jabl

63 ms·

901.
by jabl 4y ago
> common MSR talking point Well, a lot of 'common MSR talking points' are overblown, firmly detached from reality. Or at least conveniently ignoring all the significant challenges remaining in industrializing MSR technology. MS
902.
by jabl 4y ago
> Are there any MSR designs that require NO reprocessing (whether online, batch or other)? I think the Terrestrial IMSR (which is probably the one closest to commercializing in the West) is designed for a once-through uranium cycle, simi
903.
by jabl 4y ago
I think one fear is about the proliferation of reprocessing technology. So currently, with a traditional LWR, you buy X fuel rods, then later IAEA inspectors come by and check that those X rods are in the spent fuel pool. Reprocessing, to t
904.
by jabl 4y ago
> Why is it so important which government is facilitating which research? For better or worse, the world doesn't work such that everyone who reads a research paper is on an equal footing to industrialize/commercialize the techn
905.
by jabl 4y ago
GE is one of the big names in gas turbines, and AFAIK they make wind turbines as well, in addition to nuclear power plants. So whatever the customer wants they can offer. ;)
906.
by jabl 4y ago
> As I understand gas turbines are around 64% efficient with various tricks. These super-high efficiency gas turbines are not 'pure' gas turbines, but so-called combined cycle plants. Basically you first have a 'normal&#x2
907.
by jabl 4y ago
> "Over 40% of [fission products] leave core [in offgas]" "Large fraction of cesium, strontium, and iodine end up in offgas" That could, in theory at least, be an advantage if you have a good process for capturing and
908.
by jabl 4y ago
Water is actually a very unusual substance in that it expands upon freezing. (Plutonium being another) Most materials instead contract when freezing.
909.
by jabl 4y ago
Sure, we all know the big bottleneck for EV's is the batteries. But there's a lot of individually tiny things that can be improved to make that battery last longer. Like high-strength steels, aluminum or even composite constructio
910.
by jabl 4y ago
Well, yes and no. There's two major components to visibility, the light intensity and contrast with the background. Against a background of fresh white snow, a white car will obviously not be the best choice. However, in most cases win
911.
by jabl 4y ago
If you ignore fashion and/or aesthetics, there are good reasons for white or gray/silver cars. Gray/silver is good for hiding dirt, so you don't have to wash it as often. White is cooler in the summer, and white is very
912.
by jabl 4y ago
Hmm, yeah. I mean with modern technology it should be feasible to create a more cost-effective / greener supersonic airliner than Concorde. But basic physics dictates that supersonic flight requires a lot of power, as well as low bypas
913.
by jabl 4y ago
Absolutely, it's everywhere, not just in tools. Brand X known for quality decides to, well like you said, drop production cost and 'harvest the brand value'. Then after a while when the reputation is sullied, the same conglom
914.
by jabl 4y ago
This so much. At least over here it's completely impossible to find reviews of whiteware (refrigerators, washing machines etc.), at most a handful on the local reseller homepage.
915.
by jabl 4y ago
UT1 might not work for engineering applications with tight tolerances, as the length of a UT1 second varies. Personally, in my non-expert opinion, we should stop adding or subtracting leap seconds from UTC (that is, UTC would thereafter be
916.
by jabl 4y ago
As another anecdote, IIRC the Avro Lancaster crew escape hatch was found to be too small when wearing a parachute. Probably a non-trivial number of crew met their end trapped inside the aircraft. There were IIRC plans to fix it, but they di
917.
by jabl 4y ago
IIRC from reading some WWII pilot memoirs that the recommended procedure was to pull up (to bleed off speed), unbuckle, and then push the stick forwards, and the negative G would throw the pilot out of the cockpit. Might be a bit more diffi
918.
by jabl 4y ago
The Gore-Tex membrane itself is apparently(?) PFAS-free since some years, however Gore-Tex materials usually have a second waterproofing treatment (a surface coating called DWR, durable water repellent) which, drumroll, contains PFAS. Cheek
919.
by jabl 4y ago
The vast firepower of modern armies would make it more important to not be seen in the first place, not less?
920.
by jabl 4y ago
My guess would be that the thinking behind it was that in urban environments you have more straight vertical/horizontal lines (houses, roads etc.) and thus wavy camouflage patterns would stand out more from the background.
921.
by jabl 4y ago
Slightly related, in case anyone wonders why most military aircraft are gray and not the camouflage patterns that were previously common on top surfaces, hushkit has a writeup: https://hushkit.net/2020/03/09/g
922.
by jabl 4y ago
> It results in oddities like running your railroad at 16-2/3 Hz. 50 Hz railway systems are probably more common than 50/3, at least in Europe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_electrification_system..
923.
by jabl 4y ago
Where I live it's fairly common for houses to have 230V single phase for most things, and then 400V three phase for things needing more power.
924.
by jabl 4y ago
Over here, it feels like white has become a much more common car color over the past 5(?) years or so. It used to be almost non-existent outside things like rental cars etc. but nowadays it's really common. As for showing dirt/scr
925.
by jabl 4y ago
There are a number of different coating that are used to protect electronics. See e.g. https://electronics.stackexchange.com/a/395999
926.
by jabl 4y ago
AFAIU GRP rebar has become somewhat common lately, though this carbon fiber rebar seems to be a higher end step. Interesting to see how it'll develop.
927.
by jabl 4y ago
Wrt to salt water corrosion, having been around folks involved with boats and boatbuilding all my life, the 'best' material for building a boat or yacht is an ever-green topic with no resolution in sight. Of course, for factory-pr
928.
by jabl 4y ago
There's no particular upside that at the moment would justify commercializing the technology.
929.
by jabl 4y ago
> Fusion doesn't have this same battle to overcome. Ha ha, Greenpeace has already per-emptively decided they hate fusion too.
930.
by jabl 4y ago
See the German 'Ostpolitik', currently crashing down in flames, why that might not work out that well.

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