donttrustatoms

6 ms·

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by donttrustatoms 5y ago
I edited the above comment instead of replying here (whoops). I realized that you thought the structure was glass. No wonder. It's not, it's steel panels. Modular construction. There are optional solar panels on the exterior, may
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by donttrustatoms 5y ago
Haha not really. :) I was pretty much laughing at myself, responding to the commenter's idea that Oklo leadership shouldn't be spending cycles on building parameters with architects (i did - it's arguably important on a numbe
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by donttrustatoms 5y ago
Thanks for the followup as well. I'll just respond on a couple of the points: - you don't see these detailed core schematics with analyses because in our design they are designated export controlled (ECI) as I mentioned. It does
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by donttrustatoms 5y ago
I can't say what kinds of security analyses we had to do to meet regulatory requirements, because there's a host of things you have to do to even know what security requirements there are. That's not even close to publicly a
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by donttrustatoms 5y ago
You're exactly right here, and I'd say this is well put in several areas. I'll add that supercritical CO2 sounds like science fiction to people, but it's actually been pretty well demonstrated at the small sizes. The sca
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by donttrustatoms 5y ago
It's a good thing then that we analyzed to such extreme events as completely losing everything above ground, whether due to an avalanche, a tornado, an earthquake, etc, etc. :) The inherent safety in the fuel type means that there wou
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by donttrustatoms 5y ago
Hey Gloriana, I'm sure PR experts would say I'm probably not making a good decision responding here, and I haven't even had anything to drink, but I'll take a stab at sharing a bit on each of your points. I hope this re
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by donttrustatoms 5y ago
Fair point, but when we examined just having everything underground, it was more expensive actually. Once you consider operational realities in a remote environment (especially in permafrost), it is beneficial to have power conversion equi
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by donttrustatoms 5y ago
It would seem that both could be possible, but you're the expert here. ;) We didn't have to spend much time or money on an actually nice looking design, and the a-frame has a lot of practicalities I'm happy to talk about more
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by donttrustatoms 5y ago
It's a good conjecture, Paul. One might assume that low probability events were a major issue. With a design that is first of a kind, and given that the proven inherent safety characteristics, Oklo could analyze to the most extreme e
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by donttrustatoms 5y ago
NuScale will, after about 15 years of engagement, receive a design certification later in 2022. After that- they will still need to apply with a combined license application like Oklo did.
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Oklo (YC S14) Is Hiring(workatastartup.com)
1 points by donttrustatoms 6y ago
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by donttrustatoms 7y ago
I'm the cofounder of Oklo. Thanks for submitting this to HN! Feel free to AMA. :)
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by donttrustatoms 7y ago
I'm the cofounder of Oklo. Thanks for submitting this to HN! Feel free to AMA.
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by donttrustatoms 8y ago
"Fast reactors have always had this potential problem" - Not really. Check out the dramatic experiments at EBR-II (fast reactor) demonstrating unprotected loss of coolant at full power. It shut itself down. Without damage. And
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by donttrustatoms 8y ago
The link clearly states that this is the MCFR - Molten Chloride Fast Reactor. I think the confusion may lie in that people equate fast reactor with sodium. It's a fast MSR.
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by donttrustatoms 11y ago
Oklo.com. You can sign up for the mailing list there, for updates once info goes live.
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by donttrustatoms 11y ago
Massive batteries is an idiotic idea, as you said. Which is why the constant and large and instantaneous fluctuations from solar and wind are smoothed largely by natural gas. Recommend checking out the video of RFK, Jr saying a solar or
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by donttrustatoms 11y ago
Ha ha. Wrong. Actually the biggest demand is remote communities currently burning lots and lots of diesel. Military is way, way too slow moving.
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by donttrustatoms 11y ago
Solar is much cheaper and wind was already cheap, however the question, for both carbon and cost, is what is the price of the renewable intermittents with storage and backup. Batteries and storage in general have not had the step chang
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by donttrustatoms 11y ago
Good question, and believe it or not there have been small reactor concepts that failed for not considering that exact point. Ours is designed to live in essentially a spent fuel cask. These things have been designed and tested to withstan
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by donttrustatoms 11y ago
The short answer is yes. We see this as our Tesla roadster (well designed niche product for a market willing to pay, in this case however, desperately in need for a solution that doesn't involve constant shipments of expensive and p
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by donttrustatoms 11y ago
That makes sense given those numbers tabulated, but the real question is cost of solar plus backup or storage. One means nothing without the other in terms of both cost and carbon. Above I illustrated my calculations on just one hour of
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by donttrustatoms 11y ago
You're exactly right, and that's what we designed for with UPower. I would have written the exact same thing when we began talking about doing something in nuclear 5 years ago. Too many reactors are designed without the market or
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by donttrustatoms 11y ago
Hurricanes also produce Terawatts of energy. The question is the way the energy is turned into electricity, and how it's stored or backed up because an economy requires reliable electricity I'm a supporter of solar, and trying to
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by donttrustatoms 11y ago
Haha, wow. :) Thanks for the comment. It was meant to signify the communities in the far north or arctic that currently are reliant on very expensive and dirty diesel... Our webpage is under construction probably to be put up in about a w
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by donttrustatoms 11y ago
Solar photovoltaic has dropped in cost significantly which is awesome for many applications. The problem for an individual or the grid for renewable intermittents is the consistency: the true cost is the cost not just of generation but g
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by donttrustatoms 11y ago
Yessir!
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by donttrustatoms 11y ago
So true. That's exactly why this is so exciting. With a UPower generator, small communities or neighborhoods could have always on, emission free power for a decade. and then, as you indicated, with enough clean power, individuals can
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by donttrustatoms 11y ago
I am one of the UPower founders. There are two big stories here that most people don't know yet: 1) that a fast reactor can be waste-negative, I.e. transform existing waste to energy. 2) a fast reactor destroys the long lived waste- i

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