Discussion · Bonfire social

Humanity needs to stop wasting public money on nuclear investment, and invest it in renewables. Especially decarbonizing proven renewable tech. Figuring out how to build and maintain renewable generation without energy and byproducts (plastics, etc) from fossil fuels is an important area of experimentation in itself.

#energy #nuclear #RenewableEnergy #decarbonization

Strypey

@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz · last month

Don't believe the hype. Thorium MSRs (Molten Salt Reactors) are less dangerous than standard uranium reactors, because they can't melt down, and they can't produce weapons grade nuclear materials. But still dangerous, producing radioactive wastes with half-lives in the hundreds of thousands of years;

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/jun/23/thorium-nuclear-uranium

We can scale up proven renewable tech, and probably develop new ones, far faster for the same investment, without the waste issues.

#nuclear #NuclearPower #Thorium #MSR

AKingsbury

@AlexanderKingsbury@mastodon.social · last month

@strypey

How are "weapons grade nuclear materials" produced in "standard uranium reactors"? By what mechanism?

Strypey

@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz · last month

@AlexanderKingsbury
> How are "weapons grade nuclear materials" produced in "standard uranium reactors"? By what mechanism?

If you'd like to pay me to do your basic facts research for that, that's $200 an hour. Otherwise, there's this thing called web searches you can use for free.

AKingsbury

@AlexanderKingsbury@mastodon.social · last month

@strypey

Well, you're making claims that are questionable at best. The idea that the flux in a uranium-driven core could be used to produce Pu-239 from U-238 but that the flux from a thorium fueled core could not?

Let's say I'm not surprised that you can't back such a claim up.

AKingsbury

@AlexanderKingsbury@mastodon.social · last month

@strypey

Or, here's a crazy idea; stop using tax money to fund this or that pet energy project. Let the market sort it out.

Strypey

@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz · last month

@AlexanderKingsbury
> here's a crazy idea

Yes, it is.

AKingsbury

@AlexanderKingsbury@mastodon.social · last month

@strypey

Yes, I understand that many regard it as insane that people should generally be the ones to choose how money is spent if, you know...it's theirs. Much better to take it from them by force, and spend it. "For their own good".

Strypey

@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz · last month

@AlexanderKingsbury
All existing energy tech is the result of public-funded research, in areas where there's not enough certainty to attract commercial investment. That comes well down the R&D chain, when the tech is proven at scale, and there's definitely money to be made.

We have about 50 years to replace all fossil oil as reserves decline and because of climate change, we need to do it as quickly as humanly possible. We don't have time to muck around with ideological purity tests.