this video is sponsored by scalar if you had billions of dollars at your disposal
to invest in energy Tech what would you choose maybe some breakthrough solar Tech that's more
efficient how about some grid scale energy storage solutions well if you're anything like Bill Gates
you'd be investing in a potential breakthrough type of nuclear reactor called The Traveling
wave reactor while we all hope and dream of a world run on wind sunshine and batteries many
experts see nuclear energy as a necessary stop Gap measure while other energy Tech catches up
but Ricky what about all the dangers like leaks and meltdowns and three-eyed fish you say well if
Gates's traveling wave reactor is all it's cracked up to be we may finally see a nuclear option with
all the benefits and none of the dangers or at least far fewer while other types of clean
renewable energy production have made some major Headway in the last few decades nuclear energy
still Reigns Supreme when it comes to energy density reliability and carbon emissions but
despite its many advantage images many have difficulties getting past nuclear Energies
shall we say failures headline grabbing nuclear disasters like Fukushima trima island stockpiles
of dangerously radioactive waste the proliferation of nuclear weapons all this casts a major Shadow
on nuclear Energy's reputation for some the idea of safe clean and affordable source of nuclear
energy is nothing more than science fiction but that may all soon change as Terra power
a company founded by none other than Bill Gates plans to unveil their traveling wave reactor in
Kemmer Wyoming so what exactly is a traveling wave reactor maybe it's because I live in San Diego but
to me a traveling wave reactor sounds like someone driving around in a VW bus looking for some epic
surf the name comes from how the machine works as a company's founder describes it the reactor
is essentially a giant uranium Candlestick that undergoes fission from one end to the
other the process stays confined to a boundary Zone that slowly advances over time an overhead
crane maintains the reaction within the ringed portion of the core by moving pins in and out of
the reaction Zone sort of like a claw machine at an arcade only nuclear the technology that
Terra power Builds on actually came from around the middle of the 20th century following World
War II both the US and Soviet Union began toying with the idea that nuclear energy is used outside
of the theater of war imagine that in 1958 during the second International Conference of peaceful
uses of atomic energy yes that's actually a thing held in Geneva astrophysicists of Valley Feinberg
envisioned the concept of a fission reactor that could produce its own fuel what became known as
breed and burn reactors the earliest iterations of the idea featured a slowly advancing wave of
fission through a fuel source like a big cigar that takes decades to burn through unfortunately
at the time uranium was plentiful and other types of reactors were cheaper to build and operate
and the concern over nuclear waste wouldn't truly arise for another few decades so feinberg's design
was shelved that is until 2006 when astrophysicist Lowell wood became an advisor for Tara power's
parent company their wood dusted off feinberg's nearly 50 year old concept wood suggested the
traveling wave reactor or TWR a subtype of the breed and burn design so how exactly does the
reactor work and what sets it apart from other types of reactors according to the company Terra
Powers TWR is designed to be a liquid sodium cooled fast reactor while other reactors use
water to transfer heat from the reactor core to the steam turbines molten salt can do a better job
moving more heat out of the core while also being less corrosive to the metal pipes now that one's
interesting molten salt Las corrosive all right if you say so plus the TWR doesn't use
the typical steam turbine generator seen in most of today's reactors instead of Simply using the
core's intense heat to boil water and dry the turbines directly Terra Powers TWR uses a more
sophisticated system where the heat gets absorbed by a looping stream of liquid sodium which then
leaves the reactor core and boils the water to drive the steam engine liquid sodium can absorb
more heat than water meaning less pressure buildup inside the reactor reducing the risk of explosion
this cooling system also doesn't require an outside energy source to operate making them less
vulnerable during an emergency shutdown a tsunami that shut down the diesel generator running the
backup cooling system was a major contributor to the Fukushima disaster in 2011. the small change
could make turret Powers 2wr inherently safer than other types of nuclear reactors but perhaps
the biggest headline for traveling wave reactors is that they not only consume but produce their
own fuel how is that possible well let's start by looking at how today's typical reactors work
before we get back to the show I wanted to share something about myself and talk about her sponsor
this week scalar when I think about all my decisions that led to becoming a full-time
Creator on YouTube learning how to code tops that list getting a software job doubled and tripled my
salary allowed me to buy a house save up enough money to take a leap of faith and do YouTube
full time when it comes to learning one size doesn't fit all scalar is an online accelerated
program to enhance and level up your coding skills their carefully curated computer science courses
mentorship interview hacks referrals and more are academically comprehensive and presented by
