Looks like they mothballed the idea of Uranium !!!
This is prior article I ran across....
Contributions continue for high-temperature teaching and test reactor |
Ruth Campbell
Staff Writer
Midland Reporter-Telegram
01/31/2006
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Funding for a preconceptual design for a proposed high-temperature teaching and test reactor has reached $1.73 million, including a $250,000 contribution Monday by the Andrews County Commissioners' Court.
Three-million ($3 million) is needed to work out the preconceptual design for the reactor and research facility. This would include a business plan, show the feasibility of the project and more detail about it. Andrews County would be the prospective site.
The University of Texas System Regents will consider project approval at their meeting Feb. 8-9 in Austin. It ultimately would have to receive a license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
"We're optimistic that with the support we've received the regents will approve the project. We think the pieces are falling in place. É I'm optimistic and hopeful they will approve it," UTPB President David Watts said.
The product of a partnership of the University of Texas and General Atomics of San Diego, Calif., the test reactor is supposed to be economical to operate, safer than current reactor technology, minimize waste, be proliferation resistant and produce less activity the hotter it gets. Construction is estimated at $300 million to $400 million.
The technology developed also would provide an alternative source of energy without increased "greenhouse gasses." The reactor also would be mostly underground and "inherently safe."
The reactor is gas-cooled and shuts itself down automatically when it reaches 1,500 degrees Celsius. The reactor would use plutonium and uranium for fuel. Also, thorium, a more abundant material than uranium, would be used in experiments, according to UTPB.
The reactor would not be used in weapons production and would be fully underground in order to counteract any theft attempts. The powder-like spent fuel is encased in three layers of ceramic to be safe for up to 500 years.
The pellets can withstand temperatures of 2,000 centigrade. This also would deter proliferation as it would cost billions to remove the uranium from the pinhead-size pellets.
The commissioners' court joins the Midland and Odessa development corporations in providing project funding. The Midland and Odessa entities pledged $500,000 each. The city of Andrews voted to chip in $250,000.
If approved, the reactor project would involve UT Austin, UT Dallas, UT Arlington and UT El Paso. The UT System also proposes to involve Sandia National Laboratory through an existing relationship with the federal research facility in Albuquerque, N.M.
UTPB tuition hike proposal postponed until March
On a separate matter, University of Texas of the Permian Basin President David Watts said a proposed tuition hike for UTPB has been postponed until the University of Texas System Regents' March 28 meeting. He said the proposed increases still would take effect in fall 2006 and fall 2007.
The fall 2006 raise would be $12.40, including a $3.40 energy charge to help offset the university's natural gas costs, Watts said. This would bring the total cost per credit hour to $121.40, including tuition and mandatory course fees, he has said.
Fall 2007 rates would rise $11 per credit hour, not including an energy fee, bringing the total to $132.40.
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