4 ms·

Isn't nuclear nearly 20% of the USA power mix? I've never liked fission but it's there and lots of effort to design a next generation of it which would be able

• OkayPhysicist 3y ago
  The problem with breeder reactors isn't, and never has been, an engineering one. It's a relatively simple process, so far as nuclear physics is concerned. The problem is that the anti-nuclear cowards don't want to make plutonium easily available. Nevermind the fact that we already have one of the largest nuclear arsenals (maybe the biggest, given Russia's gross mismanagement as of late), and pose no real proliferation risk, since we already have all the plutonium our hearts desire.
  • pfdietz 3y ago
    The problem with breeder reactors is that they're even more expensive than burner reactors. And there is no need for them unless nuclear takes off big time, which it won't, because it has lost the race to renewables. Breeders are from an obsolete vision of the future where we'd have an order of magnitude more nuclear power plants than we do now. In that future, uranium would start to be in short supply. But that didn't happen, uranium remains cheap, and breeders have no business case.