Can we please get ahead of the curve again in nuclear energy?

[DisgruntledVirus]

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/ff_new_nukes/

Now, that article could be biased and uninformed but it sure seems as though thorium reactors should have lots of $ dumped into them so we can get them up and running.

 

[Newbian]

Your avatar works so well with this story.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/ff_new_nukes/

Now, that article could be biased and uninformed but it sure seems as though thorium reactors should have lots of $ dumped into them so we can get them up and running.

Bleh thorium... now when we start making arcanite reactors that's when you know we're in business.

 

[F1N3ST]

I would rather not carry a lump of thorium around in my pocket to be honest.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

I would rather not carry a lump of thorium around in my pocket to be honest.

I carry a nuclear explosion in my pants

 

[F1N3ST]

I carry a nuclear explosion in my pants

:awe:

 

[Hacp]

I carry a nuclear explosion in my pants

Just a lump?

 

[K1052]

I'd like the DOE to buy some Advanced CANDU reactors to burn up our current LWR spent fuel inventory.

Thorium salt reactors are worthy of more study but practical application will be several decades down the line at least.

 

[JDub02]

won't happen until we can get politicians thinking past their own pockets. you can bet that senior klansman byrd won't let anything pass that'll hurt WV's coal industry.

 

[Queasy]

won't happen until we can get politicians thinking past their own pockets. you can bet that senior klansman byrd won't let anything pass that'll hurt WV's coal industry.

Not just the politicians but the activists too. They'll sue, delay, lobby, whatever to make sure nothing like a nuclear power plant gets built.

 

[Ayah]

Nuclear Fusion. As soon as someone figures out how to make cold fusion work practically, we'll be golden.

 

[JDub02]

Not just the politicians but the activists too. They'll sue, delay, lobby, whatever to make sure nothing like a nuclear power plant gets built.

I lump the vast majority of judges in with the politicians because they do more politicing than judging

 

[lykaon78]

Not just the politicians but the activists too. They'll sue, delay, lobby, whatever to make sure nothing like a nuclear power plant gets built.

You forgot the NIMBY folks too.

 

[Kadarin]

Politicians these days only think up to their next reelection, and the MBA culture in private industry has made it so that corporations only think about their quarterly earnings report.

We have lost the ability in this country to plan for the long term, and lost the will to invest in our infrastructure and education.

 

[sdifox]

I'd like the DOE to buy some Advanced CANDU reactors to burn up our current LWR spent fuel inventory.

Thorium salt reactors are worthy of more study but practical application will be several decades down the line at least.

Advanced CANDU??? shit, there is enough trouble with the regular ones.

 

[Slew Foot]

Politicians these days only think up to their next reelection, and the MBA culture in private industry has made it so that corporations only think about their quarterly earnings report.

We have lost the ability in this country to plan for the long term, and lost the will to invest in our infrastructure and education.

yup

 

[Jeff7]

Not just the politicians but the activists too. They'll sue, delay, lobby, whatever to make sure nothing like a nuclear power plant gets built.

And then you've got situations like here: Try to put up wind turbines, but no, they kill birds sometimes.

Ok hippie extremists*, here's an idea: Lots of you guys running in large hamster wheels hooked to generators.
1) Lots of pot
2) A Snickers bar dangling from a string
3) Burn dead-from-exhaustion pot-laden hippies for energy and recycle the fumes back to keep the living ones good and "motivated" for those tasty chocolatey snacks.
4) ...
5) Power!!

* - hippie extremists are the problematic ones. I've got nothing against standard-grade hippies.



Yes, please, more fission, more reprocessing, and more fusion research.

You forgot the NIMBY folks too.

One of my teachers said he'd put nuclear reactors all over the place, so that there was always one within visual range of every house. That way they'd be in everyone's back yard.:twisted:

 

[Unmoosical]

Politicians these days only think up to their next reelection, and the MBA culture in private industry has made it so that corporations only think about their quarterly earnings report.

We have lost the ability in this country to plan for the long term, and lost the will to invest in our infrastructure and education.

Are you running for any office that I can vote you into? This is definitely a problem. Everyone seems to want a fix now! right now! and can't seem to think about the future at all.

 

[Ruptga]

Nuclear Fusion. As soon as someone figures out how to make cold fusion work practically, we'll be golden.

That's like saying "as soon as someone develops transporters we'll be golden." Yeah, that really would be awesome, but we don't have that capability yet and we're not very close to it either. We've been "twenty years away from fusion power" for the past fifty years.

 

[Babbles]

Stupid hippies ruined it for everybody.

 

[MotF Bane]

Moar nukes plz.

 

[futuristicmonkey]

I'd like the DOE to buy some Advanced CANDU reactors to burn up our current LWR spent fuel inventory.

Thorium salt reactors are worthy of more study but practical application will be several decades down the line at least.

As for the first statement, that's a giant benefit of the Advanced Candu -- its ability to be licensed in the States. The original has a small positive void coefficient whereas the Advanced Candu has a negative void coefficient. For those that care, if the coefficient is positive then a loss of coolant density (ie if it begins to boil or there is a leak) will result in the reaction rate increasing. A negative coefficient slows the reaction rate down when coolant heats up and starts to boil. Of course, the original Candu also has a second emergency reactor shutdown mechanism, but the positive void coefficient did not allow the NRC to license the design.

As for the second part -- the beauty of molten salt reactors is their ability to be built from mass-produced parts due to operation at pressures close to atmospheric.

It's too bad the general public still doesn't, on a large scale, understand that the "issues" with nuclear power have long since been dealt with. The technology is there to ensure that it is the cleanest, cheapest and safest power source we have -- we just need the public to understand what they're denying themselves.