s, safety concerns and economic factors blocked any additional growth in nuclear power after the Three Mile Island accident. No orders for nuclear plants have been placed since 1978, and some plants that have been completed have not been allowed to operate. In 1990 about 20 percent of the electric power generated in the United States came from nuclear power plants whereas in France almost three-quarters of the energy being generated was from nuclear power plants." (http://linux.chs.edu.sg/~961f02/reactors.htm)The effects of a meltdown are similar to those of a nuclear weapon. The other problem is the storage of nuclear waste material that is radioactive, and takes years to decay to a non-radioactive state. What is needed is a nuclear reactor that simply cannot meltdown and has fuel that after use is not radioactive.In the mid 1980s General Atomics began work on a nuclear reactor for the Department of Energy that is practical for widespread use. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has realized that fossil fuels are finite, and they are "calling for 'highly reliable and less complex shutdown and heat decay removal systems' and for 'designs that minimize the potential for severe accidents'". In response to these demands General Atomics came up with a concept reactor called the M.H.T.G.R. M.H.T.G.R. is an acronym for Modular High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor. This reactor meets the standards set forth, and is a viable option solution to the upcoming energy crisis. The M.H.T.G.R. has several passive safety features. Not only is it innately safe, but it has two very important alternative uses. It can be used to destroy weapons grade Plutonium, and for desalinization of seawater.The passive safety features of the reactor are three fold. The first feature is the reactor itself. General Atomics realized the need to eliminate completely the possibility of a meltdown. The only way to do this is to make the outer casing of the reactor h...
