08-28-2023, 12:59 PM
(08-27-2023, 03:20 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Sounds like the best answer is still to design and build some modernized nuclear power plants (there has to be some significant upgrades we can make from the 1950s designs, no? Improved material technology at the very least) if we want reliable energy without oil and coal. Not sure how else they are going to meet energy needs with all the push for electric cars, electric stoves, and heat pumps if commercial fusion is that far away.
From my understanding the risk of catastrophic failure is greatly reduced with new designs. Instead of cooling or emergency cooling relying on pumps and stuff that can fail. The cooling system was the problem at Chernobyl, 3 mile island, and Fukushima.
Apparently new cooling designs rely on good ole gravity. Not sure exactly how it works. I guess maybe the reactor sits above a tank of water and if a certain temp is reached it drops in?
