On Nov 9, 2008, at 2:52 PM, Bruce Johnson wrote:
> > > On Nov 9, 2008, at 10:21 AM, Francis Drouillard wrote: > >> >> I'll take one: >> >> <http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/09/miniature-nuclear- >> reactors-los-alamos> > > " They will cost approximately $25m [£13m] each..." > > You hit the lottery recently? :-) > > It's a neat way of designing a reactor, here's the patent app > <http://tinyurl.com/6o35dw >> ; Hyperion's web site makes it sound like you just plunk one in the > ground and jumper cable it to the grid...all it is is a heat source. > > The problem with these designs is that it puts a dirty bomb within > reach of anyone with a backhoe and a truck...when some happy jihadist > decides to bust one open and spread all that finely divided fuel > around London or NYC courtesy of a hundred pounds of semtex. > > The other problem is that while these minimize the environmental > damage caused by nuclear power plants, they do not ameliorate the > damage from making, fueling and dealing with wastes from these things, > although from the patent app, it looks as though reprocessing the fuel > isn't that much of a hassle; you're still reprocessing a hell of a lot > of radioactive stuff. > > This is definitely a safer way of making utility-scale nuclear power > plants (just plunk a whole bunch into the ground) but sticking these > things off near and far is a little risky for the real world. Hmm. Maybe I'll pull for the oil-producing larvae from cow manure process instead. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "StrataList-OT" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/StrataList-OT?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
