Viewing profile — chickenbig

> intentional Polonium 210 from decay chains What do you mean "decay chains"? Po-210 decays to Pb-206 which is stable. So you mean Po-210 decay. Let's shut down the chemical indust…

> It is a complex answer, and heavily depends on decay product chemistry. The source you provided does not agree with that assessment. It is purely radiation damage. The Pu-238 (ha…

> The "high level waste" is the stuff that takes 10k years to decay. Well, there are many definitions, for instance https://ukinventory.nda.gov.uk/information-hub/factsheets/wh... …

> there will be high level waste that needs to be disposed of Fortunately it is self disposing, decaying away. Unlikely plain old mercury or arsenic.

> if something is radioactive enough to be a hazard then it's radioactive enough to generate power Only under certain circumstances is it financially worth harnessing this power. I…

> Which of the 14 isotopes are you referring too? In general, synthetic isotopes unknown in our evolutionary biology are far more toxic https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/aug/09/r…

> "Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24110 years" Great, that means it is not very radioactive, and an alpha emitter, so unless you ingest it is not particularly harmful. > societie…

> three other major events What is the measure of major? The INES scale? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Nuclear_and_Radi... > Sarov in 1997 One person died in the crit…

Prismatic (or cylindrical) TRISO also makes sense. There are lots of potential problems using pebble beds (circulation, grinding), whereas doing regular refuelling cycles avoids th…

Even compression level 1 or 2 is pretty good. I once used https://github.com/google/riegeli and a low zstd compression level to store large quantities of protobuf data in an effici…

> Isn't Sizewell c already delayed? Citation needed. Delayed since FiD? Or since the project was originally announced? To me the latter is rather an unfair given planning permissio…

Indeed, it might be said that they underestimated the cost and timescales to get the project off the ground. But this is generally the case with mega-projects. Guess we shall see h…

Siting of an SMR is somewhat different (albeit related) to the SMR concept itself. You might cluster them together (like the plans for 3 RR SMR at Wylfa and 3 at Ringhals in Sweden…

> almost as much engineering , plumbing, safety mechanism, personnel, maintenance, etc Sure, that is economics, not thermodynamics. I don't necessarily agree with the SMR manifesto…

> then neither the Russian invasion of Ukraine nor Hormuz blockade would have been a huge deal. The cost of energy is destroying your industrial base. Domestic heating has little t…

> One was eventually built after massive delays and cost overruns. Areva underbid on the fixed price contract to win against the ABWR, IIRC. Admittedly the Fins were not pleased at…

> You cannot make regular nuclear weapons out of thorium https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233880587_Nuclear_e...

> Thermodynamics are the reason why SMR aren't, and will never, be economical. And the link between thermodynamics and the price of electricity is what?

> There is nothing wrong with over provisioning cheap renewable power generation when it is economically superior to building fossil assets that will end up stranded. Solar canniba…

> stockpiles and ammunition or other non-reusable military gear are basically the definition of money 'destroyed' Goods like longer-lasting food, medical supplies or a strategic oi…

France seems to work. They have plenty of nuclear power that is flexible. And you can have other forms of consumption flexibility; otherwise wind and solar are really in trouble.

The AGRs are advanced reactors that use an inert coolant, CO2. In fact they have been designed to cool down quicker than any credible loss of coolant. And have been in service sinc…

Nuclear uprates to power datacentes. See also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFxvy6_IM2A