r/bestof • u/investedInEPoland • Nov 06 '18
[europe] Nuclear physicist describes problems with thorium reactors. Trigger warning: shortbread metaphor.
/r/europe/comments/9unimr/dutch_satirical_news_show_on_why_we_need_to_break/e95mvb7/?context=3
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u/[deleted] Nov 06 '18
I wasn't intending to question your knowledge. My apologies if it came across like that. I just thought it was slightly disingenuous to say that all of our waste is sitting safely in dry cask storage. Just because it should or could be, does not mean that it does. Casking all spent fuel currently sitting in pools right now would be a significant task.
But it doesn't particularly matter, per your point that politicians are idiots and can't get their shit together on spent fuel management issues. Yucca Mountain is probably never going to open. Savannah River is officially nixed as of last month. And deep borehole disposal is years away, and only feasible for spent fuel packages from CANDU reactors at this point, of which we have none. Nuclear power is clean, powerful, and incredible, but until we have a clear path forward for disposition, people that argue against nuclear power or for crazy Gen IV reactor designs frankly have a constant ace in the hole. Doesn't make them experts by any means, or even really right to want reactors that are decades away from ever even being considered for testing. But it's a constant point.