Chinese scientists plan super-efficient nuke reactors

Chinese scientists are planning to build super-efficient nuclear reactors by 2010 that can maximise uranium burn-up and minimise waste while at the same time quenching the communist giant's energy crunch.

If the first experimental reactor, set to be in operation by 2010, is successful, the technology could help relieve China's uranium supply problems as the country accelerates nuclear power plant construction.

China Academy of Atomic Science President Zhao Zhixiang said a team of scientists had already mapped a detailed plan to speed up research and utilization of the so-called next-generation fast reactors. The new reactors are expected to burn 60-70 per cent of their uranium fuel - a conventional reactor consumes only 0.7 per cent of the uranium it is fed.

"This kind of reactor can greatly improve the efficiency of fuel burn-up, and we are trying our best to put the experimental reactor into use over the next five years," Zhao was quoted as saying by China Daily.

Current reactors are only able to harness the power of 0.7 per cent of the radioactive isotopes found in natural uranium. In the fast reactor, the process is optimized so that more of the previously untapped isotopes can be used to generate electricity, burning-up fuel at least 60 times more efficiently than in a normal reactor.

China started research into fast nuclear reactor technology in 1995 and invested 1.38 billion Yuan ($170.2 million) into the construction of the experimental reactor.

"I hope an experimental reactor with a capacity of 200,000 kilowatts can be put into use by 2010," Zhao said.

He added that construction of the reactor is close to completion but did not identify the site of the project, under the High and New Technology Research and Development Programme of the Chinese government.

He also said plans for a fast-reactor prototype are expected to be included in the country's medium and long-term science and technology development blueprints.

The prototype reactor, with a capacity of 600,000 KW, will be constructed and put into operation by 2020, Zhao said.