Power engineering in the future

The traditional sources of energy (coal, oil, gas) are not unlimited. Mined fuel is becoming more and more costly and scarce. It is also harmful for the environment.

Hydropower development has about reached its limit. And man has not yet harnessed solar energy, subterranean heat, or the energy of the wind and tides on a level meeting requirements. What is to be done? How is mankind’s need of energy to be satisfied?

Specialists of many countries of the world point out that it is the development of atomic power engineering that answers many questions of the world’s energy needs. Since the beginning of the age of atomic power engineering a great experience in the construction and operation of nuclear power stations has been accumulated.

Atomic power engineering on fast neutrons is particularly promising. The first fast neutron atomic power station with a 350,000 KW breeder reactor is operating in Shevchenko, a town on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea . It is a double purpose station: it produces electricity and desalinates sea water, supplying fresh water to the population of the town, its parks, gardens and green-houses. The best results are obtained from the combination of reactors of two types - slow-neutron and fast-neutron reactors.

Another direction which promises mankind an inexhaustible source of energy is the mastering of controlled thermonuclear reactions. While fissionable materials, which yield great quantities of energy, are not too plentiful on the globe, there is any amount of hydrogen, which in fusion yields ten times more energy than uranium or plutonium in fission. There is hydrogen in the ocean water and in the earth atmosphere. What will mankind get from bridling thermonuclear reaction? Here are only two examples: in the nuclear fusion of a kilogramme of hydrogen isotopes 10,000,000 times more energy is released than when we bum a kilogramme of coal. The deuterium obtained from a glass of tap-water and a tenth of a gramme of lithium contain as much energy as a ton of high-quality gasoline.

Much attention is also being paid to research on magnetohydrodynamic generators.

With the aid of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) installations the efficiency of thermal power stations may be raised up to 60 per cent.

The world’s first experimental power station with a MHD generator Was commissioned in 1971. The function of the rotor in this case is performed by a jet of gas heated to about 3,000°C and turned into ionized plasma. The plasma cuts across the lines of force of the magnet to induce electric current. Thus, heat is transformed directly into electricity. The capacity of the first MHD generator was not very great - 25,000 kilowatts, but its efficiency was between 50 and 60 per cent! It is worthwhile to remind that even at the best stations it is rarely more than 40 per cent.

Experts are confident that the prospects are very good, since the expenditure of fuel is 20-25 per cent less than at steam turbine stations and of water as a coolant - 50 per cent lower. MHD units have a high manoeuvrability. This quality guarantees a long service life of the MHD units in the nuclear age since nuclear power stations of all known systems are still cumbersome and far from being perfect and safe. It is proved by the accident at the Chomobyl APS and at other APS stations around the world.