With its decision, the Federal Council is fuelling discussions about new nuclear power plants. Research is already being carried out on a new generation of reactors.
The Federal Council no longer wants to prohibit the construction of new nuclear power plants (NPPs) in principle. On Wednesday, it announced that it would prepare a corresponding proposal.
This makes it conceivable that new nuclear power plants could be built in Switzerland in the future. The ban has so far been justified by safety concerns following the nuclear disaster in Fukushima. However, supporters believe that a new generation of reactors could make nuclear energy significantly safer.
Thorium instead of uranium
The Geneva-based start-up Transmutex is working on the nuclear reactor of the future, the so-called fourth generation. Instead of using the usual uranium as fuel, their reactor will run on thorium – a radioactive metal that is three to four times more common in the earth’s crust. However, thorium cannot be fissioned, so the company is developing a new system.
In order to make thorium fissile and thus generate nuclear energy, Transmutex needs a particle accelerator. Roughly speaking, it fires neutrons at the isotope thorium-232 and converts it into the fissile uranium-233.
Caption: The particle accelerator (right) is designed to make the thorium in the reactor (left) fissile. Transmutex
The reactor is supposed to be safer than conventional plants because nuclear fission only takes place as long as the particle accelerator is working. “We have a reactor that shuts down within two milliseconds,” says Franklin Servan-Schreiber, CEO and founder of Transmutex. The reactor is supposed to be cooled with lead.
Further advantages of Transmutex technology
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There are also other advantages: the use of thorium is expected to result in less long-lived radioactive waste. Instead of hundreds of thousands of years, it will decay in 500 years. In addition, the Transmutex reactors will also partially function with recycled nuclear waste. This should also reduce the amount of radioactive residue.
The Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Villigen AG is researching the components of the new generation of reactors that Transmutex also wants to use. “I generally attest to the good safety behavior of lead-cooled reactors,” says Andreas Pautz. Even in the event of a malfunction, the cooling would work well.
Combining the particle accelerator and the reactor will be a challenge, says Pautz. “The fuel should be based on thorium. We have limited experience with that,” says the PSI researcher. However, Transmutex’s concept is “consistent.”
Much research and long construction time required
The Swiss Energy Foundation (SES) is skeptical about the new nuclear power plant technology. “The problem with the new technologies is that they are just ideas so far,” says Stephanie-Christine Eger, head of the nuclear energy department. The new reactors and processes must first be thoroughly researched, and that takes a lot of time.
Then the construction of new nuclear power plants takes a very long time and costs a lot of money. “That’s why they are not a reliable option at the moment to achieve our 2050 climate goals,” says Eger. Instead, renewable energies from solar and wind should be quickly expanded.
Contrary to these expectations, Transmutex wants to implement the new nuclear power plant technology much more quickly. “Our time horizon is about twelve years,” says Servan-Schreiber.
Third generation proves itself
Pautz from PSI assumes that if Switzerland builds new nuclear power plants in the future, they will be third-generation and not fourth-generation. These would be light water reactors, such as those still in operation today in the Gösgen or Leibstadt nuclear power plants. The third generation has been well tested and it would be logical to start again with known technology.
Building a new nuclear power plant is likely to take a long time either way. First, the Federal Council must specify its current decision.
