Extra, Extra....Read All About It!

[MasterSpam]

I’ve been following this as well. Very intriguing. Thought everybody worrying about sea animals becoming sushi but I call it chum. Start fishing a mile further out as the fish swim in to eat

Or the millions of birds that get sliced up by the windmills

 

[LastDayScout]

Chinese’s and Japanese are moving on this tech too. I think it’s great.

NOAA's official value for the total length of the U.S. shoreline is 153,646 kilometers (95,471 miles).

Seems like the USA should look into it as well.

 

[J Alynn]

Or the millions of birds that get sliced up by the windmills

That one always gets me. It’s not a cuisinart doing 120 rpm. Survival of the fittest if you can’t avoid one of those giant blades in glory of you

 

[THil08]

NJ shore towns shut the wind projects down, and most of the companies are pulling out of it. My town had lawn signs made to protest for it. Im so glad we shut that crap down. Especially since i witnessed first hand a dead whale on the beach, that suffered confusion from the floor scanning for these stupid wind things.

 

[Chavannigans]

This is why the idled/undamaged Three Mile Island reactor will be brougt back on line.
Also why Gates is funding some smaller salt cooled reactors in ID or maybe WY(?) and one of the larger nuclear facilities will be adding an addtional reactor, TN, Browns Ferry(?) and maybe Palos Verde in AZ. These are mainly due to data center draw as you point out.

Nuclear is the way of the future.

China is adding 2-3 reactors (And they are very dirty ones) a year, along with 10 coal fired plants (also without any real polution mitigation) EVERY YEAR.
Battery storage is becoming more feasable and other means of storage, mainly thermal, to store otherwise wasted PV and wind output.

Hydro is diminishing rapidily.

Where to get the power for EVs?

China recently demonstrated the ability to refuel a thorium reactor without shutting it down.

It’s seems they are pumping money into clean energy as well.

China makes thorium-based nuclear energy breakthrough using past US work

According to Chinese state media, a group of scientists recently managed to refuel a working thorium molten salt reactor without causing a shutdown — a feat never achieved before.

www.mining.com

 

[LastDayScout]

China recently demonstrated the ability to refuel a thorium reactor without shutting it down.

It’s seems they are pumping money into clean energy as well.

China makes thorium-based nuclear energy breakthrough using past US work

According to Chinese state media, a group of scientists recently managed to refuel a working thorium molten salt reactor without causing a shutdown — a feat never achieved before.

www.mining.com

If the numbers and supply mentioned in the article are correct, that’s truly amazing. I do not know the science used with thorium or salt reactors. I do understand the basics of how traditional nuclear reactors work.

 

[MasterSpam]

Don't worry... The California legislature is pushing for a $0.09 a mile 'road tax', supposedly to maintaine the roads like the $1.36 a gallon gas taxes are suposed to be doing... You see how well that is working out.

 

[eddiet1212]

Volkswagen has just recalled what appears to be all of its U.S.-model ID.Buzz vans sold so far, and the reason seems to be sort of serious — albeit one that's new to us. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the ID.Buzz's third-row bench seat is simply too wide.

Volkswagen Is Recalling the ID.Buzz for a Reason We've Never Heard Before

NHTSA is going after the electric throwback's third row in an effort to ensure seatbelt efficacy.

www.roadandtrack.com

 

[Cranky Canuck]

Or the millions of birds that get sliced up by the windmills

"Millions"? Yeah that's a myth. It's not even one million. House cats, power lines, farming, cars, and windows kill WAY more birds than windmills.

I know it's a common talking point by the oil industry lobby but it's misinformation and objectively incorrect. If bird deaths are a real concern then you should be advocating against allowing cats to roam around outside without bells.

https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/do-wind-turbines-kill-birds

 

[strider]

If the numbers and supply mentioned in the article are correct, that’s truly amazing. I do not know the science used with thorium or salt reactors. I do understand the basics of how traditional nuclear reactors work.

Oak Ridge had a molten salt reactor running back in the late 60s. Nixon killed it by giving the funding to his SoCal buddies (he was from there). The beauty of molten salt is that it cannot melt down. The temps never exceed the melting point of concrete nor the boiling point of the salt. The cooling system is passive (using the old principle of heat rising, the heat itself circulates the salt) so it can still cool without power. Also the reactor itself runs at atmospheric pressure. Traditional reactors run the water at very high pressures. In the event of a failure, instant radioactive steam.

