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| China's "safe nuclear reactor" | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 21 2011, 12:46 AM (369 Views) | |
| CJ | Mar 21 2011, 12:46 AM Post #1 |
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A very minor case of serious brain damage
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/8393984/Safe-nuclear-does-exist-and-China-is-leading-the-way-with-thorium.html Apparently, the Chinese have developed a form of nuclear power that is much safer than current reactors. Instead of using uranium, it uses a "thorium-based molten salt reactor system". According to the scientists, the radioactive waste produced is 1000 times less dangerous than that from conventional reactors. There is another neat safety feature. If the reactor overheats, a plug melts and the fuel drains into a pan. There's no need for any computers or anything like that (which, as we saw in Japan, would cause major problems in the event of a natural disaster), so this system is much simpler and safer. It also operates at atmospheric pressure, so you won't get any explosions like there were at the Japanese reactor, and it's not capable of producing weapons-grade material. What do you think? I think this sounds like it has a lot of potential. In the long term, power stations based on nuclear fusion look like a good solution, but that could still be several decades away. This could work as a more immediate solution. |
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| lamna | Mar 21 2011, 11:22 AM Post #2 |
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Sounds interesting, but it probably won't do much good here in the west. |
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| CJ | Mar 21 2011, 11:31 AM Post #3 |
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A very minor case of serious brain damage
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I've looked into it a little more, and apparently, the technology for this type of reactor has existed since the 1960s (so it isn't actually anything new). However, I don't know to what extent it's been applied; or, indeed, why I never hear politicians advocating it... |
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