I have been cautious about nuclear power

[eagle7-31]

https://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2025/08/13/we_need_a_mini-manhattan_project_for_nuclear_electric_propulsion_1128430.html

over the years, but the above article has something worth looking into.

 

[Hafar1014]

Modular nuclear power is the way of the future

 

[eagle7-31]

Modular nuclear power is the way of the future

Have to see more but you maybe right.

 

[Hafar1014]

Have to see more but you maybe right.

The new designs are safe last 80 years and can meet the demand of AI and server banks which is vital for a growing economy. Pollution is zero

 

[ReinyDays]

The new designs are safe last 80 years and can meet the demand of AI and server banks which is vital for a growing economy. Pollution is zero

I'm more cautious ... of course the design is safe ... but is it safe to build? ...

What's wrong with the old designs? ... sodium-cooled breeder reactors eliminate almost all the problems we've had with nukes ... Chernobyl, TMI, Fukushima were all directly related to water-cooling system failures, Windscale was an oxygen-cooling system failure feature ... and waste in minimized in the breeder design ...

They're a lot more expense though ... and can be used for mass production of nuclear weapons ... can we trust Virginia or Hamas with the Bomb? ...

I do like the thorium design on paper ... but let's build one, see if it works as designed ... in some useless out-of-the-way part of the country, like northeast Virginia ... someplace where an accident would be beneficial to the environment ...

 

[Moonglow]

Modular nuclear power is the way of the future

Show us yer design.

 

[martybegan]

I'm more cautious ... of course the design is safe ... but is it safe to build? ...

What's wrong with the old designs? ... sodium-cooled breeder reactors eliminate almost all the problems we've had with nukes ... Chernobyl, TMI, Fukushima were all directly related to water-cooling system failures, Windscale was an oxygen-cooling system failure feature ... and waste in minimized in the breeder design ...

They're a lot more expense though ... and can be used for mass production of nuclear weapons ... can we trust Virginia or Hamas with the Bomb? ...

I do like the thorium design on paper ... but let's build one, see if it works as designed ... in some useless out-of-the-way part of the country, like northeast Virginia ... someplace where an accident would be beneficial to the environment ...

Chernobyl was a terrible unstable soviet design where the operators disabled the safety devices and ran the reactor terriblly for 12 hours before the explosion.

Fukushima required a 40ft high tsunami and even then most of the radioactivity was kept in containment.

TMI is the only real example of a systemic failure, and there the containment system worked.

Western style reactors are safe has you can get them, hell the ones on ships in the navy have an even better safety record.

 

[ReinyDays]

Chernobyl was a terrible unstable soviet design where the operators disabled the safety devices and ran the reactor terriblly for 12 hours before the explosion.

The accident happened during an experiment ... testing using the "spin-down" power after a SCRAM to run the water pumps until the emergency diesel generators kick in ... only a problem with using water as a coolant ...

Fukushima required a 40ft high tsunami and even then most of the radioactivity was kept in containment.

The earthquake cut the grid and caused a SCRAM ... water pumps are running as required for the next 30 minutes ... then the emergency generators were flooded ... only a problem with using water as a coolant ...

TMI is the only real example of a systemic failure, and there the containment system worked.

TMI is an example of human error, or greed, the emergency pressure release valves were bolted shut for maintenance ... only a problem with using water as a coolant ...

Western style reactors are safe has you can get them, hell the ones on ships in the navy have an even better safety record.

Light water reactors produce waste that is far more expense to process ... but cost less than breeder reactors ... do we have an answer for all this useless waste? ... if not, then we need to spend the money and build reactors that don't produce noxious waste ...

Any and all excursions onboard US Naval ships would be classified ... all look at the Soviet's record ... yeesh ... but if you want to try, northeast Virginia would be the place to start ... there's people with US Navel ships you can play with ...

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

https://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2025/08/13/we_need_a_mini-manhattan_project_for_nuclear_electric_propulsion_1128430.html

over the years, but the above article has something worth looking into.

Self-Serving Astrogeek Escapism

 

[martybegan]

The accident happened during an experiment ... testing using the "spin-down" power after a SCRAM to run the water pumps until the emergency diesel generators kick in ... only a problem with using water as a coolant ...



The earthquake cut the grid and caused a SCRAM ... water pumps are running as required for the next 30 minutes ... then the emergency generators were flooded ... only a problem with using water as a coolant ...



TMI is an example of human error, or greed, the emergency pressure release valves were bolted shut for maintenance ... only a problem with using water as a coolant ...



Light water reactors produce waste that is far more expense to process ... but cost less than breeder reactors ... do we have an answer for all this useless waste? ... if not, then we need to spend the money and build reactors that don't produce noxious waste ...

Any and all excursions onboard US Naval ships would be classified ... all look at the Soviet's record ... yeesh ... but if you want to try, northeast Virginia would be the place to start ... there's people with US Navel ships you can play with ...

The waste is concentrated and can be dealt with as part of the process.

 

[ReinyDays]

The waste is concentrated and can be dealt with as part of the process.

Then please do so ... it's not cheap ...

 

[martybegan]

Then please do so ... it's not cheap ...

Nothing ever is. The thing is it can be isolated properly, and there could be processes to re-use it developed, in those breeder type reactors you wrote about.

 

[ReinyDays]

Nothing ever is. The thing is it can be isolated properly, and there could be processes to re-use it developed, in those breeder type reactors you wrote about.

Ah ... my mistake ... I thought you were speaking to these light water reactors we have now ...

 

[martybegan]

Ah ... my mistake ... I thought you were speaking to these light water reactors we have now ...

The ones the west uses are extremely safe. TMI's containment worked, and Fukushima's mostly worked with regards to the heavier nucleotides.

 

[ReinyDays]

The ones the west uses are extremely safe. TMI's containment worked, and Fukushima's mostly worked with regards to the heavier nucleotides.

TMI's water cooling system failed, the system over-pressurized ... if they had used sodium, the cooling system wouldn't have needed the pressure relief values ...

In what sense do you think Fukushima's containment was a success? ...



Again ... the water cooling system failed where a sodium cooling system wouldn't have ...

 

[martybegan]

TMI's water cooling system failed, the system over-pressurized ... if they had used sodium, the cooling system wouldn't have needed the pressure relief values ...

In what sense do you think Fukushima's containment was a success? ...



Again ... the water cooling system failed where a sodium cooling system wouldn't have ...

Most of the release was short term gaseous nucleotides, you didn't have the spread heavy ones you saw with Chernobyl.

 

[ReinyDays]

Most of the release was short term gaseous nucleotides, you didn't have the spread heavy ones you saw with Chernobyl.

Does this look like "gaseous nucleotides"? ...

 

[martybegan]

Does this look like "gaseous nucleotides"? ...

Is that soil containment? Maybe a link to the picture next time.

 

[ReinyDays]

Is that soil containment? Maybe a link to the picture next time.

Those are water tanks ... a cubic kilometer of contaminated cooling water is being stored on-site ... here almost 15 years after the containment breech ... again, with sodium we don't overpressurize the cooling systems ...

 

[martybegan]

Those are water tanks ... a cubic kilometer of contaminated cooling water is being stored on-site ... here almost 15 years after the containment breech ... again, with sodium we don't overpressurize the cooling systems ...

Sodium has other technical issues, primarily being molten liquid metal.

and that water IS being contained.