Nuclear power and advanced tech. The good, the bad, and the mentally unstable (aka the USSR).

[Not_Steve]

And then you have thorium. Which kicks uranium in its bitch ass.

I just looked it up and

Thorium, the 90th element in the periodic table, will be the primary fuel for the DBI Thorium reactor. It has been estimated that the nuclear energy available in thorium is greater than that available from all of the world’s oil, coal and uranium combined.

Thorium is approximately three times as abundant as uranium in the earth’s crust, reflecting the fact that thorium has a longer half-life. In addition, thorium generally is present in higher concentrations (2-10%) by weight than uranium (0.1-1%) in their respective ores, making thorium retrieval much less expensive and less environmentally damaging per unit of energy extracted. Countries with significant thorium mineral deposits include: Australia, India, Brazil, USA, Canada, China, Russia, Norway, Turkey, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, South Africa, and Malaysia.

 

[Democretes]

Nuclear fusion, uranium problem solved.

New problem: getting fusion efficient. I like fusion, It's just useless right now since we can't get cold fusion to work properly.

I just looked it up and

From what I've heard/read of thorium, 0.5 grams of thorium would power your car for longer than it would stay running. 1 gram could power it for ~50 years. And considering the density of thorium, you'd have 1 cubic millimeter of thorium, litterally a pebble, to power your car.

 

[Padfoote]

New problem: getting fusion efficient. I like fusion, It's just useless right now since we can't get cold fusion to work properly.

Oh I absolutely agree. But if they get it working correctly, we won't have a uranium problem when it comes to nuclear energy.

 

[Democretes]

Oh I absolutely agree. But if they get it working correctly, we won't have a uranium problem when it comes to nuclear energy.

If they get it working correctly, then I'll support it. Until then, I'm on the green team.

 

[Qazplm601]

i feel awesome because, some people came up behind me and read this thread. i had too explain it to them. i explained it. i understood this thread.

 

[ShneekeyTheLost]

There have been some very impressive advances in fusion technology recently, but they're still working on it.

Honestly, I'm surprised the oil companies haven't already switched over to Greasil/biodiesel. Do you know how many barrels of grease the Fast Food industry churns out a day? Do you know how cheap it is to filter and refine that into Biodiesel? You're literally taking a dangerous waste that is being a major problem, and turning it into a fuel for the entire trucking industry, and at a FRACTION of the cost of diesel fuel. It's not a permanent solution, but it's a damn good intermediary step to being less reliant on oil.

Also, there's been progress on a Solid State Sodium Battery which can outperform current LI-ion batteries, NOT made of rare earths, can be produced quickly and inexpensively, and are extremely durable. If developed properly, these can not only really assist with 'peak supply' power like Solar or Wind (which only produce power at certain times), but can also be used to make electric vehicles a real possibility.

Then there's advances in Inductive Charging that might also help, because you wouldn't need to plug your car in. Just park it in the spot and it'll charge. Or, if you REALLY want to get 'probably not going to happen, but a cool idea anyway', you can run the inductive charging coils in the actual roadwork, literally charging on the go!

That'll at least get our vehicles 'off grid', between Greasil and Electric, using non-Rare Earth materials. It's a start, at least.

 

[ThatOneSlowking]

Looks like tron
10/10

 

[dalekslayer96]

I just looked it up and

Hell yeah.

 

[Azzanine]

I think it's kind of sad that I'm going to be on the fringe generation when it comes to fusion power, most of us will probably be like 80-90 when it becomes widly accepted and used. Likely when petroleum becomes as scarce as gold and they find solar just isn't going to be enough for base power (it's supplemental power at best). Everyone will be then clamoring for fission/fusion whichever one's cheaper or easier for a politician to leverage.
And yes I'm aware that we have made leaps and bounds in such technology, we could have this relatively cheap power now, but the human barrier seems to be a little too much right now.
For nukes to be accepted petroleum will have to run out and people will have to experience a decade of solar/ renewable sources before they see it as attractive.

 

[dalekslayer96]

I think it's kind of sad that I'm going to be on the fringe generation when it comes to fusion power, most of us will probably be like 80-90 when it becomes widly accepted and used. Likely when petroleum becomes as scarce as gold and they find solar just isn't going to be enough for base power (it's supplemental power at best). Everyone will be then clamoring for fission/fusion whichever one's cheaper or easier for a politician to leverage.
And yes I'm aware that we have made leaps and bounds in such technology, we could have this relatively cheap power now, but the human barrier seems to be a little too much right now.
For nukes to be accepted petroleum will have to run out and people will have to experience a decade of solar/ renewable sources before they see it as attractive.

As much as I hate to say it, this is true. F*** the masses and f*** Greenpeace. Why won't they understand that Nuclear Power is the only way for us to stop the oil crisis along with the energy crisis?

 

[Azzanine]

As much as I hate to say it, this is true. F*** the masses and f*** Greenpeace. Why won't they understand that Nuclear Power is the only way for us to stop the oil crisis along with the energy crisis?

Greenpeace are nothing, no one really respects Greenpeace nor their opinions, the fact they can do anything astounds me. When it come to nuclear reactors it's purely fear driven from post Greenpeace days, certain disasters involving radiation that have burned into our collective psyche. That and people seem to think radiation sort of sticks to you somehow, sure radioactive material can be absorbed or accumulate on you but I don't think it works like that.

 

[dalekslayer96]

Greenpeace are nothing, no one really respects Greenpeace nor their opinions, the fact they can do anything astounds me. When it come to nuclear reactors it's purely fear driven from post Greenpeace days, certain disasters involving radiation that have burned into our collective psyche. That and people seem to think radiation sort of sticks to you somehow, sure radioactive material can be absorbed or accumulate on you but I don't think it works like that.

