:quality(90)/p7i.vogel.de/wcms/80/6e/806e5415022494eef726f6d746fb8dcf/0115910155.jpeg "China is leading the way in advanced nuclear energy technology")
Nuclear Energy
China is leading the way in advanced nuclear energy technology
Written by Henrik Burke
4 minutes reading time
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A few weeks ago, China commissioned the world's first so-called fourth-generation nuclear reactor. The country is considered a world leader in developing and using the latest nuclear energy technologies, international experts say.
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China's new high-temperature pebble bed reactor is located in Shidao Bay of the Yellow Sea, northeast of Qingdao. Its two reactors are cooled with helium gas, not water like traditional nuclear power plants of previous generations. Helium is a noble gas and cannot burn or explode. According to the manufacturer, there will be no radioactive contamination in the new reactor itself.
The reactor type has been under testing since 2021
The HTR-PM reactor officially began commercial operation on December 6, 2023. Construction began in 2012. The reactor core has been critical since 2021 – that is, in normal operating condition – and has been tested since then, Xinhua News Agency reported. HTR-PM stands for “High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor – Pebble Bed Module”. Its fuel consists of several hundred thousand graphite balls, each about the size of a tennis ball. There are tiny balls of uranium in these graphite balls.
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