely done. Informative and visually appealing. Great Job!

While the world burns, science must go on.

I've been calling this for 40 years....

Modular unit operations and unit processes design is actually a growing trend in chemical engineering, and it has been practiced for a while now. However, reactors did stall a little. It is great to see such innovations happening.

Captions are amazing. ‘Georgia’s votka nuclear plant’ made my day

A SMR would definitely make me sleep better.

You should talk about molten salt smrs! Also the fuel on this reactor can be recycled like in france right?

This is exactly what i've been looking for!!!

its like Hartford loop in a steam boiler al least very similar. i like how you explain things to a point we can all understand

tbf i think this could be designed at least a *bit* better, the system seems to be depending on gravity which *is* an issue for something that is relatively small, it's not unthinkable that a reactor like this could be pushed over by other structures that are collapsing, which could lead to a meltdown, i'm sure this has been adressed by now but just saying :D

This would be more interesting if they featured modular molten salt reactors, instead of light water reactors.

Just found this channel, super amazing content!

Outstanding. Loving the video and tech. Very well researched and reported! As a further comparison, note that 50 million litres of water is 13.2 million gallons, or the same amount of water as two Olympic-size swimming pools.

Thorium Micro-Reactors NOW!

SMRs are going to be amazing for very remote mining operations, you don't have to ship all of that diesel to the site continuously. My only hope is that they can get them as economical as possible, new mines are notorious for having huge upfront costs in Canada.

This is a very nice design for a reactor. Thanks for sharing with us.

Very exciting development, looking forward to test results.

In next 100 year* A child - Dad can I roast chicken in my pocket reactor?

This felt a lot like ASMR

I don't know how i got here, but i am not at all disappointed. Awesome vid.

Instant knowledge everytime he upload

YES

The fact that Fluor has acquired NuScale makes me optimistic that this technology will actually be commercialized in the near future. Bill Gates’ Terrapower seems to be in permanent research mode.

You are just Amazing Subject Zero >>>

The costs can be deferred by lower number of units per pool being online while more onstruction is in progress. It means the containment areas will have to be designed to be secure with only 4 reactors, while adding more in close proximity, earning from what generators are online.

But can it mine bitcoin?

When talking about climate change, renewable energy, the future of energy gain and energy consumption: it is not a complete conversation with the exclusion of nuclear power (fission and fusion) and therefore ignorant. I am all for renewables, but land consumption is an issue, as is renewables influence on agricultural production capacities and insect population pressure (and therefore animals that live of insects). We cannot go endlessly on lowering energy consumption (efficency of energy use) and we don't know the long term effects of wind turbines (decommission, recycling and re-building, as well as material allocation to keep a specific number of them, like steel and carbon fiber).

So professional... great content

I like how he says that's it folks, were done here at the end. Just like cave johnson in the old school portal 2 commercials. good throw back, not sure if it's intentional, but I'm willing to bet it was.

Germany: I'm outta there

Last time i was this early, nuclear reactors were big😏

Thank you for your contribution sir, excellent video

In Finland we have Olkiluoto 3 under construction, It's only more than 10 years delayed for starting commercial operations :DD

Still have the typical nuclear waste unlike thorium reactors, just saying.

Another step toward mini fusion core, Nice!

Man that compacity factor is impressive

this is simply awesome!

The future of nuclear energy is Fusion.

it's cool, but if it runs on enriched fuel = U-235, still pretty inefficient, molten salt is way better

And you are 100% sure that there will NEVER be an accident and no lives will ever be lost.

The notification from youtube that gives me joy

720MW isn't remotely enough for 720K homes in most, if not any part of the world. That's only 1,000 watts per house.

the 't' in tsunami is silent btw

Brilliant! Please, hurry and get this online to provide clean, safe power!

Fukushima construction guide: Build the wall lower than the estimated maximum tsunami height. It's cheaper that way Put emergency generators somewhere safe, like down by the sea, behind the wall Put backup generators in the basement so they're not in the way Hydrogen scrubbers inside the building? What for? Everyone else has been doing it since the 80's you say? Nah, we're good. Emergency procedures: In case of cooling failure, do not pump sea water into the core, as that would make refurbishment expensive. It's probably going to be fine anyway.

You might have added the number of radioactive deaths from the Fukushima accident: 0.

It's all most as if the Japanese had never even heard of a tsunami before. They built that facility at sea level, right in the shore. Well, live and learn.

Small modular reactors also reduces the opportunity for corruption, like boards pocketing construction funds or dragging their feet on open-ended contracts.

