Pebble Bed Reactor
Pebble bed reactor circulates billiard-ball-sized fuel pebbles containing TRISO particles in a helium-cooled graphite-moderated core.
Multi-pass fueling achieves high burnup (90-190 GWd/t); South Africa's PBMR targeted 165 MWe but cancelled. China's HTR-PM uses pebble design at 210 MWe per module. Passive decay heat removal.
Why it matters now
Pebble bed HTGRs advance in China for 2025 exports; modular scalability fits SMR market for remote industrial loads.