New reactor technology under development all but eliminates waste and safety problems of the old fission reactors. It's actually a revival of an old idea, the molten salt reactor, by Transatomic Power:
... fueled by uranium or spent nuclear fuel (it burns waste)This seems to have a lot of potential. False bogeyman though CO2 emissions are, Transatomic's sales pitch hypes the global warming scare as a reason to go nuclear, but that's pretty standard these days.
... extremely efficient fuel utilization ... reducing the total volume of waste by 96%. ... majority of the waste ...remains radioactive for only a few hundred years, rather than hundreds of thousands of years.
... extremely safe (walk-away safe), and does not require active cooling, even in the worst-case accident scenarios.
... molten salt remains liquid at atmospheric pressure, even at the very high temperatures present in a nuclear reactor ... does not require a full containment dome ...
2 comments:
I do believe in climate change, however I am totally pro-nuclear unlike many greens. Unlike wind and solar power which is expensive and unreliable nuclear works. Hydroelectricity also works well, but only in certain areas as you need large dams. In fact switching to nuclear power would be a great way to reduce emissions while keeping rates affordable and not damaging the economy. But off course the greens and lefties hate nuclear too otherwise they have pie in the sky dreams.
I like cheap, reliable power no matter how it's generated. For now it's fossil fuels. But this technology seems a good candidate to push nukes past the extremist Luddite greens and global warming scaremongers. If only our "leaders" could find the wisdom and backbone to do so.
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