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US teen designs compact nuclear reactor
Phys.Org ^ | 01 March 2013 | Staff

Posted on 03/04/2013 11:01:00 AM PST by Red Badger

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To: Lurkina.n.Learnin

Just one problem with a nuclear powered electric car: How do you shut it off?.........;^)


21 posted on 03/04/2013 12:23:34 PM PST by Red Badger (Lincoln freed the slaves. Obama just got them ALL back......................)
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To: SkyDancer
Soon to be suspended from school for building a nuclear device.

He'll be OK as long as it doesn't look like a gun. /s

22 posted on 03/04/2013 12:24:35 PM PST by ken in texas (I was taught to respect my elders but it keeps getting harder to find any.)
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To: Red Badger

Sounds like a redo of molten salt reactors.


23 posted on 03/04/2013 12:29:07 PM PST by count-your-change (you don't have to be brilliant, not being stupid is enough)
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To: count-your-change

But in a much smaller package........


24 posted on 03/04/2013 12:30:43 PM PST by Red Badger (Lincoln freed the slaves. Obama just got them ALL back......................)
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To: Red Badger

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.


25 posted on 03/04/2013 12:31:40 PM PST by Lurkina.n.Learnin (Obama is the Chicken Little of politics)
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To: Red Badger

Tony Stark?


26 posted on 03/04/2013 12:33:38 PM PST by Only1choice____Freedom (As long as America's tolerence of failure is not overwhelmed by a desire to succeed, we will fail.)
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To: Red Badger
One would hope so. If a few smaller reactors could be located in a neighborhood think of the huge transmission costs eliminated.

The concept has been proved but why it hasn't been scaled down over the last fifty years....

27 posted on 03/04/2013 12:38:38 PM PST by count-your-change (you don't have to be brilliant, not being stupid is enough)
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To: ken in texas

LOL - or a mountain that looks like a gun or a finger that ....


28 posted on 03/04/2013 12:40:20 PM PST by SkyDancer (Live your life in such a way that the Westboro church will want to picket your funeral.)
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To: Dubh_Ghlase
Not for friendly use either I am sure...

Well, they don't call them "weapons" for nuthin'!

29 posted on 03/04/2013 12:59:00 PM PST by houeto (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Red Badger
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.

Gas is better than steam?

30 posted on 03/04/2013 1:10:34 PM PST by Teacher317 ('Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to kiss.)
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To: Teacher317

Yes..........Steam can kill you!.......And it’s a greenhouse gas!..........;^)


31 posted on 03/04/2013 1:14:37 PM PST by Red Badger (Lincoln freed the slaves. Obama just got them ALL back......................)
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To: Red Badger

You don’t shut it off, you use it to run your house when you get home.


32 posted on 03/04/2013 1:16:59 PM PST by willyd
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To: Dr. Bogus Pachysandra
"All the control rods were removed, and the coolant flow was halted. Afterward, the fuel balls were sampled and examined for damage and there was none.”"

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.

33 posted on 03/04/2013 3:49:48 PM PST by Wonder Warthog
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To: Lurkina.n.Learnin

There are several companiesthat already produce compact nuclear reactors. One in Texas...


34 posted on 03/04/2013 4:19:12 PM PST by Chickensoup (200 million unarmed people killed in the 20th century by Leftist Totalitarian Fascists)
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To: Red Badger

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


35 posted on 03/04/2013 10:10:15 PM PST by Kevmo ("A person's a person, no matter how small" ~Horton Hears a Who)
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To: Kevmo

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........


36 posted on 03/05/2013 6:19:28 AM PST by Red Badger (Lincoln freed the slaves. Obama just got them ALL back......................)
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