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Old 01-23-2018, 09:39 AM
 
Location: San Diego
18,651 posts, read 7,499,353 times
Reputation: 14909

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Quote:
Originally Posted by ryanst530 View Post
Sounds great in theory, except that uranium is expensive and time consuming to enrich for use in a reactor.

There's also the issue of accidents, manufacturing flaws, safety failures leading to disastrous meltdowns. The risk of these accidents occuring would jump dramatically if reactors were mass produced for the mainstream market.
Plus the little matter of people who want to build atomic bombs, who know how (you can get the details in any college nor technical library) but can't get the fissile material that goes boom. Having nuclear-driven cars around, would solve that problem for them nicely. Just hijack a few, or even buy your own, thank you very much.

Why do they not use thorium instead of uranium? It doesn't go boom.

All of our nuclear programs back to the 1940s were keyed toward making weapons. So uranium and plutonium were the materials of choice. Power plants were just a handy spinoff.
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Old 01-23-2018, 09:46 AM
 
3,129 posts, read 1,321,971 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Roboteer View Post
Plus the little matter of people who want to build atomic bombs, who know how (you can get the details in any college nor technical library) but can't get the fissile material that goes boom. Having nuclear-driven cars around, would solve that problem for them nicely. Just hijack a few, or even buy your own, thank you very much.

Why do they not use thorium instead of uranium? It doesn't go boom.

All of our nuclear programs back to the 1940s were keyed toward making weapons. So uranium and plutonium were the materials of choice. Power plants were just a handy spinoff.
That's not quite true.

The type of uranium used in this 10KW plant can't go boom either, even if collected in large quantities. Highly-enriched and unstable U-235 is the only isotope capable of going boom, and power plants are used to enrich it.

But that still does not mean the uranium isotope used in these small power plants is not highly dangerous if released into the environment.
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Old 01-23-2018, 10:03 AM
 
2,830 posts, read 2,492,074 times
Reputation: 2737
Quote:
I see too many problems with uranium being used for personal power. I think other technologies will win out when it comes to the small and simple power plants of the future.
Yep. Improved solar and battery technology is probably the future of mainstream renewable energy. Solid state batteries, for example, offer a lot of advantages over lithium based batteries... much longer lifespan, shorter charge times, higher energy density. These batteries are nearing maturity for mainstream production.

https://www.motorauthority.com/news/...inute-charging
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Old 01-23-2018, 10:06 AM
 
995 posts, read 1,687,297 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Freak80 View Post
I’m fairly certain that you’re never going to be able to buy a nuclear reactor at Target.
100 years ago people would have said the same thing about a microwave oven.
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Old 01-23-2018, 10:09 AM
 
Location: USA
18,446 posts, read 9,073,782 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by idr591 View Post
100 years ago people would have said the same thing about a microwave oven.
False analogy. It’s somewhat difficult to make nuclear weapons out of microwave ovens. I’m also not aware of any nuclear waste products coming from my microwave. If there are, the NRC should probably pay me a visit.
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Old 01-23-2018, 10:15 AM
 
8,302 posts, read 3,881,690 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ryanst530 View Post
Yeah, it minimizes the problem, it does not eliminate it. The risk of an accident leading to a meltdown is simply too great for this type of technology to exist on the mainstream market. It's not like a solar electrical system where, if there is was a mechanical failure, the system simply stops working and causes no harm... if a nuclear reactor fails, it kills people and renders the immediate area virtually uninhabitable for years, even decades.

You also have the issue of people who know very little/nothing about nuclear reactors wanting to tinker with their reactors, further increasing the risk of disasters occuring.
The other risk is someone developing uranium based dirty bombs, or even a nuclear weapon if these were cascaded together or concentrated fission decay isotopes were used.
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