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Google commits to buying power generated by nuclear-energy startup Kairos Power

(www.wsj.com)
589 points atomic128 | 2 comments | 14 Oct 24 19:06 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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philipkglass ◴[14 Oct 24 19:32 UTC] No.41841019[source]▶
Based on the headline I thought that this was an enormous capital commitment for an enormous generating capacity, but the deal is with a company called Kairos that is developing small modular reactors with 75 megawatts of electrical output each [1]. 7 reactors of this type, collectively, would supply 525 megawatts (less than half of a typical new commercial power reactor like the AP1000, HPR1000, EPR, or APR1400).

Kairos is in a pretty early stage. They started building a test reactor this summer, scheduled for completion by 2027:

https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/kairos-power-starts-const...

EDIT: Statement from the official Google announcement linked by xnx below [2]:

Today, we’re building on these efforts by signing the world’s first corporate agreement to purchase nuclear energy from multiple small modular reactors (SMRs) to be developed by Kairos Power. The initial phase of work is intended to bring Kairos Power’s first SMR online quickly and safely by 2030, followed by additional reactor deployments through 2035. Overall, this deal will enable up to 500 MW of new 24/7 carbon-free power to U.S. electricity grids and help more communities benefit from clean and affordable nuclear power.

[1] https://kairospower.com/technology/

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41841108

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1. photochemsyn ◴[15 Oct 24 01:00 UTC] No.41843875[source]▶
This is all about the revival of pebble-bed reactors, which were attemped several decades ago but had problems with the graphite pebbles breaking down and releasing graphite fragments that clogged the pipes, basically. China is way ahead on this with helium-cooled versions. The big deal is that in the event of complete power loss (see Fukushima) they go into shutdown without melting down, although if the coolant lost and replaced with air you would get a nasty Chernobyl-style graphite fire. Still an improvement in safety. See:

> "Several high-temperature thermal neutron–spectrum pebble bed reactors are being commercialized. China has started up two helium-cooled pebble bed high-temperature reactors. In the United States, the X-Energy helium-cooled and the Kairos Power salt-cooled pebble bed high-temperature reactors will produce spent nuclear fuel (SNF) with burnups exceeding 150 000 MWd per tonne. The reactor fuel in each case consists of small spherical graphite pebbles (4 to 6 cm in diameter) containing thousands of small TRISO (microspheric tri-structural isotropic) fuel particles embedded in the fuel of zone these pebbles."

(2024) "Safeguards and Security for High-Burnup TRISO Pebble Bed Spent Fuel and Reactors"

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00295450.2023.2...

and

https://www.powermag.com/nuclear-milestone-chinas-htr-pm-dem...

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2. bb88 ◴[15 Oct 24 01:52 UTC] No.41844152[source]▶
> although if the coolant lost and replaced with air you would get a nasty Chernobyl-style graphite fire

Or alternatively, radioactive dust could be released into the atmosphere such as THTR-300 did.

INL did a gap analysis in 2011 between what was known and what needed research. The german AVR reactor had technical issues that weren't expected -- dust being one of them.

https://inldigitallibrary.inl.gov/sites/sti/sti/5026004.pdf

From what I can tell the dust issue is still a point of contention.