I can relate to the thing about radiation "sickness". Look at Atomic Science and IC2. Both of them have a Radiation potion effect which damages you for around 10 minutes. I doubt radiation actually can kill you. Sure, you might have a shortened life span and your kids might have genetic mutations/defects, but it can't directly kill you by just touching a Uranium Fuel Cell, can it?

 

[damagingbill]

I do have one question about fusion, if the problem is heat, could you not have a reactor with, let's say uranium as an outer shell and then a fusion reactor in an inner shell to get the heat and just use it to increase efficiency?
Like a turbofan?

 

[dalekslayer96]

I do have one question about fusion, if the problem is heat, could you not have a reactor with, let's say uranium as an outer shell and then a fusion reactor in an inner shell to get the heat and just use it to increase efficiency?
Like a turbofan?

Wait. Why would heat be a problem in Fusion Reactors?


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[King Lemming]

I can relate to the thing about radiation "sickness". Look at Atomic Science and IC2. Both of them have a Radiation potion effect which damages you for around 10 minutes. I doubt radiation actually can kill you. Sure, you might have a shortened life span and your kids might have genetic mutations/defects, but it can't directly kill you by just touching a Uranium Fuel Cell, can it?

Yes. Yes it can. Especially a partially used one.

 

[eric167]

New problem: getting fusion efficient. I like fusion, It's just useless right now since we can't get cold fusion to work properly.
.

go sci-fi and figure out how to manipulate gravity. patent it. get rich on easy spaceflight and nuclear fusion.

Wait. Why would heat be a problem in Fusion Reactors?

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from Wikipedia:

At the temperatures and densities in stellar cores the rates of fusion reactions are notoriously slow. For example, at solar core temperature (T ≈ 15 MK) and density (160 g/cm3), the energy release rate is only 276 μW/cm3—about a quarter of the volumetric rate at which a resting human body generates heat.[18

achieving reasonable energy production rates in terrestrial fusion reactors requires 10–100 times higher temperatures

you need LOTS of pressure and LOTS of heat.
if you have something sitting at 1GK, it is going to cool off FAST, and probably going to start melting things if you keep it at that temperature without doing something to dissipate it.

heat is the same problem it is in fission plants. you need to get rid of it as fast as its produced or things start melting. melting is bad.
the actual power generation will be the same, but fusion plant at the temperatures required will be able to run far more turbines per reactor simply because of that higher temperature.

I can relate to the thing about radiation "sickness". Look at Atomic Science and IC2. Both of them have a Radiation potion effect which damages you for around 10 minutes. I doubt radiation actually can kill you. Sure, you might have a shortened life span and your kids might have genetic mutations/defects, but it can't directly kill you by just touching a Uranium Fuel Cell, can it?

brand new one, no. even pure U235 isn't that hazardous in the short-term. (don't eat it)
used one, YES, and not just from radiation:
https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/

Swimming to the bottom, touching your elbows to a fresh fuel canister, and immediately swimming back up would probably be enough to kill you.

But just to be sure, I got in touch with a friend of mine who works at a research reactor, and asked him what he thought would happen to you if you tried to swim in their radiation containment pool.
“In our reactor?” He thought about it for a moment. “You’d die pretty quickly, before reaching the water, from gunshot wounds.”

fission plants when run properly are perfectly safe.
modern designs are built to be fail-safe on all levels.
look at 3-mile island for all the proof you need of that. partial meltdown of the core, but the containment vessel held.

Chernobyl is what you get when a bad/old reactor design meets a turbine test and problems at another plant, and the ensuing chain of events starting at those 3 points- you have a steam explosion that rips the building apart. then maybe a small (~10 ton yield) criticality event from the melted fuel that further destroys everything.

fukashima is a bit of a stupid stick moment, considering where the plant was located and what damaged it. "beyond design basis" from an earthquake and tsunami, on the Japanese coast? . . . plan better next time before your reactor cores are vented to atmosphere.


poking in on the thorium reactors, it looks like its biggest problems are just growing pains until it goes mainstream. not unlike any new tech really.

 

[dalekslayer96]

Yes. Yes it can. Especially a partially used one.

Well, I did not know that...


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[Feniks]

Radiation couses rapid DNA decay so enough exposure will destroy all living cells causing them to disintegrate very rapidly. With enough exposure you will die in a matter of hours, with very high doses you will simply burn to death. Look at Hiroshima, people directly in a blast died instantly leaving nuclear shadows which are basic human asses imprinted on the walls

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/...4b0t09OzUVBrMfuWFpa5bOgfbtP_lWmeJMa2Mo63FFZfs

Others dies during following dies from massive organ failure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_radiation_syndrome

 

[Pyure]

I can relate to the thing about radiation "sickness". Look at Atomic Science and IC2. Both of them have a Radiation potion effect which damages you for around 10 minutes. I doubt radiation actually can kill you. Sure, you might have a shortened life span and your kids might have genetic mutations/defects, but it can't directly kill you by just touching a Uranium Fuel Cell, can it?

Reminds me of https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/ for some reason. One of my fav xkcd what-ifs

 

[dalekslayer96]

Radiation couses rapid DNA decay so enough exposure will destroy all living cells causing them to disintegrate very rapidly. With enough exposure you will die in a matter of hours, with very high doses you will simply burn to death. Look at Hiroshima, people directly in a blast died instantly leaving nuclear shadows which are basic human asses imprinted on the walls

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/...4b0t09OzUVBrMfuWFpa5bOgfbtP_lWmeJMa2Mo63FFZfs

Others dies during following dies from massive organ failure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_radiation_syndrome

OK. So apparently I don't know much about the effects of radiation. But my question is, if you touch a brand new uranium fuel cell with no protection, can it kill you instantly or even hurt you enough to kill you over time?