This "Archaic" Nuclear Reactor Could Save The World
Blykalla's lead-cooled SMR is a game-changer.
In theory, nuclear power is the perfect energy source. It has the lowest death rate of any form of energy, even renewables like solar and wind. It also has one of the lowest carbon footprints, even lower than solar. Thanks to producing energy on-demand, nuclear is also far easier to integrate into our current energy grids. Thanks to companies like Deep Isolation, we have even solved the nuclear waste issue with deep geothermal storage. So, why isn’t nuclear more widely used? Well, nuclear currently costs significantly more than any other form of energy, and it takes well over a decade to deploy, making it unfeasible for many. But Swedish-based Blykalla has a genius solution. A nuclear reactor that was used to power Russian nuclear submarines. What?! Let me explain.
Blykalla is one of dozens of companies designing Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). The idea is that a factory can produce nuclear reactors small enough to be shipped internationally incredibly economically and at scale. Then, if you want a nuclear power station, just order however many you need, and they can be deployed and installed in months rather than decades at a cost significantly lower than today’s nuclear power plants. In theory, SMRs could solve all of nuclear’s problems. However, it’s incredibly challenging to shrink a nuclear reactor like this while meeting safety requirements. Moreover, small reactors tend to be very inefficient with fuel, increasing operational costs and the amount and potency of the nuclear waste they produce. What’s more, solving these issues can make SMRs as expensive as current nuclear power, rendering the whole exercise moot.
But, unlike other SMR companies, Blykalla’s approach seems to have easily mitigated these issues by adopting a comparatively ancient reactor design that the Russians used to power nuclear submarines for 60 years. A lead-cooled reactor.
The Soviets used a tiny lead-cooled nuclear reactor to power their Alfa-class nuclear submarine. These reactors use molten lead instead of water to extract heat from the reactor and spin a turbine to turn this heat into usable electricity. Such a design has been mostly unused since, but Blykalla is trying to bring it back with their Swedish Advanced Lead Reactor (SEALER), as it could make a perfect SMR.
Lead-cooled reactors run at much higher temperatures than water-cooled reactors, as the lead has to be liquid for them to function, and lead melts at 327.5 °C (621.5 °F). This enables these reactors to work as “fast reactors.” At these higher temperatures, the neutrons that keep the nuclear chain reaction known as fission going gain more energy. These “fast neutrons” can transmute nuclear fuel that couldn’t undergo fission into isotopes that can. As such, fast reactors are way more efficient than typical reactors. This means Blykalla’s SEALER can reportedly get 140 times more energy from uranium than current “slow neutron” reactors (there are almost no faster reactors in commercial use). This means that the SEALER never needs to be refuelled, as the fuel it has upon delivery is enough to see it through its entire lifetime. This also means it produces significantly less nuclear waste, and the nuclear waste it does produce is less toxic and less radioactive than waste from current reactors. Also, as nuclear fuel mining and refining make up most of nuclear power’s carbon emissions, fast reactors potentially have the lowest carbon footprint of any energy source. In fact, its waste only needs to be securely stored for 1% of the time regular nuclear waste does.
Fast reactors can even use this fuel transmutation to run off nuclear waste! In fact, the US could entirely power itself for 100 years using faster reactors and its current stockpile of nuclear waste. Blykalla isn’t optimising the SEALER to work this way, but it is a tantalising possibility.
But Lead-cooled reactors are also incredibly safe. Lead has a boiling temperature of 1749 °C (3180 °F), meaning that the coolant won’t boil away even in a nuclear meltdown like what happened at Chornobyl or Fukushima. Not only does this make nuclear incidents far easier to control, but it also means that atomic contamination won’t enter the environment following a nuclear incident, as it will be contained within the lead, and the lead can’t burst out of the reactor in the same way water steam does. This was what made Chornobyl so destructive and why the surrounding land is still so radioactive. In fact, with SEALER, even if there was a major nuclear incident, people might not even have to evacuate the area as it will be so well contained. As such, lead-cooled reactors have the potential to be one of the safest reactor designs we have.
So, if lead-cooled reactors are so remarkable, why haven’t we used them since the Cold War?
Well, molten lead is incredibly corrosive, causing these reactors to have a very short lifespan or need regular strip-down servicing. This was fine for early nuclear submarines, but seriously limiting for any other application. But Blykalla has solved this with innovative corrosion-tolerant steel alloys. Not only do these alloys increase the efficiency of the cooling systems, which brings costs down, but they also massively extend the reactor’s service life, making lead-cooled SMRs a feasible technology.
So, by solving the only real flaw with a bygone small reactor design, Blykalla has potentially made the perfect SMR! And such, they could save the world.
Thanks to the fact SEALER doesn’t need to be refuelled, it is ideal for use in remote locations or industrial applications. As such, it could completely decarbonise entire industries like steel mills by enabling them to own their own long-term on-demand ultra-low carbon energy for a reasonable price and no hassle. What’s more, it can make coal and wood power plants, which have been the go-to energy source for remote locations, developing countries, and rapidly expanding grids, completely obsolete. If Blykalla can build these quickly enough, the massively reduced logistical load in terms of fuel and waste makes their SMR a far better option.
As I have covered before, decarbonising these high-emission industries and phasing out coal power as quickly as possible are two of the most significant steps we can take to save the planet. So, holding Blykalla’s SMR on such a pedestal is far from hyperbole.
The question is, can Blykalla deliver? Well, they recently raised €6.87 million to get their first prototype reactor off the ground and are currently on track to get their first power to the Swedish grid by 2029. That means they could beat other SMR projects to market by 5–10 years. Moreover, as they are using proven technology, costs are unlikely to spiral, and meeting this incredibly close deadline is well within the realms of possibility. So, while I don’t have a crystal ball, I believe Blykalla really could deliver the revolution we need for nuclear power to save the world.
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Sources: Blykalla, Silicon Canals, World Nuclear Association, Will Lockett, Will Lockett, Will Lockett, Carbon Brief