G+_Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 I think it's become obvious that firearms are too touchy a subject... So instead we're going to have the guys from NuScale Power show us how to build a nuclear reactor! (No, seriously... met them at defcon, they're game to drop some nuclear knowledge into ya'llz knowledge holes.) http://www.nuscalepower.com/ http://www.nuscalepower.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Larry Havenstein Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 I have seen a reactor up close and personal. The university I work at has one. Its renown to be one of the few that has lost its first roof to a tornado. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_John Mink Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Glad to see you doing a safe non-controvercial topic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Eddie Foy Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 the world chose the cheaper reactor that produces waste over the more expensive and safer reactors that eat their own poop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Floyd Fernandez Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 It suck we can't be civil enough to have show drop some info. But it is a Internet show and people like to troll! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Larry Havenstein Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Reactors in the U.S. are required to have an outer roof and one under that. So it still had a roof even if the pretty part went away. Still made national news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Steve C Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Wait, Safe, Simple, Small, and Economical are words that do not go with Nuclear Power! Are you sure this is real? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Jason Davis Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Very most nuclear power plants are running off 1960s technology. Modern plants would/could be much safer if people didn't have the not in my backyard mentality, and allow them to be built. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Steve C Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 Actually Jason it's 1970's technology, I worked on Honeywell computers used in a lot of plants when I was there in 1973. The technology has nothing to do with how the plants generate large amounts of dangerous nuclear waste that we have no way to get rid of and will last for 100,000 years though. There is no way to make a nuclear plant safe at all or get rid of the waste until we switch to fusion reactors using non-radioactive fuel such as Hydrogen3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ Posted August 15, 2015 Author Share Posted August 15, 2015 Steve C Gen 4 reactors CAN'T melt down. Physics makes that impossible. You can leave them in the middle of the Mojave dessert, run them up to full power, then withdraw all cooling. Because of the way that the fuel assembly is constructed, the high heat will naturally decrease the reactivity of the pile. Also, Gen 4 reactors use the waste of Gen 3 reactors and are designed to run 10 years or more before needing to be refueled. -- And the refueling process is a reprocessing of its current fuel before reinsertion into the reactor. As for the "large amounts of dangerous nuclear waste", did you know that ALL the spent fuel from ALL the reactors EVER in the United States (about 70,000 tons) would fit onto a football field... about 3 meters high. And of that material, only an INCREDIBLE small percentage (~1%) is the long-lived waste that would have half-lives in the 10s of thousands of years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Steve C Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 But do you want that 70,000 tons next door to your house? Nobody else does either so they just leave it piled near the reactor which means that every one in the country has a few tons of waste piled next to it just like the one in Japan did. Also when you consider that most reactors are built in earthquake prone areas or actually on fault lines and near bodies of water that can be easily polluted that means there are hundreds of potential disaster areas all around the country just waiting to happen and are also prime targets for terrorists! In the meantime though it looks like we don't need any terrorists as long as we have the EPA to do their dirty work for them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ Posted August 15, 2015 Author Share Posted August 15, 2015 That's the point... right now, it IS next door. Gen 4 reactors would CONSUME that waste. Think of it this way... ALL of the estimates that say renewables (wind, solar, hydro, etc.) can power the world are using a power consumption level that assumes we will either REDUCE our energy requirements or keep it at 2010 levels. -- That's obviously not going to happen. China is industrializing, India isn't far behind it, and some of the more CONSERVATIVE estimates are that we will DOUBLE our energy needs by 2026, TRIPLE it by (2035) 3035. If you don't want nuclear, then there's only one power source that has the energy density and ability to deliver as much as nuclear: coal. -- Wander over to Beijing and THEN tell me that you wouldn't want a nuclear reactor in your neighborhood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Patrick Wolfe (whistl) Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 If you want to talk about a moral dilemma closer to home, how can anyone justify the newest HAK5 product, the lan turtle? It serves no beneficial purpose at all, and exists solely for the benefit of script kiddies who want to more easily install backdoors into networks they do not control, but somehow have physical access to. I'm usually interested in the technology of HAK5s products, but this is one I'm actually afraid to purchase (with my own name, address or credit card). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_John Mink Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ? Assuming you mean 2035, can't say I'm too worried about our 3035 energy requirements :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Steve C Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 >Gen 4 reactors use the waste of Gen 3 reactors and are designed to run 10 years or more before needing to be refueled. Where would one find these mythical Gen 4 reactors? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Jason Davis Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 I used to sleep < 100ft from a nuclear reactor. and monitor it from <25ft away. I Actually received more radiation the day I wore my monitoring device out in town around Singapore for a day then I did in my 3years on the sub. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_John Mink Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 Jason Davis? still no super powers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ Posted August 15, 2015 Author Share Posted August 15, 2015 John Mink oops... yes,... 2035 :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ Posted August 15, 2015 Author Share Posted August 15, 2015 Steve C It's easy... go to Wikipedia, type "Generation IV reactor" and you'll find both the technology and its various deployments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Jason Davis Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 John Mink? Wayne Hobbins? nope got out before I could aquire super powers, but I did get the nuke curse of only daughters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_John Mink Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 Jason Davis? if that's the superpower you got... I'm glad you're not King of England :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_T Nohands Posted August 16, 2015 Share Posted August 16, 2015 We can learn about advanced steam engines after that can you have Dr. Michio KaKu Skype in and teach us about Warp Reactors? Come on Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ you could make it happen. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Dan Brod Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Not sure that defcon and nuclear mix that comfortably! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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