The other reason molten salt reactors were killed was that they can't be used as part of the bomb-making process. There has long been tension in the US that the nuclear fleet should be dual-use and so we never developed a purely commercial nuclear program.

Using thorium as a fuel is a step that we never took. The Oak Ridge reactor was running on uranium. The beauty of using thorium is that it is incredible abundant. In fact, coal is full of it. You could mine the coal, extract the thorium to run your reactor, then take the coal and with waste heat from the reactor, using Fischer Tropsch (a process the Germans used in WWII) to create gasoline, diesel/jet fuel, etc.

 

[MasterSpam]

China recently demonstrated the ability to refuel a thorium reactor without shutting it down.

It’s seems they are pumping money into clean energy as well.

China makes thorium-based nuclear energy breakthrough using past US work

According to Chinese state media, a group of scientists recently managed to refuel a working thorium molten salt reactor without causing a shutdown — a feat never achieved before.

www.mining.com

CHY-NA claims a lot of things that are total BS.
They are building 10+ new coal fired plants every year and they don't bother with polution controls. Just pull up the world wide air polution maps.

Yes, they are building nuke plants, but they are the dirtiest in the world, one plant releasing 10x times more radioactive waste evey year than the one release from Fukushima a couple years ago they were crying so loudly about.

 

[MasterSpam]

The issue with salt reactors is that you can't shut them down. The salt 'freezes' in the heat exchange/cooling system and entirely has to be replaced.
The good thing is they don't need much maintenance, so shutting one down shouldn't need to be down in it's designed lifetime.

 

[bb00799]

Volkswagen has just recalled what appears to be all of its U.S.-model ID.Buzz vans sold so far, and the reason seems to be sort of serious — albeit one that's new to us. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the ID.Buzz's third-row bench seat is simply too wide.

Volkswagen Is Recalling the ID.Buzz for a Reason We've Never Heard Before

NHTSA is going after the electric throwback's third row in an effort to ensure seatbelt efficacy.

www.roadandtrack.com

Oh so they are calling us to thick

 

[MasterSpam]

Oak Ridge had a molten salt reactor running back in the late 60s. Nixon killed it by giving the funding to his SoCal buddies (he was from there). The beauty of molten salt is that it cannot melt down. The temps never exceed the melting point of concrete nor the boiling point of the salt. The cooling system is passive (using the old principle of heat rising, the heat itself circulates the salt) so it can still cool without power. Also the reactor itself runs at atmospheric pressure. Traditional reactors run the water at very high pressures. In the event of a failure, instant radioactive steam.

The other reason molten salt reactors were killed was that they can't be used as part of the bomb-making process. There has long been tension in the US that the nuclear fleet should be dual-use and so we never developed a purely commercial nuclear program.

Using thorium as a fuel is a step that we never took. The Oak Ridge reactor was running on uranium. The beauty of using thorium is that it is incredible abundant. In fact, coal is full of it. You could mine the coal, extract the thorium to run your reactor, then take the coal and with waste heat from the reactor, using Fischer Tropsch (a process the Germans used in WWII) to create gasoline, diesel/jet fuel, etc.

And I think thorium reactors can actually use used fuel from spent uranianium.
It's too bad Clinton helped stop the reprocessing of spent uramium.
Additonal fuel could be processed from this and reduce that waste mass.
Now it sits in pools and we lost all the access to many isotopes used for medical purposes and have to buy the from Europe.

 

[strider]

And I think thorium reactors can actually use used fuel from spent uranianium.
It's too bad Clinton helped stop the reprocessing of spent uramium.
Additonal fuel could be processed from this and reduce that waste mass.
Now it sits in pools and we lost all the access to many isotopes used for medical purposes and have to buy the from Europe.

It was Carter that killed reprocessing by Executive Order. Reagan reversed it on day 1 but no one will invest in the facilities if it can be rendered worthless at the stroke of a pen. I like a lot of what Carter did but as a nuke engineer in the Navy, he did not believe that civilians could safely run nuke plants and he feared that reprocessing would increase nuclear weapon proliferation.

