A recently published study concludes that small modular reactors (SMRs) produce more nuclear waste than conventional light water reactors. This is not true for Dual Fluid: The Dual Fluid reactor design produces significantly less waste than any other type of nuclear reactor due to its much better fuel utilization.
A group of researchers led by Lindsay F. Krall of the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company used licensing and patent records to study the type and amount of radioactive waste generated during operation and decommissioning of three different types of SMRs. These included a small pressurized water reactor, a conventional liquid salt reactor, and a sodium-cooled fast reactor.
The results show that the SMRs studied significantly increase the volume of nuclear waste to be disposed of. This is mainly due to the use of neutron reflectors or chemically reactive fuels and coolants. However, with Dual Fluid, the problem of a larger volume of waste does not exist:
Coolant and reflector: Dual Fluid uses liquid lead as a coolant, which also serves as a reflector. Since lead absorbs hardly any neutrons, it can be disposed of relatively easily at the end of an operating cycle.
Fuel: The fast neutron spectrum of a Dual Fluid core means that the fuel cycle is several times longer than that of a conventional molten salt reactor, and the waste volume is reduced by a factor of about ten. In addition, Dual Fluid provides for a new pyrochemical recycling method that allows the parts of the waste that can still be used to undergo a new fuel cycle. At the end of the recycling chain, the remaining materials would decay rapidly until they become less harmful than natural uranium after a few hundred years. The nuclear waste problem would thus be significantly defused.
CTO Daniel Weißbach: ” It´s hardly surprising that small reactors leave behind more contaminated materials compared to large systems that benefit from economies of scale. But this is not true of a particularly efficient system like the Dual Fluid Reactor. Our goal is to put existing waste to good use and generate electricity or hydrogen from it.”
Press contact: Lisa Rass
(+49) 1577-1911784
media@dual-fluid.com
About Dual Fluid
Dual Fluid is creating an entirely new type of nuclear reactor that
- provides emission-free electricity and hydrogen,
- significantly reduces today’s energy costs,
- burns nuclear waste, and is inherently safe.
Dual Fluid differs from other new nuclear concepts by its high efficiency: the nuclear fuel is utilized up to a hundred times better than in today’s light water reactors. The operating temperature of 1000° C enables new heat applications.
The Dual Fluid operating principle, based on different fluids for fuel and cooling, is described in scientific publications. There is worldwide patent protection, including in the USA, Canada, the EU, and Japan.
Dual Fluid Energy Inc. was incorporated as a public company in Vancouver, Canada, in January 2021 to bring the Dual Fluid technology to serial production status. The prototype of a Dual Fluid reactor is to be launched within this decade.