11–20 of 107 posts
You're very unlikely to invent a new nuclear reactor improvement in your basement (50 years ago it would have been plausible).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiba_4S
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Nuclear-Fuel-Cycle/Power-R...
http://www.npr.org/2013/02/04/170482802/are-mini-reactors-th...
To make an an HN-relevant analogy: The FDA-hobbling of 23andMe pales in comparison to what it's like to work with nuclear regulatory frameworks and societal concerns regarding nuclear science. When I was an undergrad, DOE was willing to pay the university the entire relicensing and operating costs of the on-campus TRIGA. The university declined, knowing that the requisite environmental impact study for relicensing wo…
How are simple reactors like the Farnsworth Fuser regulated, or why are they exempt? Are non power generating reactors exempt from regulation? How does that get defined? Is it based on maximum emitted radiation?
My daughter was one of the operators of the TRIGA reactor at Reed college. Some of the students joked it was a Fisher-Price My First Reactor reactor :-) at only 250kW its small as reactors go, but also exceptionally interesting. It is very disappointing how constricted the field of nuclear research is, as it is a demonstrably zero carbon footprint energy source. I understand the emotion that nuclear power evokes in p…
To make an an HN-relevant analogy: The FDA-hobbling of 23andMe pales in comparison to what it's like to work with nuclear regulatory frameworks and societal concerns regarding nuclear science. When I was an undergrad, DOE was willing to pay the university the entire relicensing and operating costs of the on-campus TRIGA. The university declined, knowing that the requisite environmental impact study for relicensing wo…
Can you point to resources to safely and legally begin dabbling? Are you familiar with the process to obtain proper licensing? How are simple reactors like the Farnsworth Fuser regulated, or why are they exempt? Are non power generating reactors exempt from regulation? How does that get defined? Is it based on maximum emitted radiation?
To get the official scoop on such things, I'd start with the NRC: http://www.nrc.gov .
If you're at/near a university, many of them have a radiation safety office as a part of their Environmental Health and Safety department. University radiation safety officers are a great resource for timely details regarding rules in an experimental setting. Even if there's no "nuclear science" underway at a school, if there's a medical school or nuclear chemistry at work, there's probably a radiation safety office.
Probably because it's easier, safer, and cheaper to just purchase one or visit your local university if you have enough interest. You're very unlikely to invent a new nuclear reactor improvement in your basement (50 years ago it would have been plausible). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiba_4S http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Nuclear-Fuel-Cycle/Power-R... http://www.npr.org/2013/02/04/170482802/are-mini-reactors-t…
The submission title for example can be reinterpreted in two slightly different ways. The first is the way that you interpreted. The problem is that -nobody- out of the general population chooses to make nuclear reactors as a recreational activity of some sort.
The article however poses it in a different way. It rather seems to mean that nobody goes into the field of nuclear engineering with the expectation of experimentation and "having fun" while working. It has nothing to do with expense, danger, illegality, working with universities, doing it in your basement, or any of that. It has to do with commercial interests not supporting their engineers in experimenting with possible designs.
http://harpers.org/archive/1998/11/the-radioactive-boy-scout...
My daughter was one of the operators of the TRIGA reactor at Reed college. Some of the students joked it was a Fisher-Price My First Reactor reactor :-) at only 250kW its small as reactors go, but also exceptionally interesting. It is very disappointing how constricted the field of nuclear research is, as it is a demonstrably zero carbon footprint energy source. I understand the emotion that nuclear power evokes in p…
And the waste simply vanishes if you really wish for it very hard.
Probably because it's easier, safer, and cheaper to just purchase one or visit your local university if you have enough interest. You're very unlikely to invent a new nuclear reactor improvement in your basement (50 years ago it would have been plausible). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiba_4S http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Nuclear-Fuel-Cycle/Power-R... http://www.npr.org/2013/02/04/170482802/are-mini-reactors-t…
This isn't actually the point that the article is trying to make. The submission title for example can be reinterpreted in two slightly different ways. The first is the way that you interpreted. The problem is that -nobody- out of the general population chooses to make nuclear reactors as a recreational activity of some sort. The article however poses it in a different way. It rather seems to mean that nobody goes in…
For cities or countries (or large ships) that can't afford a full-scale nuclear reactor there are smaller and cheaper ones that can replace fossil-fuel power plants.
I'm sure most people go into the nuclear field to experiment, few people expect to sit around with a checklist and watch a dial.
This company is working on similar goals: http://terrapower.com/
My daughter was one of the operators of the TRIGA reactor at Reed college. Some of the students joked it was a Fisher-Price My First Reactor reactor :-) at only 250kW its small as reactors go, but also exceptionally interesting. It is very disappointing how constricted the field of nuclear research is, as it is a demonstrably zero carbon footprint energy source. I understand the emotion that nuclear power evokes in p…
And the waste simply vanishes if you really wish for it very hard.
If you read the article you will read about two reactors that are actually fueled by what we consider waste today.
That we don't completely burn the fuel used in a reactor is a 'bug', a misfeature if you will. That was expedient when the initial reactors were being brought online and now is a regulatory pain in the butt. There is nothing in the physics that requires a nuclear reactor complex to generate nuclear waste of any kind[1]. Only in the regulations.
[1] Nuclear incineration of even low level waste can effectively convert anything that was once radioactive into short lived nucleotide. Converting everything burned into its lowest energy stable state. But we don't do that either.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you point to resources to safely and legally begin dabbling? Are you familiar with the process to obtain proper licensing? How are simple reactors like the Farnsworth Fuser regulated, or why are they exempt? Are non power generating reactors exempt from regulation? How does that get defined? Is it based on maximum emitted radiation?
While I work in the same lab as a bunch of nuclear physicists, my physics expertise is in experimental gravity. To get the official scoop on such things, I'd start with the NRC: http://www.nrc.gov . If you're at/near a university, many of them have a radiation safety office as a part of their Environmental Health and Safety department. University radiation safety officers are a great resource for timely details regar…