Jimmy Carter Killed This Technology 50 Years Ago. Congress Is About To Fund Its Revival.

The spending bill the House just passed contains $10 million for recycling nuclear waste.

www.huffpost.com

 

[MasterSpam]

It was Carter that killed reprocessing by Executive Order. Regan reversed it on day 1 but no one will invest in the facilities if it can be rendered worthless at the stroke of a pen. I like a lot of what Carter did but as a nuke engineer in the Navy, he did not believe that civilians could safely run nuke plants and he feared that reprocessing would increase nuclear weapon proliferation.

Jimmy Carter Killed This Technology 50 Years Ago. Congress Is About To Fund Its Revival.

The spending bill the House just passed contains $10 million for recycling nuclear waste.

www.huffpost.com

Yah, It was Carter.

 

[LastDayScout]

Oak Ridge had a molten salt reactor running back in the late 60s. Nixon killed it by giving the funding to his SoCal buddies (he was from there). The beauty of molten salt is that it cannot melt down. The temps never exceed the melting point of concrete nor the boiling point of the salt. The cooling system is passive (using the old principle of heat rising, the heat itself circulates the salt) so it can still cool without power. Also the reactor itself runs at atmospheric pressure. Traditional reactors run the water at very high pressures. In the event of a failure, instant radioactive steam.

The other reason molten salt reactors were killed was that they can't be used as part of the bomb-making process. There has long been tension in the US that the nuclear fleet should be dual-use and so we never developed a purely commercial nuclear program.

Using thorium as a fuel is a step that we never took. The Oak Ridge reactor was running on uranium. The beauty of using thorium is that it is incredible abundant. In fact, coal is full of it. You could mine the coal, extract the thorium to run your reactor, then take the coal and with waste heat from the reactor, using Fischer Tropsch (a process the Germans used in WWII) to create gasoline, diesel/jet fuel, etc.

Thank you for the very good and concise explanation. This all sounds like a no-brainer to me. I hope the US decides to pursue this technology.

 

[LastDayScout]

It was Carter that killed reprocessing by Executive Order. Reagan reversed it on day 1 but no one will invest in the facilities if it can be rendered worthless at the stroke of a pen. I like a lot of what Carter did but as a nuke engineer in the Navy, he did not believe that civilians could safely run nuke plants and he feared that reprocessing would increase nuclear weapon proliferation.

Jimmy Carter Killed This Technology 50 Years Ago. Congress Is About To Fund Its Revival.

The spending bill the House just passed contains $10 million for recycling nuclear waste.

www.huffpost.com

And here we are 45 years later having problems with the Russians and Iranians. The more things change, the more they stay the same. The only Asian difference is in the late 70s, early 80s we were worried about the Japanese technological and manufacturing prowess. Now it is the Chinese. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

 

[Chavannigans]

CHY-NA claims a lot of things that are total BS.
They are building 10+ new coal fired plants every year and they don't bother with polution controls. Just pull up the world wide air polution maps.

Yes, they are building nuke plants, but they are the dirtiest in the world, one plant releasing 10x times more radioactive waste evey year than the one release from Fukushima a couple years ago they were crying so loudly about.

Yeah you seem to be repeating the same lines.

Do you have evidence that they havent achieved this step in making Thorium reactors a viable solution, or is this based off of feelings and stereotypes?

They have leapfrogged the US EV industry so I have little doubt that they are pursuing alternative sources of energy that are more sustainable since EV adoption is skyrocketing there while America is actively trying to slow it.

 

[strider]

Thank you for the very good and concise explanation. This all sounds like a no-brainer to me. I hope the US decides to pursue this technology.

You are welcome. It looks like Idaho National Labratory has taken the torch from Oak Ridge. https://inl.gov/feature-story/how-molten-salt-could-be-the-lifeblood-of-tomorrows-nuclear-energy/

Also, private industry is working on it. There are several molten salt startups (MicroNuclear, Kairos, TerraPower, etc). IIRC none of them are going with Thorium though. Which makes sense - the Feds have to sign off so not changing too much at once is probably smart. Uranium is a known quantity while thorium has a few things to work out (though it sounds like the Chinese are on their way).