There is a small group of Green Liberals who have figured it out that Coal is much more energy inefficient compared to Nuclear.
The problem with nuclear right now is there is a serious shortage of U235 (plenty of U238 and Pu239)
Multiple tries to use Pu239 and fast neutrons in reactors have all failed.
There seems to be something special about U235 which makes reactors fairly easy and the rest very difficult.
Too bad 1/2 life of Pu239 is so long as it breaks down to U235.
To show you how easy it is to create a U235 reactor, build a sub-critical mass ball of U235, then waive your hand over it.
It will most likely go “Prompt Critical” due to the water molecules in your hand acting as a moderator and neutron reflector.
When you fall dead from the neutron flux, your hand moves away and the reaction stops.
Thorium, Plutonium and U238 all act very different and can be very hard to start/control.
Plutonium reactors can be very unstable which explains some of the reason why all the attempts have failed.
Pu-239 is used in naval reactors.
I am not quite sure where to start.
First, there isn’t a serious shortage of U-235. Uranium is a fairly common element and new deposits are being identified and exploited as we speak. Any shortage is the direct result of government inference in building of enrichment plants, and preventing the recycling of used reactor fuel to recover the “unburnt” U-235.
“Multiple tries to use Pu239 and fast neutrons in reactors have all failed.” This is just plain false. Fast neutron reactors have been successfully demonstrated to be as safe or safer then thermal (slow) reactors. Pu-239 created in conventional light water reactors provides an estimated 30% of the power generated near the end of core life and these reactors are safely and effectively controlled throughout core life.
The federal government has canceled development of Pu-239 breeder reactors, or deployment Mixed Oxide fuel for commercial light water reactors primarily because any non-weapons use of plutonium is “evil” in the eyes of politicians because it “might” lead to proliferation concerns (but we make deals with Iran to allow continued enrichment of U-235). Meanwhile Japan, China, Russia and France continue to develop plutonium reactors.
“Thorium, plutonium and U238 all act very different…” yep, that’s because they have different atomic structures. Thorium (Th-232) is not fissile, i.e. it cannot be made to fission without very high-energy neutrons. Similar to the process used to make Pu-239 from U-238, Th-232 can absorb a lower energy neutron and eventually form U-233, which is fissile.
The current U.S. fleet of commercial light water reactors have provided safe, clean, and cost effective power for decades. Advanced reactor types can provide clean and economical power for many more decades, IF the politicians and luddites get out of the way.