Interstellar Travel Blog

March 27, 2006

Nuclear Power

Filed under: Physics, Uncategorized — Dr. H. @ 4:07 pm

Nuclear Power

Until I was 65, I was always opposed to nuclear power.  Then I read about a new nuclear power plant design which wipes away all my objections.  It is the fast neutron, liquid sodium design.

It uses up the old fuel rods left by earlier generations of nuclear power plants.  That is, the leftover plutonium and other heavy elements are fissioned by fast neutrons and produce power.

The used fuel rods of the new design cannot be used to make bombs.  They have no heavy radioactive elements left.  They will be mildly radioactive (although I cannot give you an exact breakdown of the elements remaining, and their half lives).  Still, it is likely they are not a danger to the environment.

After burning all the old fuel rods, the fuel after that will be unprocessed uranium.  In other words, they do not need to be enriched in U-235 over U-238 (far more common).  Thus processing fuel for the new generator type does not produce a material that can be used for bombs.  This design uses all the potential energy in the heavier elements and turns it into heat.

The one overwhelming advantage of nuclear power is that it produces no greenhouse gases as a by-product.

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