A Surprising Advance in Nuclear Power

Scientist and engineers have long known about the design principles, but developing real-world fuel pebbles which deliver the right balance of neutron emission and capture, in the preferred temperature bands, took decades. Unfortunately, it turns out that a lot of time was lost.

In July 2024, the operators published their results of several tests, in one of which they turned off the helium pumps. The reactor cooled down naturally, i.e. without any intervention of operators and without active cooling procedures. This was the first demonstration of an inherent-safety feature preventing meltdowns on a commercial scale reactor