engaging industry leaders put simply scalar is the go-to place to learn more about coding and open
up future doors for a new career you've probably noticed seemingly everything today even this water
filter is smart and has an app the demand for software Engineers is massive and growing placing
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description and start your journey to a new career today huge thanks to scaler and you for supporting
the show fission reactors typically utilize enriched uranium which has a high concentration
of a particular isotope u-235 as well as a more predictable counterpart u38 we covered this in
our recent video on thorium reactors which you can check out here in a typical reactor
when a neutron hits a uranium-235 atom the atom splits into barium and Krypton Isotopes yes like
Superman's home planet imagine a ping pong ball shot of an incredibly high speed blast through
a solid paddle this process can start a chain reaction as more particles are colliding with
more atoms until the reaction reaches critical mass where the reaction becomes self-sustaining
the process generates a huge amount of heat and power but the one major downside is that once the
uranium core is depleted finding a safe storage is a major problem radioactive waste can remain
dangerously radioactive for tens of thousands of years t wrs on the other hand began with depleted
uranium which absorbs sparic neutrons at the start of the reaction becoming u-239 within minutes the
u-239 decays into neptunium-239 which decays once more into plutonium-239 and it's here that the
burn and breed process starts to come full circle plutonium-239 is an incredibly energy rich element
which is why it's the favorite isotope for nuclear weapons but according to Terra power's president
and CEO Chris Levesque using the TWR to produce plutonium-239 doesn't create the danger of nuclear
proliferation he says it's just the opposite instead of accumulating in the reactor strain
neutrons will split the plutonium into a shower of various elements and best of all they can be
reused almost immediately as more fuel Justice Feinberg had predicted over half a century ago
the best part about the way these twrs use fuel could potentially solve one of the most daunting
issues facing nuclear power that pesky nuclear waste but because these plants began with depleted
Fuel and then utilized that fuel more efficiently than other counterparts Terra power says we could
see a massive reduction in nuclear waste according to the company a 1200 megawatt reactor will only
generate roughly five metric tons of waste per gigawatt hour per year which may sound like a lot
but it's nothing compared to the 21 metric tons per gigawatt hour per year that typical reactor
is produced today this could have a far-reaching positive impact on the environment as it could
help reduce the amount of uranium needed to be mined and processed in the first place while
also leaving a much smaller nuclear footprint in the future it will still take some time to get the
project fully up and running right now the initial plans will cost roughly 4 billion dollars but if
the plant proved successful terrapower hopes to drop these costs by one billion dollars in future
projects so is Terra Powers TWR the answer to loads of clean energy too cheap to meter
well time will tell but as always some people are less optimistic one of those naysayers is
Arjun mechani president of the Institute of energy and Environmental Research a us-based
anti-nuclear organization according to him one of the biggest hurdles Terra Powers reactor
will face is achieving its potential energy capacity he points specifically to two similar
reactor types in France and Japan the former the super Phoenix could barely reach seven percent
capacity during its 10-year run largely due to sodium leaking into the fuel storage tank more
frightening Manju and Japan shut down after less than a year when vibrations in the liquid sodium
rupture the pipe causing a massive fire one major safety concern for molten salt reactors is that
the sodium sludge is both violently flammable and extremely toxic yeah I think that sodium is going
to be a bigger challenge than they think often being labeled the Achilles heel of these types
of reactors still Terra power plans to move forward with its Wyoming based project after
nearly a decade of race research the company's nearly ready to move out of the conceptual phase
and into the engineering field activities in camera are scheduled to be completed in early
July 2022 and early construction activities will likely begin in 2024. in the grand scheme of clean
renewable energy fission may not be the final answer to life the universe and everything but
it could provide a major stop Gap while wind solar and other emerging energy production
and storage technology catch up what we know is that the planet is nearing its own critical mass
when it comes to climate and while we don't want to become so desperate as we throw out
caution completely to the wind might we need to take some drastic measures before it's too
late that's kind of the question wait for the ideal solution or find stop gaps along the way
but what do you think our TWR is safe clean affordable ways to move forward with nuclear
do you think wind and solar are enough at this point to take nuclear energy completely off the
table altogether sound off in the comments below if there is any exciting energy developments you
want us to cover of course let us know I'm Rick Da Vinci and we'll catch you guys next week