Forty-five years ago, the worst commercial nuclear accident to occur in the United States happened at Three Mile Island power plant in Middleton, Pennsylvania. Thousands of people had to evacuate due to a malfunction and human error causing a steam explosion in one of the reactors. Although the small radioactive releases caused no detectable harm to the health of plant workers or the public, memory of the accident has created public skepticism toward the use of nuclear energy.
Now, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are trying to change some of these perspectives as they develop a new approach to nuclear energy.
Generation IV nuclear reactors “have a safety system that’s just based on the laws of physics. Turns out if it gets too warm, it shuts itself off,” said David Ruzic, nuclear engineering professor at the U of I.
Ruzic’s excited about the work some of his colleagues are doing with the Illinois Microreactor Demonstration Project, led by Timothy Grunloh, principal research scientist. These reactors are part of a new generation of carbon-free technologies that are a fraction of the size of traditional reactors, Grunloh said. And their design will make them safer and more dependable.
“In a world where people care about decarbonization, nuclear [power] is a lot more resilient and reliable than a lot of the alternatives,” Grunloh said.
The U of I microreactor will be built next to the Abbott coal plant. It could take a few years to get construction permits approved, but Grunloh’s hopeful the nuclear reactor in Champaign could be up and running by 2030.
A new standard for nuclear energy
The U of I’s Department of Nuclear, Plasma & Radiological Engineering is leading the project, aimed at setting a new standard for portable, carbon-free energy.
Generation IV nuclear reactors include small modular reactors, whose smaller size makes it possible for components to be manufactured in a facility and transported rather than built on site. Small modular reactors can also be scaled up or down to meet energy demands.
Microreactors are even smaller — small enough to be transported entirely by truck, said Anna Erickson, a professor of nuclear and radiological engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology who’s keeping an eye on what’s happening at the U of I.
“A microreactor is about 100 to 1,000 times smaller than the conventional large reactors. But the bottom line is, they are producing electricity in a similar manner as conventional reactors, but you can transport them,” she said.
The ability to easily transport microreactors by truck will make them useful in situations where off-site power is needed, such as in the aftermath of natural disasters, which may be becoming more prevalent due to climate change. This fall, Hurricane Helene caused 4.7 million power outages in the Southeastern U.S.
“When there is a failure of other power sources on the grid, potentially nothing is available. There is an opportunity for a battery reactor or microreactor to be transported to where it’s needed,” Erickson said.
The reactor at U of I will be in between the size of a small modular reactor and a microreactor. It won’t be transportable like the smallest models, Grunloh said, but the technology is very similar. Grunloh hopes it can set a standard for the use of microreactors in areas hit by natural disasters.
Safety and public outreach are top priorities
A top priority for the Illinois Microreactor Demonstration Project is education and public outreach on safety and the environmental benefits of advanced nuclear energy, Grunloh said.
“Advanced reactors, including microreactors, are all being designed to be ‘passively safe,’ which means that accident conditions lead to them shutting themselves down without need for human intervention,” he said.Grunloh said he wants the public to understand that nuclear technology has significantly improved since Three Mile Island. Researchers have hosted community outreach events to explain the project and answer questions.
“Engaging with the community allows us to show firsthand how seriously we take all these issues and to do our best to alleviate concerns through earnest back-and-forth,” he said. “We always have time to talk about safety, sustainability, and responsibility to our communities.”
Nuclear and renewables are ‘part of the same solution’
Some environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club, oppose nuclear energy on the grounds that funding should be prioritized on renewable sources such as wind and solar.
But nuclear energy can complement renewables, Grunloh said. The way nuclear reactors are designed allows them to stay in motion and produce more energy, a shortcoming for renewable energy.
“I don’t really see them in competition with each other — renewables and nuclear,” he said. “I think they’re part of the same solution.”
Another concern among nuclear energy opponents is the higher cost. Solar energy has a lot of investments, Grunloh said, making it very cheap. Since nuclear microreactor technology is new, he said it is going to initially be very expensive — but this could change over time.
“Advanced nuclear [reactors], given the same chance, I think will also be economically competitive,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of reasons that nuclear is going to kind of fit in the mix.”
The U of I is currently working to get approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commision (NRC) to start construction. This could take a few years, Grunloh said, because the NRC needs to approve of two reports before approving a construction permit.
One of these reports explains the environmental impacts that the reactor would have on the site. The second contains the preliminary safety and analysis report (PSAR).
Grunloh said the U of I is a pioneer in researching this technology and that the costs of nuclear technology in a post-Three Mile Island World have dissuaded other scientists from pursuing similar projects.
“The one way that I would summarize nuclear right now is people will line up to be second,” Grunloh said. “We’re seeing a lot of people excited about us being willing to be a first mover here.”