3 ms·

I would love to see what a sub-critical geometry looks like. I also wonder what kind of math and engineering they did to come up with the shape they ended up w

• NortySpock 6y ago
  http://thorconpower.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/ColdWallLoopAnnotated2-1024x768.jpg http://thorconpower.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/ColdWallL... This one is just a bunch of separate tanks spaced as far away from each other as possible. I've also seen a "Bed of nails" design where the liquid salt would flow over a bunch of moderating spikes, seep down between them and freeze.
• bigbubba 6y ago
  In some contexts, a subcritical geometry is simply a plastic jug that's too small to hold a critical mass. Obviously they're not using plastic jugs for this, but the principle of the thing is pretty straight forward. They could create a wide 'dish' under the reactor which, if the liquid fuel were drained into, would spread the fuel out into a shallow puddle using the self-leveling property of fluids.
• mhh__ 6y ago
  > I also wonder what kind of math and engineering they did to come up with the shape they ended up with. I assume this is why some Finite Element Analysis packages come with warnings along the lines of "You must not use this to help Kim Jong-Un do you know what" Feynman wrote of this when he was working at Los Alamos, i.e. the labourers weren't informed as to what they were really working with, so they could come very close to criticality accidents.
• donor20 6y ago
  A pyramid may work with a wide flat basin at edge, especially if core material is moderating itself (vs just separating).
• julienfr112 6y ago
  a pancake ?