Australia’s nuclear science and technology agency marked 20 years of operation this weekend for its multipurpose nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights in southern Sydney.
OPAL, the Open Pool Australian Light Water Reactor, reached first criticality on Aug. 12, 2006. Since then, it has been used to produce more than 10 million nuclear medicine doses, irradiate more than 900 metric tons of silicon ingots and generate neutrons that enabled 8,000 scientific experiments, according to an ANSTO release.
OPAL does not generate electricity because nuclear power reactors are currently banned in Australia. Instead, the research reactor supports scientific experiments and cancer-fighting nuclear medicine.
ANSTO CEO Shaun Jenkinson said OPAL has arguably been Australia’s most significant piece of scientific infrastructure for two decades.
“OPAL underpins Australia’s enduring nuclear capability, sustaining the expertise, infrastructure and international confidence needed in a changing strategic environment,” he told World Nuclear News. “It is one of the clearest examples of how nuclear science directly improves lives.”
The University of Maryland, College Park, operates an even smaller research facility, the Maryland University Training Reactor. Since 1960, it has provided 250 kilowatts, about as much as some portable solar generators, and powered irradiation experiments. A pneumatic “rabbit” chamber can rapidly insert or remove payloads from the operating reactor.
While those small reactors support science and medicine, Maryland developers see small modular nuclear reactors as a potential solution to the state’s worsening energy production shortfall.
X-Energy Inc., which has a Rockville headquarters and a Frederick testing center, has plans in Texas and Washington state to generate electricity for chemicals giant Dow Inc. and retail behemoth Amazon. Its technology also could fit Maryland’s energy landscape, the company said in a recent interview with The Baltimore Sun.
In February, the U.S. Army transported its first small reactor for testing, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is working on what could become the nation’s first private-sector microreactor. Maryland, however, has not yet moved to develop new nuclear power capacity.
Small modular nuclear reactors can provide up to 300 megawatts of clean electricity. By comparison, Constellation Energy’s Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby operates two 2,850-megawatt reactors. Because of their construction and scale, small reactors will not malfunction or melt down even if left unattended, industry experts say.
The first American electric plant powered by small modular nuclear reactors is under development and would connect to the PJM Interconnection regional grid, which includes Maryland. But its expected 2034 operating date offers distant hope for state residents already squeezed by escalating power bills.
The Maryland Next Generation Energy Act, passed last year, sets a timeline for the state to solicit new nuclear power capability after 2027. Constellation Energy has indicated it is ready to build new large-scale reactors at Calvert Cliffs.
Have a news tip? Contact Karl Hille at 443-900-7891 or khille@baltsun.com.
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