121–130 of 133 posts
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No. Being at the bottom of a mile deep hole in bedrock makes a very effective isolation.
Isolation from _what_? If you reactor melts down, it will contaminate the water column above it. And by having it inside the shaft, you won't be able to do any maintenance on it. It's a stupid idea designed to filter out investors who are stupid enough to fall for it.
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A mile is much deeper than the water table is almost everywhere. It is normally solid bedrock. So you can just fill the hole with concrete and dirt.
How does this look in practice? You need the water to transfer the heat, so in response to a disaster that has already poisoned the water table you need to extract the water, put it somewhere, and backfill with concrete, all while you've already poisoned miles of water table and fighting from spreading further and damning all workers involved? For what gain?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
No. Being at the bottom of a mile deep hole in bedrock makes a very effective isolation.
Isolation from _what_? If you reactor melts down, it will contaminate the water column above it. And by having it inside the shaft, you won't be able to do any maintenance on it. It's a stupid idea designed to filter out investors who are stupid enough to fall for it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isolation from _what_? If you reactor melts down, it will contaminate the water column above it. And by having it inside the shaft, you won't be able to do any maintenance on it. It's a stupid idea designed to filter out investors who are stupid enough to fall for it.
How does your reactor melt down if it is submerged in coolant?
Again, this is a monumentally stupid idea for no reason whatsoever.
And modern reactors are already passively safe. Even if the core melts down, it'll be contained in a core catcher: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_catcher
From the thesis: https://www.proquest.com/openview/624989df3cdd8055a6cee9affc... "For the application in EGS drilling, this device uses a metallic waveguide to carry the millimeter wave (MMW) beam to a standoff distance from the crystalline rock. Argon gas is used as the waveguide fill medium due to its ability to stay transparent to MMW’s at such deep depths and thus higher pressures [12]. Purge gas is also used to…
You don't need a significant flow of argon, just enough to keep unwanted gasses out of the waveguide. It's possible there exists a material that is transparent to mm waves, airtight, and can survive the conditions at the bottom of the hole. In such a case they could cap the waveguide and prevent any gas leakage. I'm quite sure Quaise is well aware that Argon isn't cheap and are already exploring multiple avenues for…
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Of the all the radioactive elements in a nuclear reactor, uranium is one of the least dangerous (is very weakly radioactive, but it's toxic, it's a heavy metal). It's all the radioactive fission products (many have short half-life and in process of decay produces lot of ionizing radiation) and trans-uranic elements (because they have very long half-life and produce a bit small bits of ionizing radiation for very long…
On the upside, the half life of those byproducts is measured in days to decades (15 years for Pu-241, 88 for Pu-238, 30 for Cs-137 and 139 days for Po-210).
A spend nuclear fuel rod, freshly taken out of nuclear reactor, will kill you in minutes, if stand near it without any shielding. Therefor manipulation with spend nuclear fuel is done remotely under water. Few meters of water are excellent radiation shield.
With each year radioactive products decay into stable elements.
After about 400 years in storage, the most radioactive elements decay away and the dominant part radiotoxicity of spend nuclear fuel is now Plutonium. From the point of toxicity, you could now handle the spend nuclear fuel as other industrial toxic waste - you have to breathe in, or ingest the spend nuclear fuel to be dangerous.
On the other hand, from the geopolitical point of view, spend nuclear fuel is dangerous from many thousands of years (in contrast to other industrial toxic waste), because for many thousands of years Plutonium can be used make a nuclear weapons. This is the real reason why spend nuclear fuel gets so much attention.
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How does your reactor melt down if it is submerged in coolant?
It boils off the coolant, creating a vapor lock, then water-zirconium reaction happens. Then it explodes and ruins the shaft. So you'll have to drill a rescue well, and then defuel the reactor to avoid any possible contamination. Again, this is a monumentally stupid idea for no reason whatsoever. And modern reactors are already passively safe. Even if the core melts down, it'll be contained in a core catcher: https:/…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It boils off the coolant, creating a vapor lock, then water-zirconium reaction happens. Then it explodes and ruins the shaft. So you'll have to drill a rescue well, and then defuel the reactor to avoid any possible contamination. Again, this is a monumentally stupid idea for no reason whatsoever. And modern reactors are already passively safe. Even if the core melts down, it'll be contained in a core catcher: https:/…
It boils off a 1 mile deep water column? And you don't need a core catcher when you are already 1 mile deep in bedrock. It just goes to the bottom of the hole.
Yes?
> And you don't need a core catcher when you are already 1 mile deep in bedrock.
Yes, you do. Because if the shaft explodes or gets blocked near the top, the fission products can travel up the water column.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It boils off a 1 mile deep water column? And you don't need a core catcher when you are already 1 mile deep in bedrock. It just goes to the bottom of the hole.
> It boils off a 1 mile deep water column? Yes? > And you don't need a core catcher when you are already 1 mile deep in bedrock. Yes, you do. Because if the shaft explodes or gets blocked near the top, the fission products can travel up the water column.