5 ms·
It was a reactor from the 1960s or older.
by tmccrary55 5y ago
It was a reactor from the 1960s or older.
- lwhi 5y agoIn 2080 people will be saying the same thing about reactors built now. I'm certain of it.
- tmccrary55 5y agoYeah but newer designs like GE's newer ESBWR are designed to passively shutdown if there's a failure. The reactor used at Fukushima and many other places go haywire in a worst case failure scenario (like a massive earthquake and tsunami). There still isn't anything that can provide the power we will need better than nuclear.
- lwhi 5y ago> There still isn't anything that can provide the power we will need better than nuclear. It ultimately feels like a deal with the Devil. -- I'm also certain we will find something better. Why take so many risks unnecessarily now.
- tmccrary55 5y agoThe entire universe runs on nuclear power. I'd be surprised if we found something much better, but who knows what the future brings.
- lwhi 5y agoIf we're emulating the universe, we should be situating the nuclear plant at least a million km away.
- tmccrary55 5y agoInverse square law. What would be more interesting is miniaturized reactors.
- lwhi 5y agoAs would a perpetual motion machine ...
- ChrisRR 5y agoThat's how progress works. I would hope in 60 years time they're not still considering 2021 to have been the peak of technology
- lwhi 5y agoExactly! So why are we talking as if we've solved all the potential hazardous problems now?
- jjk166 5y agoFor the same reason people 60 years ago talked as if they'd solved all the potential hazardous problems of jet travel. There will always be a little more you can squeeze out of a technology, but at some point it is good enough to be considered safe.
- lwhi 5y agoNo. In the worst case scenario, nuclear presents a much greater risk.
- jjk166 5y agoIn the worst case scenario there is some unknown physics that leads to a jet engine destroying the universe. There is no way to prove that such a disaster can't happen. You may say "well that's absurd, we know how jet engines work" and that's exactly what I'll say about nuclear reactors.
- lwhi 5y agoOkay, I'll give you that. Yes, we know exactly how catastrophic a nuclear accident can be .. and have no sensible solution for nuclear waste other than bury it and hope for the best.