4 ms·
It's more than hope, it's engineering. Future generations don't need to figure anything out, because the last two generations already did. The Integral Fast R
by 08-15 7y ago
It's more than hope, it's engineering. Future generations don't need to figure anything out, because the last two generations already did.
The Integral Fast Reactor was a reality in 1994, including a reprocessing scheme and inherent safety, when congress cut its funding. It's not my favorite reactor. My favorite, the molten chloride fast reactor, was theoretically investigated in 1972, including its potential for transmutation of actinides (excellent), I-129, Tc-99 (both good) and even Sr-90 and Cs-137 (both rather pointless).
What could go wrong and in fact did go wrong is politics. That's what prevents the practical investigations.
- threeseed 7y agoIt's not politics that is preventing nuclear. It's cost. Renewable is simply a cheaper, easier form of energy. And it gets cheaper every single day.
- baud147258 7y ago> cheaper Renewable here are propped by subsidies even to get at the same price of nuclear-produced electricity, so I don't know how you get that.
- aaronblohowiak 7y agoI believe that isn’t true if you include the externalized nuclear insurance costs
- gwright 7y agoIn your analysis, have you included the required base-load generation systems required when renewables aren't generating (night time, no wind) or the required storage systems (which actually don't exist) to time shift the energy supply?
- threeseed 7y agoActually the storage systems do exist. There are batteries, hydro etc. And many of the bids for power projects are including batteries as well.
- anoncareer0212 7y agoIn your analysis, have you included the required base-load generation systems required when renewables aren't generating (night time, no wind) or the required storage systems to time shift the energy supply?
- gwright 7y agoIt depends on what period of time you are trying to cover for. Yes there are solutions today that work for short periods of time, but as renewables increase as a percentage of generation capacity, the more storage you need. Grid-level battery storage for large periods of time is unproven and crazy expensive if you just extrapolate from smaller solutions.
- coredog64 7y agoI would add that as renewables get cheaper, there will also come a point at which that will also lower the price of fossil fuels. At present, demand for fossil fuels exceeds supply. If/when renewables cover that demand, the demand portion of the price will fall.
- cpwright 7y agoI agree that cost is likely a factor; but not so much renewable cost as cheaply available natural gas due to fracking which changes the economics of every other energy source; including nuclear and renewables.
- 08-15 7y agoIt's politics that prevents research into improved nuclear, and it's politics that prevents the waste problem from being solved. Politics, namely the structure of licensing fees, is also the reason why NPPs come in one size only, which is "hyuge", and why everything used in an NPP is much more expensive than the same part used in a gas fired plant. Meanwhile, my home country is phasing out "expensive" nuclear and building up "cheap, easy" renewables, and electricity gets more expensive every year.