Technology: Bismuth and Lead for Safety

He (Leo Szilard) conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, patented the idea in 1936 (fission discovered in 1938), and in late 1939 wrote the letter for Albert Einstein's signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb. …… Szilard argued (in 1942) that if this was a concern, then liquid bismuth would be a better choice (as the safe coolant of nuclear reactors). excerpt from Wikipedia.

Frequent refueling of small modular reactors (SMRs) may undermine safety, environment, economy, security as well as public acceptance.

MicroURANUS is the world’s first civilian nuclear reactor that can run for a full 40-year life only with initial LEU (12%) fuel. So is the first SMR to eliminate the risk of melt-down, hydrogen explosion and excessive radioactivity release by using liquid lead-bismuth as coolant with its boiling point as high as 1,670 °C at one atmosphere.

This breakthrough has been materialized by indigenous corrosion- and radiation-resistant steel, named AFATi. The low-pressure coolant helped slim down MicroURANUS to the bodylines of airport limousine bus and automate its mass production lines. SMRs are like parallel computers with each module downsized to avoiding overheating while uprating collectively. This micro reactor (MR) is to change the game tectonically.

Unlike water-cooled SMRs, MicroURANUS is agile to synchronize with variable renewable energy. All spent nuclear fuels are recycled, to produce some 100 times more energy than do water-cooled SMRs, leaving behind no high-level wastes. By 2030, MicroURANUS will play a key role in clearing roads to the net-zero goal by massive deployment of safe, clean and affordable energy.