New Chinese nuclear reactor design is completely meltdown-proof in an emergency

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"A large-scale nuclear power station in China is the first in the world to be completely impervious to dangerous meltdowns, even during a full loss of external power. The design can’t be adapted to existing nuclear reactors around the world, but could be a blueprint for future ones. ..."

"“A relatively new kind of reactor design, called a pebble-bed reactor (PBR), has the advantage of being passively safe, which means that if power for cooling systems is lost, then the reactor can safely shut down by itself. Rather than use highly energy-dense fuel rods like many other reactor designs, PBRs use a large number of low-energy-density ‘pebbles’ as fuel, which contain a small amount of uranium surrounded by graphite. This can help slow the nuclear reaction and withstand high temperatures. ..."

Chinese nuclear reactor is completely meltdown-proof | New Scientist The first ever full-scale demonstration of a nuclear reactor designed to passively cool itself in an emergency was a success, showing that it should be possible to build nuclear plants without the risk of dangerous meltdown.

Credits: Human Progress weekly newsletter

The High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor Pebble-Bed Module (HTR-PM) in Shandong, China