Posted on 03/04/2013 11:01:00 AM PST by Red Badger
Eighteen-year-old Taylor Wilson has designed a compact nuclear reactor that could one day burn waste from old atomic weapons to power anything from homes and factories to space colonies.
The American teen, who gained fame four years ago after designing a fusion reactor he planned to build in the garage of his family's home, shared his latest endeavor at a TED Conference in southern California on Thursday. "It's about bringing something old, fission, into the 21st Century," Wilson said. "I think this has huge potential to change the world." He has designed a small reactor capable of generating 50-100 megawatts of electricity, enough to power as many as 100,000 homes. The reactor can be made assembly-line style and powered by molten radioactive material from nuclear weapons, Wilson said. The relatively small, modular reactor can be shipped sealed with enough fuel to last for 30 years. "You can plop them down anywhere in the world and they work, buried under the ground for security reasons," he said, while detailing his design at TED. "In the Cold War we built up this huge arsenal of nuclear weapons and we don't need them anymore," Wilson said. "It would be great if we could eat them up, and this reactor loves this stuff." His reactors are designed to spin turbines using gas instead of steam, meaning they operate at temperatures lower than those of typical nuclear reactors and don't spew anything if there is a breach. The fuel is in the form of molten salt, and the reactors don't need to be pressurized, according to the teenager. "In the event of an accident, you can just drain the core into a tank under the reactor with neutron absorbers and the reaction stops," Wilson said. "There is no inclination for the fission products to leave this reactor," he said. "In an accident, the reactor may be toast, which is sorry for the power company, but there is no problem." Wilson, who graduated grade school in May, said he is putting off university to focus on a company he created to make Modular Fission Reactors. He sees his competition as nations, particularly China, and the roadblocks ahead as political instead of technical. Wilson planned to have a prototype ready in two years and a product to market in five years. "Not only does it combat climate change, it can bring power to the developing world," Wilson said with teenage optimism. "Imagine having a compact reactor in a rocket designed by those planning to habitat other planets. Not only would you have power for propulsion, but power once you get there."
Just one problem with a nuclear powered electric car: How do you shut it off?.........;^)
He'll be OK as long as it doesn't look like a gun. /s
Sounds like a redo of molten salt reactors.
But in a much smaller package........
Something for engineers to work out. It would be sweet to plug your car in when you got home not to charge but to power your house.
Tony Stark?
The concept has been proved but why it hasn't been scaled down over the last fifty years....
LOL - or a mountain that looks like a gun or a finger that ....
Well, they don't call them "weapons" for nuthin'!
Gas is better than steam?
Yes..........Steam can kill you!.......And it’s a greenhouse gas!..........;^)
You don’t shut it off, you use it to run your house when you get home.
Unfortunately, a later study paints a slightly different picture. The above comment is from a single excursion test. Long-term usage demonstrates high and unacceptable wear and leakage of radioactive byproducts from the "pebbles". This was hashed out some time back here on FR, with a link to the study. PBR---not yet ready for prime time.
There are several companiesthat already produce compact nuclear reactors. One in Texas...
From the comments on the thread posted...
The technology to do this has been available for decades. One reason this idea hasn’t taken off much earlier is that it’ll give everyone the ability to easily create a radiological “dirty bomb”.
report tscati Mar 01, 2013 Rank: 2.3 / 5 (6)
And what are you left with after 30 years? A box full of candy? Or a box full of radioactive waste that needs to be stored for 300 generations?
report antialias_physorg Mar 01, 2013 Rank: 2.3 / 5 (12)
Why, candy of course!The local energy provider will conveniently go out of business a few days before expiration date. No one will feel responsible for the stuff - and people will just leave them dotted around the landscape because it’s too expensive to dig up and store. At least until the containment rots and the stuff leaks into the groundwater - but who cares about that?Just being my regular, cynical self. I’m sure all companies all over the world will shun no cost to responsibly dispose of it.Riiiiight.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-03-teen-compact-nuclear-reactor.html#jCp
Sounds like.............. a BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY TO ME!......
I’m sure that some laws could be put in place to locate and track (Cell GPS?) each and every power unit manufactured that would be monitored 24/7/365 via computer and satellite.
As the units approach their end of useful life they would be removed and disposed and/or recycled. My personal favorite, launching all nuclear waste into the Sun, could be a really cheap way to dispose of massive amounts of the bad stuff........
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