Eternity gets an expiration date

[Skybird]

The Greens must hate the mere idea, for even if it works it is a heresy to their precious religion were "atom" is another word for "satan".



The Neue Zürcher Zeitung writes:


The place that aims to free humanity from one of its great problems is fenced in with barbed wire and can only be reached by a lonely country road. On this morning, it almost disappears in the fog. Soldiers stand at a security barrier. They demand papers and explain that photography is not allowed on the site.

The visitor to the SCK CEN nuclear research institute near the small Belgian town of Mol feels like he's in an agent movie about a well-kept secret. "Exploring a better tomorrow" is appropriately the motto of the people working here. Exploring a better tomorrow. That sounds like James Bond.

Behind the barbed wire, however, the atmosphere is relaxed. A young researcher welcomes visitors to a multi-story workshop full of tubes and containers, cables and monitors. Belgian Katrien van Tichelen is used to letting laypeople in on the secrets of nuclear physics. Patiently, the nuclear engineer shows visitors the miniature model of a new type of nuclear reactor and explains what it's all about.

"We are building a research reactor here in which a particle accelerator is coupled with a nuclear reactor," van Tichelen says. "We are pursuing several goals with this. For example, the production of medical radioisotopes to treat cancer. But most important will be the conversion of radioactive waste into substances with much shorter half-lives."

Transmutation is the name of the process. In the Middle Ages, the term stood for the mistaken hope of transforming base metals into gold or silver. Alchemists searched in vain for the philosopher's stone. Scientists in the atomic age have been far more successful in transforming dangerous substances such as plutonium into more harmless elements.

The technology was already tested in the laboratory in the nineties. In Mol, scientists want to prove that disarming nuclear waste can also work on a large scale. In the meantime, they believe, this is only a matter of a few years. Construction of the so-called multifunctional hybrid research reactor for high-tech applications, or Myrrha, is scheduled to begin this fall.
Inspired by Soviet submarines

But how does the facility with the euphonious name work? The researchers explain it like this: A particle accelerator generates a beam of protons. This is directed onto a tank containing a molten alloy of lead and bismuth inside the nuclear reactor. The protons cause the atoms of the alloy to split off neutrons. These neutrons are extremely fast and thus capable of splitting even the longest-lived nuclear waste. When they irradiate the fuel elements containing the radioactive waste, their decay is radically accelerated.

But the liquid metal serves not only as a neutron source. It is also used as a coolant for the reactor. "Conventional nuclear reactors cool with water. We use lead and bismuth," van Tichelen says, pointing the visitor to a container whose reflective surface looks like dark ink. But it is a molten metal at 180 degrees Celsius into which van Tichelen dips a spoon.

The idea of using the mixture as a coolant first came to the Russians, she says. In the 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union built several nuclear submarines powered by reactors cooled by lead and bismuth. Because of the high boiling point of the alloy, which is 1670 degrees, these proved much more efficient than water-cooled reactors.

The engineer explains that the heat generated during transmutation can be transferred to the outside via the coolant. This would free up energy, which could be used to generate electricity. So the Myrrha concept would not only be useful for building plants that use nuclear waste as fuel, thus eliminating the legacy of shutdown nuclear power plants. It could also feed the excess energy into the power grids.

Unsurprisingly, Hamid Ait Abderrahim, the "father" of the Myrrha project and deputy general manager of SCK CEN, is an extremely good-humored man. We meet at the Catholic University in Louvain-la-Neuve. This is where the particle accelerator is tested, and where "Monsieur Nucléaire" gives lectures on nuclear technology once a week. He fell in love with the law of radioactive decay as a schoolboy in Algeria, Ait Abderrahim says, smiling. In 1979, he emigrated to Belgium, where he studied and fulfilled his dream of becoming a nuclear scientist

He has no doubt, the 61-year-old says, that nuclear energy will become more sustainable with Myrrha and that it deserves a new assessment because of that. "Let's realize the dimension. There is radioactive waste that radiates for 300,000 years. You can bury that waste deep in the ground, where it will probably outlive humanity. But you can also convert the waste, reducing its quantity to one hundredth. What's left has a radiotoxicity of only 300 years."

In fact, there is still no satisfactory solution for the growing mountain of spent fuel rods. Countries around the world are searching for suitable repositories. In Europe, only Finland is currently completing one. So for countries that are sticking with nuclear power, as well as those that are phasing it out, transmutation sounds tempting.

But what about safety, the other major objection raised by opponents of nuclear power? After all, new reactors will have to be built for nuclear waste recycling. Ait Abderrahim was just waiting for that cue. "In reactors modeled on Myrrha, a super-GAU will be impossible. Why? Because there is not enough fissile material in the reactor itself. The nuclear reaction is maintained only by the particle accelerator. If you shut it down, the process stops. And it stops immediately. In less than a millionth of a second."

