{"id":13232,"date":"2025-08-06T21:29:41","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T14:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/how-3d-printing-will-lead-to-cheaper-energy\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T21:29:41","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T14:29:41","slug":"how-3d-printing-will-lead-to-cheaper-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/how-3d-printing-will-lead-to-cheaper-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"How 3D Printing Will Lead to Cheaper Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If someone asks you &#8220;What does 3D printing have to do with nuclear fission,&#8221; you can confidently answer &#8220;Nothing.&#8221; But recent strides made by, surprisingly, a government-backed lab, show that 3D printing can be used to create cheaper nuclear energy.<\/p>\n<p>Nuclear powerplants need to be surrounded by thick concrete &#8220;bioshields&#8221;\u2014the reinforced structure that prevents the radiation from leaking out and killing people. Building these non-negotiable parts is expensive and time-consuming, and if you&#8217;ve ever worked with concrete, you can guess why: Massive formworks have to be constructed out of steel and wood, and they need to be incredibly robust in order to support the amounts of concrete required.<\/p>\n<p>Enter the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The MDF is a skunkworks, and despite being a federal research lab, they&#8217;ve developed a surprising reputation for being fast-moving, agile, and results-oriented. Through R&amp;D, the MDF has learned they can design innovative, modular 3D-printed formworks for pouring bioshields in place.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>These formworks are printed in massive 10-foot blocks and assembled onsite. Because they&#8217;re 3D-printed, they can take complex forms that would be impossible or expensive to create with steel and wood\u2014and they&#8217;re printed in a fraction of the time. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The composite forms dramatically cut down production timelines, enabling &#8216;cast-in-place&#8217; construction of complex structural components with unique geometries in days rather than weeks,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ornl.gov\/news\/3d-printing-reshapes-construction-nuclear-energy\">writes the ORNL<\/a>. &#8220;Compared to traditional methods relying on steel or wood forms that can be costly, imprecise, and time-consuming to build, this shift marks a significant advancement in nuclear construction methodology.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>In other words, the plants can be built much quicker, reducing labor costs and timelines. And the project&#8217;s end goal is &#8220;to use printable biocomposite feedstocks derived from timber residuals, targeting a 75% reduction in material cost using domestic forest products.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The 3D printing method is currently being used to erect the Hermes Low-Power Demonstration Reactor, a next-generation reactor intended to improve safety, manufacturability and cost-competitiveness.<\/p>\n<p><em><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Lastly, you might be wondering why the U.S. would want to build more nuclear powerplants; aren&#8217;t they dangerous? Relatively speaking, no. First off, nuclear powerplants are zero-emission. Secondly, deaths from from fossil fuel mining accidents, fossil fuel powerplant accidents and air pollution outstrip nuclear-related deaths by a factor of over 2,500, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/494425\/death-rate-worldwide-by-energy-source\/\">Statista<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"at_end\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If someone asks you &#8220;What does 3D printing have to do with nuclear fission,&#8221; you can confidently answer &#8220;Nothing.&#8221; But recent strides made by, surprisingly, a government-backed lab, show that 3D printing can be used &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[147],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How 3D Printing Will Lead to Cheaper Energy - Blog TSK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/how-3d-printing-will-lead-to-cheaper-energy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How 3D Printing Will Lead to Cheaper Energy - Blog TSK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If someone asks you &#8220;What does 3D printing have to do with nuclear fission,&#8221; 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