A Nuclear Reactor in Indiana Has Gone All-Digital
12th July 2019
Nearly 100 nuclear reactors in the US provide about 20% of the country’s electricity. While these reactors generate practically no greenhouse gases, companies are planning to shut down more and more of them. At the current clip, none may be operational by 2050, according to a 2017 government study.
The reasons for these reactor shutdowns are numerous and complicated; politics is playing a role, as is the rise of wind and solar energy. But current US regulations are to blame, too, since they make implementing upgrades to aging reactors — in particular new electronics that would improve safety, reliability, and longevity — hard and expensive to do. Meanwhile, supplies of approved analog parts are waning and their costs increasing.
That’s why the announcement that Indiana’s Purdue University Reactor Number One (PUR-1) has swapped out all of its dated analog controls for modern digital ones may represent an important turning point.