The gas-cooled reactor in the park circulates helium through TRISO fuel. Hot helium heats molten salt, and two tanks store the salt like a thermal battery, so the turbine can follow the data center while the reactor runs flat out.
This plant cools its core with helium gas under pressure. Helium does not react with anything and cannot boil. The vessel is a tall steel cylinder with the core in the middle.
| Coolant | Helium at ≈ 7 MPa |
|---|---|
| Core outlet | ≈ 630 °C |
| Thermal power | ≈ 15 MWt |
| Core life | ≈ 20 years |
Each fuel kernel is smaller than a poppy seed and wears four ceramic coatings. The coatings hold in fission products to well above 1,600 °C. The display case shows one particle cut open at large scale.
| Kernel | Uranium oxycarbide, ≈ 0.5 mm |
|---|---|
| Coatings | Buffer, PyC, SiC, PyC |
| Particle size | ≈ 1 mm |
| Particles per reactor | Billions |
A motor-driven blower on top of the vessel pushes helium down the outside of the core and up through the fuel. If it stops, the core cools itself by conduction and radiation.
| Type | Electric, magnetic bearings |
|---|---|
| Flow | ≈ 10 kg/s |
| Power draw | ≈ 300 kW |
Hot helium hands its heat to a molten salt here. The salt then leaves the reactor building, so no nuclear system runs through the power plant next door.
| Hot side | Helium, 630 °C in |
|---|---|
| Cold side | Nitrate salt, 560 °C out |
| Type | Printed-circuit or shell-and-tube |
Two tanks store hot and cold salt. The reactor runs flat out all day. The salt releases heat to the turbine when the data center needs it, like a thermal battery.
| Salt | Sodium and potassium nitrate |
|---|---|
| Hot tank | ≈ 560 °C |
| Storage | ≈ 8 hours at full output |
| Tank size | ≈ 4.5 m dia × 8 m |
Hot salt boils water in a steam generator, and the steam drives this turbine. It is ordinary power-plant equipment, and it can run faster or slower than the reactor because the tanks sit in between.
| Cycle | Steam Rankine |
|---|---|
| Electric output | ≈ 5 MWe |
| Steam | ≈ 540 °C |
| Cooling | Dry air-cooled condenser |