Scientists Say They’ve Got the Meltdown Beat

Engineers at Argonne National Laboratory say they have successfully tested a prototype for a nuclear reactor that cannot melt down. They hope the U.S. nuclear industry will embrace the model to regain public confidence after a Soviet nuclear power plant spewed clouds of radiation last week and killed at least two people.

Argonne’s breeder reactor, located near Idaho Falls, Ida., uses a new metallic fuel developed by Argonne scientists. Its radioactive core and all other working parts are submerged in liquid sodium. These innovations make a meltdown impossible, according to the researchers. They say that even when all safety systems are shut down and no coolant is being pumped to the core, natural forces of physics shut down the nuclear reaction and cool the core. The theory was twice tested successfully April 3.

Although the 20-megawatt prototype has only 2% the capacity of many commercial nuclear reactors, the tests would be applicable to larger models, said Robert Avery, a senior scientist at Argonne. Additional research on the reactor will take place during the next few years.