More here: http://bravenewclimate.com/2010/09/22/twr-vs-ifr There
appears to be some sentiment that Gate's TWR is not as good as the IFR
designs. I don't know enough to judge.
Also, Monbiot has a new screed out on GE-Hitachi's proposal for an IFR:
"...last week GE Hitachi (GEH) told the British government that it could
build a fast reactor within five years to use up the waste plutonium at
Sellafield, and if it doesn't work, the UK won't have to pay." You can
raise your personal BP by reading about it here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/05/sellafield-nuclear-energy-solution
A somewhat more bloodless description of the project is here:
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/WR-Prism_proposed_for_UK_plutonium_disposal-0112114.html
Now, you may not believe that the design can work, but if it works as
they say, the "getting the uranium out of the ground" part would be
marginal. On the surface, it sounds better than MOX, I suppose, which
is what the UK says they'll do if they don't do this. And "if it
doesn't work, the UK won't have to pay" is not necessarily the same as
"free", but it's in the ballpark.
As to safer, Gen IV reactors are indeed "safer", but only under current
definitions of "safe". Just about anything is safer than coal, so
that's not saying much.
On 12/7/11 9:27 PM, Robert Holmes wrote:
Yeah, greenest only if you ignore the environmental/human/dollar costs
of getting the uranium out of the ground and then you forget about
that whole messy decommissioning component (which usually relies on
the assumption that national government
must ultimately underwrite/pick up the tab and is therefore free)---R
On Wed, Dec 7, 2011 at 6:13 PM, Owen Densmore <o...@backspaces.net
<mailto:o...@backspaces.net>> wrote:
>From the "I Like Nukes" department we have new designs that look
interesting:
http://news.yahoo.com/gates-discussing-nuclear-reactor-china-124722465.html
They run on depleted uranium and apparently are safer.
Ironically, nukes are apparently the greenest critters around too.
-- Owen
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FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
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lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
============================================================
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Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
