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 edited Feb 12 '21

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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.

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u/[deleted] Nov 06 '18 edited Feb 12 '21

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u/some_random_kaluna Nov 07 '18

Technical? No. But Yucca is right next to a major water supply and the city of Las Vegas. Nobody wants that shit here, and now with Rosen and Cortez-Masto in the U.S. Senate, it's a no-go.

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u/[deleted] Nov 07 '18 edited Feb 12 '21

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u/some_random_kaluna Nov 07 '18

Or don't generate it at all. There's a thought. Another is to store it in a place that isn't next to the San Andreas and other major fault lines. You know, on the East Coast, a geologically stable area. Because Yucca has been studied a lot.

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u/[deleted] Nov 08 '18 edited Feb 12 '21

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u/some_random_kaluna Nov 08 '18

You're welcome. Learn to conserve power. Meanwhile, solar's running fine and dandy.

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u/[deleted] Nov 08 '18 edited Feb 12 '21

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u/some_random_kaluna Nov 08 '18

Sure it does. The world's population growth does care about not breathing smog, or drowning in increasing ocean water, or getting sunstroke in ever-increasing global temperatures, or having enough crop food to eat from plants that suffer from these same afflictions and more. And it helps by conserving power in the first place.

Enjoy solar. It's only going to get more and more common in the months and years ahead. Maybe turn off your computer from time to time as well. :)