Very insightful

What about gas generation? What if the control rods get stuck/gummed up? Not in my backyard.

I still hope for fusion Power or that we develop a technology, that use every last bit of radioactive energy that nucular waste emits.

Great video, 3D animations are actually better than on discovery channel.

Sounds promising. Hope it works out.

we are always told that nuclear power gives us cheap electricity, but it is never cheap!

It made need the heart of the public But it already has mine

This is fantastic.

Since we wont get thorium, this sounds great as well!!

Stop building these huge PWRs and the front end costs will tumble. When you don't have hot water under high pressure you dont need the huge containment and you don't need the active safety and cooling systems. The Moltex approach removes the hazards rather than using engineered solutions. That removes many of the regulatory costs. Molten salts are liquid between 450 and 1250 degrees C. they have good thermal properties and are not affected by neutrons and ionising radiation. Best of all the salts deliver a high negative thermal response. The reaction rate falls rapidly at higher temperatures making the plant entirely self regulating. The Moltex has boron control rods simply to meet the regulatory rules its does not really need them. The Moltex has vented fuel rods filled with a fuel salt mixture of active element salts and chlorides - table salt. Gasses created by nuclear reactions can vent away so there is no internal pressure build up. Easier to get approval for. Heat is extracted by sitting the fuel rods into a pool of molten salt. The same type as used within the fuel rods. Heat is extracted for use outside by heat exchangers carrying a third molten salt. The latter is technically outside the nuclear regulated zone. Another gain for regulatory approval. The high negative temperature coefficient means it cannot overheat. The tertiary salt could be switched off and it will get a bit warmer but outside the ideal temperature the power level drops. It can not overheat. There is no pressure vessel meaning nothing to regulate on that. There is no risk of steam explosion so no containment dome meaning another win for regulation. It all works at near atmospheric pressure. The heat is moved by convection with just a small circulatory impeller to stir the pool salt. The fuel salt is not pumped. The high negative temperature power coefficient means there is no emergency cooling. But if a fuel the rods did burst, the fuel would become so diluted there would be no possible fissile reaction. It's fail safe. There are boron shutoff rods but there is no need for emergency cooling. Decay heat is handled by continuous convection air cooling to the external case which cannot be shut down. This small efficiency loss is more then compensated by having no need for active cooling systems. The plant runs in the fast spectrum allowing it to burn waste spent nuclear fuel. This old irradiated material still has up to 95% of its original fissile energy so a waste burner reactor will never need to mine any new fuel. The resulting waste will go from a 30,000 years half life to just 30 years half life. That solves the long term storage problems. Elysium have a similar plant that operates on the same principle with a different design. But again it is as simple as possible allowing easier regulatory approval. The problem is the slow regulatory process. In UK its just deadly slow and seemingly run run to create delays. All of which is adds to the plant owner's costs. The USA has regulation system designed for the old style PWR. If you have a different design, no matter how simple and safe, it just cant get approval until new rules are written. Canada is a little more sensible so the first Moltex will happen up there. Expected to be putting power on line by 2030.

Operating cost would skyrocket if they had to insure their plants like every other plant operator... Also while CO2 emission are low, what about the waste and its cost?

People tend to forget that nuclear costs are not just construction. Other major costs are dealing with radioactive waste and decommissioning.

excellent information

So, they took all the parts of nuclear reactor, showed inside a tube, and called it a "new solution for nuclear power" Nothing was invented here, yes making independent reactors is safer in theory, but , cost and complexity of fuel exchange as well as the simple problem of inside repairs wasnt adressed

Russians put this in rocket so they can fly around world.

Nice writeup. FYI: the "1 Electromagnets" pointed at is wrong. It is pointing to a pump which is tied to the decay heat removal system. The electromagnets should be immediately above the control rods (towards the bottom of the SMR). Otherwise they would need to be some really strong electromagnets to hold the control rods that far away.

Another issue with nuclear power is that electricity is really the only thing it can make. Sometimes all you want is heat to keep buildings warm or to smelt things especially in industry. It's much more efficient to use a direct heat source like natural gas than it is to boil water, drive a turbine, make electricity then convert it back into heat due to all that energy loss from conversion after conversion. Nuclear power can't use the heat generated from the reactor for any heat applications directly because water cooled reactors are limited in temperature and nuclear reactors can't just be turned on and off. As a result, today's nuclear plants only make electricity. There are reactors designs that could change this like using alternative coolants to water that won't be as limited in temperature like molten salts.

