Japanese firms to develop small nuclear reactors

[Hazcat]

Japan's major nuclear reactor manufacturers have begun developing small nuclear power systems for both developed and emerging countries, a report said on Saturday.

Toshiba Corp. is developing an ultra-compact reactor with an output of about 10,000 kilowatts and has started procedures for approval in the United States, the Nikkei business daily said.

The new reactor, the Toshiba 4S, is designed to minimise the need for monitoring and maintenance, with an automatic shutdown function to ensure safety in case of problems, the newspaper said.

Toshiba plans to market the reactor first in the United States, while foreseeing demand from emerging countries in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe as well as in Africa, it said.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. has separately completed the concept design for a pressurised-water reactor with a power output of around 350,000 kilowatts, the Nikkei said.

Hitachi Ltd. also aims to develop a boiling-water reactor with a capacity of 400,000-600,000 kilowatts for use in Southeast Asia and other countries, it said.

Demand for nuclear power stations has been growing around the world. A total of 151 were under construction or slated for construction in 27 countries as of the end of 2008, it said.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.314f8f63df41800c448cd89e0a88dd31.331&show_article=1

OK, where are our resident engineers?....How many households would 10,000 KW run?  I have a 15 kw gen set that will not quite run every thing in my house at the same time so maybe 50 watts per house?

10,000 / 50 = 200

[whiskeymike]

I have a 10kw standby on my house that handles most everything ( lights,refrigerator,gas furnace motors) but not the A/C.

OTOH, what would the power demand be for a house in one of the "target" areas?
A small refrig, some lights, a TV and some fans?
That's not too far from what I saw in Western Europe 40 years ago.

[Badgersmilk]

As well crafted as their many other products are, just thank God it's not the Chinese doing this!!! 

[Timothy]

http://www.consumerspower.org/home_energy/billestimator.php

1 KWhr = 1000 watts/hour.....   100 watt bulb for 30 hours = 3000 wh = 3 kwh

I'm too lazy today Haz, use the calculator above...

Average home with the basics uses 1350 kwh/month / 30 days = 45 kwh/day / 24 hours = 1.875 kw per hour or 1875 watts every hour.

I think....

TW's the electrician, he'll be up soon!

[Hazcat]

Tim,

I'm trying to see how much it would cost per household.  Course we do not know the cost of one of these ultra compact nuke plants but we could take a guess (or actually maybe one of our engineers on here could).

Couple million per?  Divided by number of homes it could service would tell us average cost per household.

Right now my electric averages over $300 a month! and my house is SMALL (1500 sq/ft) with a pool and a detached 'pool house' / office  (324 sq/ft).

[Sponsor]

[Badgersmilk]

Tim,

I'm trying to see how much it would cost per household.  Course we do not know the cost of one of these ultra compact nuke plants but we could take a guess (or actually maybe one of our engineers on here could).

Couple million per?  Divided by number of homes it could service would tell us average cost per household.

Right now my electric averages over $300 a month! and my house is SMALL (1500 sq/ft) with a pool and a detached 'pool house' / office  (324 sq/ft).

DANG!  That'll at least justify some solar panels on the roof!!!

[Hazcat]

DANG!  That'll at least justify some solar panels on the roof!!!

I'd love to if I could afford them!

BTW our rates are going UP because Progress Energy is thinking about building a new nuke plant sometime in the future so our rates have to go up so that the power company doesn't have to pay out of pocket while they are THINKING about it!

Try and 'splain that to me!  

[Timothy]

Haz, based on my calculations, if accurate, this 10KW reactor could power 5 average houses using normal day to day power.

Your electrical cost are much cheaper in FL than in the northeast.  You have St Lucie, Turkey Pt and Crystal River.  We have Pilgrim and it's normally not running at full power.  Seabrook is much the same.

I pay nearly 200 bucks a month for an 800 sqft home with oil heat and normally two AC units in the warmer months.  My electric is included in my rent now so I have no idea what it's going to cost.

These little fellas would be way more than the average homeowner could afford.

[Hazcat]

Tim,

not 10 kw it's 10,000 kw.

[Timothy]

Tim,

not 10 kw it's 10,000 kw.

Sorry, missed that.  5000 homes....I still think the cost would be prohibitive for a small community.  I worked in nuclear power for 10-12 years.  A reactor needs constant attention, I know the Japanese are smart fellas but I would not get a warm fuzzy feeling with one of these "automatic" shutdown reactors in my back yard.  Three Mile Island shut down automatically back in 1979 and still released several thousand curies of radiation before it was safe and never came back online.

"The cleanup of the damaged nuclear reactor system at TMI-2 took nearly 12 years and cost approximately US$973 million. The cleanup was uniquely challenging technically and radiologically. Plant surfaces had to be decontaminated. Water used and stored during the cleanup had to be processed. And about 100 tonnes of damaged uranium fuel had to be removed from the reactor vessel."