Since the Belgian government decided three years ago to allocate €558 million in funding to Myrrha, researchers have been working hard to ensure the system's safety. While the length of the test accelerator in Louvain-la-Neuve is only 10 meters, 400 meters are planned for the construction of the real linear accelerator in Mol. 1.6 billion euros will be needed for the entire project. For the time being, only felled trees can be seen on the site where the facility will stand in the future.

Is it a coincidence that the future of nuclear energy could be decided in little Belgium of all places? As early as the 1920s, miners in the former colony of the Belgian Congo had mined uranium ore, which was needed for the production of radium. For the Manhattan Project, i.e. for the construction of the atomic bomb, the USA needed large quantities of uranium in the 1940s. The Anglo-Belgian mining company supplied it, in return for which Belgium gained access to nuclear technology for civilian purposes after the war. This led to the establishment of SCK CEN in Mol in 1952.

The Atomium built for the Brussels Expo 58 reflected the optimism of progress at the time. The first pressurized water reactor to produce electricity outside the USA was in Mol in 1962. Belgium was one of the founding members of Cern in Geneva and one of the first signatories of the Euratom Treaty, which became a pillar of European unification. However, the country did not build commercial power plants until 1974, at the Tihange and Doel sites. Shortly thereafter, the first anti-nuclear groups emerged.

In 2003, the Belgian government, which for the first time included Green politicians, decided to phase out nuclear power by 2025. This remained the consensus for a long time. But the global climate crisis changed the debate. The growing camp of exit skeptics asked why an energy source that provides stable electricity and generates hardly any CO2 should be abandoned. And where would the substitute for fossil fuels come from if the demand for energy was still growing?

At the end of December, Belgium's liberal Prime Minister Alexander De Croo rescued his seven-party coalition, which was completely at odds on this issue, with a compromise: The shutdown dates for Doel and Tihange would remain. At the same time, however, the government should invest in research into new mini reactors, so-called Small Modular Reactors (SMR). This would by no means rule out a return to nuclear energy.

Is the wind also changing in the rest of Europe? At any rate, the EU Commission created a big stir at the beginning of the year when it published its set of rules for "green" investments. True, the Commission cannot dictate to member states how they should generate electricity. But the authority has set itself the goal of steering investments in a sustainable direction. The fact that nuclear energy was classified as climate-friendly on this list was a clear signal. France and a number of East-Central European countries that are investing more heavily in nuclear power reacted with delight. Germany, which is shutting down its last reactors this year, protested.

Belgian nuclear scientist Ait Abderrahim has been following the discussion. He says the Germans made a democratic decision, which he does not want to question. But he notes that research is capable of providing an answer to the waste and safety problem. His personal opinion? "Only through a combination of renewables and next-generation nuclear reactors can we address the global climate and energy crisis."

For the future, "Monsieur Nucléaire" has some thoughts. He envisions the creation of a European transmutation sector in which nations join forces. And he calculates that to process the nuclear waste from currently 144 European nuclear power plants, a "fleet" of 15 transmutation reactors would be needed, which would have to generate 6 gigawatts of thermal energy. Investments in the range of 10 to 15 billion euros would be needed to industrialize this technology, he said. "It is my vision that nuclear power loses its terror and becomes sustainable," says Ait Abderrahim.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)


The Germans made a democratic decision, Ait Abderrahim said. Well, while anti-atom is strong in Germany, fact is the Germans did not even get asked. Merkel decided it almost all alone and within less than 100 hours after Fukushima and having no clue about the follow-up costs, the compensations the state now has to pay, and how to replace the huge energy deficits it causes to switch off then German reactors without having replaced their capacity. And while our power prices are higher than anywhere else in the Westgern industrialised world and are doomed to ever climb steebly, and we are threatened by gas shortages, another three reactors of the last 6 workring reactors have just been switched off, with the last three following later this year.

Applause, Germany. You never fail to leave me speechless. Baerbock now makes the boss of Greenpeace her "number one", her XO. That women, when getting confirmed in her intended office as state secretary, will not be responsible to the people, not to the parliament, and not to anyone else, just to Baerbock,has broken many laws and repeatedly, is a 100% lobbyist (call a car industry lobbyist into the seatof becoming a state secretary and see what would happen...) but will have the power to enforce all German embassies worldwide to strictly submit to climate policies, which will make Germany extremely vulnerable to blackmailing and getting financially exploited, because other states will soon realise that the Germans will pay every price to get a green-washed negotiation result for wheter is to be negotiated. And the world cl,imate? Even if Germany would stop bretahign and seize to exist, it would make no difference for world climate at all - thats the best of it.

It will become most ruinous for German households, private people, and businesses. Germany is doing away with itself. Maybe we will build a wall to keep the many intelligent people in who want to flee, paying for their getaway they already must now, and not too little.

Ride, mundi - RIDE...!