Scientific community be split like: “Here’s some useful research, use it to better all of mankind.” “Here’s why (insert asinine “””social justice””” cause here) matters and has the backing of scientists! Don’t worry that we’re using our doctoral statuses to push shit causes and are neglecting the forward march of science.”

Glad to see more people promoting nuclear power :)

Fukashima's safety features worked exactly as they were supposed to. What doomed the reactors was TEPCO's incompetence and slow response to the tsunami damage. The emergency battery backups kept the cooling pumps going for almost 8 hours after the tsunami before running out of power. That was 8 hours for TEPCO to helicopter in new diesel generators and fuel.

Shout out to our favorite german engineer, Great Scott. Nice!

It was first conceptualised by the BSC Consulting Group in 2012. Its taken eight years to translate this to a working concept... It is understood that this idea is of some interest to 150 companies... However the form factor is only a very small part of the science involved as originally conceived by the BSC Consulting Group uk.

I agree with part of your presentation. The French proved the small reactor factory built concept in the 1960's when they built their very successful nuclear power station grid from this type of small reactor. There are a number of fundamental problems of any solid fueled nuclear reactor. Nuclear fuel ALWAYS swells due to the intense radiation, reaction byproducts quickly contaminate the reaction and cannot be remove from the solid fuel, unless the fuel is recycled. Also it only allows utilization of a very small portion of the energy in the nuclear fuel (about 1-3%), requiring fuel bundle replacement in about 18 months. When the core is decommissioned you still need to store the highly radioactive waste for thousands of years. Spent fuel MUST be continuously covered in highly purified water for at least centuries to keep the fuel bundles below melting temperature. The continuous heat from the fuel, evaporates the water quickly (hundreds of gallons in a short period of time) ALL spent fuel is currently stored in pools, on site at the nuclear plant and there are no plans to recycle it as it is expensive and hard to do conventionally. Uranium is somewhat water soluble (Thorium is not), so there is a groundwater contamination concern. I used to oppose nuclear energy, mainly due to high pressure steam explosions (3 times so far) and long term storage of highly radioactive fuel for 10k+ years. I have changed my mind, but only if we build Thorium liquid fueled, Molten Salt reactors (such as LFTR) instead of the boiling water conventional reactors we have now. Currently Thorium is a waste product of a number of mining operations, is orders of magnitude more plentiful than uranium and is basically safe (it needs conversion inside the reactor to become useful fuel, conversion takes 30 days and is free). Molten salt solves ALL of the fundamental problems of boiling water reactors, as part of their nature. They also cheaply and easily burn current stocks of used fuel rods leaving only a small residue that is safe in about 300 years. They effectively use about 95+% of the nuclear energy in the fuel. No expensive explosion proof containment structure needed, as it cannot explode (it operates at ambient air pressure). They are walk away safe (Oak Ridge Tennessee ran a molten salt reactor safely for 6,000 hours and performed walk away safe tests on it at full power in the 1960's). In fact they shut it down every weekend because no one wanted to stay. They are well suited to the SMR form factor and easily allow continuous removal of very valuable medical isotopes on an ongoing basis. These medical isotopes are impossible to remove from boiling water reactors. They also provide high temperature waste heat that can be used in many high temperature processes now, such as steel, fertilizer or concrete making, just to name a few. Desalinization of sea water on a huge scale is easy and cheap. The only remaining hurdles are some slight metals compatibility proving needed. Chemical separation is a far superior and cheaper process. The inventor of the nuclear tea kettle reactor (Alvin Weinberg) said it was fine for military use but was a very poor choice for commercial reactors, as we have seen 3 times. For many years he strongly promoted the Thorium, liquid fueled reactor as a far superior choice. Thorium is useless for making bombs which is one of the main reasons they used uranium instead back in the 1950’s. See Thorium Alliance you tube videos for a good overview. An excellent boiling water reactor problems review is a 1hr You Tube video: Nuclear Disasters & Coolants kzfaq.info/get/bejne/brappJucqMvNiac.html

Cutting edge stuff!

Sounds brilliantly reasonable.

I’m happy so see that SMR’s are finally getting their due and hopefully they can turn nuclear back into what it should’ve been at the start. MSR should’ve been the way to go and I don’t understand why they didn’t pursue it or SMR’s from the start instead of going for large reactors from the get go.

The SAFIRE Project appears very interesting to say the least. And the ability to remediate radioactive waste while creating or using none such.

What a great news!

good theory and illustrations here 🔬📚✏.👍☺