Figure 1. Alexander cheating. If I were Alexander Since I am running out of things to say about nuclear power, it is time to play king-of-the-world. Suppose I were given the omnipotent capabilities to change the rules currently reserved for the NRC, what would I do to resurrect nuclear power in the United States and show humanity a solution to the Gordian knot of energy poverty and global warming?
Yes and no. You can get away with not removing the fission products the first time thru, because the neutron absorption cross-sections are small enough in the fast spectrum, but sooner or later you are going to have to do some removal. You cant just keep recycling,and allow the FP to build up.
In some paper molten chloride salt reactors you can just add natural U to the overflow, since the volatile FP bubble out by themselves, and the insoluble FP will plate out. Latter is a guess at this point. Idea is to provide a removable mesh to take advantage of this.
We need tests. But we cant test without a license. And we cant get a license because we dont know what the FP are going to do. Catch NRC.
Thanks for the clarification, Jack! Where can I read up on this? I suppose we need to capture any volatile FPs; a thermal fractionation might constitute an excellent way to separate various useful medical isotopes. And the removable mesh is a great idea.
I doubt we'll be able to disband the NRC, but some folks there are smart enough to change their minds about facing down the crazies. Let's try to talk to them.
Only Terrapower is moving beyond computer models. They are doing large scale pre-fission loops. They need HALEU and highly enriched Cl-37. To do a tiny pilot reactor they need HEU. For the most part they are keeping their efforts under wraps. But here are some slides:
The problem is not crazies. The NRC's primary function is preventing a NPP release and we have given the NRC unlimited power to achieve that goal. Anti-nuke activists could disappear tomorrow, and it would not change the NRC's incentives at all.
Right on. I buy it. I hope 'she' does also.
Thank god you don't have anywhere near that power
Comment on (11): "Spent" fuel isn't. (Spent.) It's just rendered
unusable with slow neutrons, because of the neutron-gobbling fission
product contamination. But it runs fine in a fast neutron reactor.
So it is not something dangerous to be hidden away, it's something
valuable to be used up! We just need more fast neutron reactors.
-- Jess
Jess,
Yes and no. You can get away with not removing the fission products the first time thru, because the neutron absorption cross-sections are small enough in the fast spectrum, but sooner or later you are going to have to do some removal. You cant just keep recycling,and allow the FP to build up.
In some paper molten chloride salt reactors you can just add natural U to the overflow, since the volatile FP bubble out by themselves, and the insoluble FP will plate out. Latter is a guess at this point. Idea is to provide a removable mesh to take advantage of this.
We need tests. But we cant test without a license. And we cant get a license because we dont know what the FP are going to do. Catch NRC.
Thanks for the clarification, Jack! Where can I read up on this? I suppose we need to capture any volatile FPs; a thermal fractionation might constitute an excellent way to separate various useful medical isotopes. And the removable mesh is a great idea.
I doubt we'll be able to disband the NRC, but some folks there are smart enough to change their minds about facing down the crazies. Let's try to talk to them.
Only Terrapower is moving beyond computer models. They are doing large scale pre-fission loops. They need HALEU and highly enriched Cl-37. To do a tiny pilot reactor they need HEU. For the most part they are keeping their efforts under wraps. But here are some slides:
https://www.nationalacademies.org/documents/embed/link/LF2255DA3DD1C41C0A42D3BEF0989ACAECE3053A6A9B/file/DB0D308269688B2BD7B1AF60BAA143D48890C2DE80BB?noSaveAs=1
The problem is not crazies. The NRC's primary function is preventing a NPP release and we have given the NRC unlimited power to achieve that goal. Anti-nuke activists could disappear tomorrow, and it would not change the NRC's incentives at all.
Think about joining this dialogue; https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/a-nuclear-renaissance