Talk:Very high temperature reactor

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[edit] Outlet Temperature

I changed "of 1000C" to "up to 1000C". My understanding (from discussions with my Professors) is that they've basically given up on getting 1000C and are shooting for more like 900. I'll try to find a reference. wagsbags 13:23, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

The issue is that in order to achieve 1000C average temperature, you'd need zones in the reactor with significantly higher temperatures. If, and that is a HUGE "if", we can recreate the German Triso particle quality, the maximum local core temperature is limited to 1200°C. Both current HTR designs (PBMR, which will is IMHO snakeoil, and the Chinese HTR) are skirting that limit, and their average outlet temperatures are around 850°C. There is nothing you can do about it.
Once you start designing an HTR reactor, the average outlet temperature starts to drop. I usually assess the progress of such paper reactors by checking their average outlet temperature... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.69.25.217 (talk) 18:48, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Graphite moderation

Wasn't Chernobil of similar construction and wasn't that one of the design flaws which eventually led to Chernobyl Disaster? I mean, Helium is lighter then air. Loss of pressure in containment vessel would allow intake of air and burning of graphite, releasing radionuclides into atmosphere. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 147.91.1.41 (talk) 10:20, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

No. This reactor has absolutely NOTHING to do with RBMK reactors of Russia. Reactivity excursions are physically impossible with HTRs. And air and water ingress are some of the standard accident analysis necessary for these reactors. Both are fairly harmless to the reactor since the core consists of trillions of micro containments made from silicon carbide: The fuel particle.
Air and water does not react with the SiC barrier at these temperatures and doesn't degrade these fuel particles. Additionally, the core itself is very, very weakly radioactive. If all graphite within the reactor were to be pulverised and spread throughout the HTR building, the maximum occupational radiation exposure within that building would be 0.14mRem/year. That's another word for fuckall. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.69.25.217 (talk) 18:57, 31 January 2008 (UTC)
AFAIK, it was the combination of graphite moderator and water coolant which made the RBMK a death trap. Most British reactors are graphite-moderated, but use CO2 coolant (see Magnox and Advanced gas-cooled reactor). --GCarty (talk) 17:14, 9 June 2008 (UTC)