Schematic of the HTR-PM (High temperature reactor pebble bed
module) Link is to eight page design paper. A 200 MWe high
temperature reactor will be the safest nuclear power plant ever
designed and built. High temperature reactors can be adapted to
use thorium for fuel and the plan is for factory mass produced
reactors. Two year construction times and mass production
driving costs down to less than half the cost of the first
units. China sees these as supplemental reactors to the big
reactors. They will be used in smaller cities and towns and by
factories for generating industrial heat. Also, they are looking
to use heat for hydrogen generation, desalination and coal
liquification (at least that would be cleaner than straight coal
burning). The major safety issue regarding nuclear reactors lies
in how to cool them efficiently, as they continue to produce
residual heat even after shutdown. Gas-cooled reactors discharge
surplus heat and don’t need additional safety systems like
water-cooled reactors do. The HTR-