Jed Rothwell wrote:
Well, I wouldn't know about how easy it is, but the U.S., Russian and
Chinese military all have their own tritium production facilities. They
do not need to extract the stuff from Candu reactor water. Price is not
an issue with these people.
Cost is always an issue with a poor country.
Confucius say, "He who will not economize will have to agonize"
The U.S. weapons tritium reactor is here in
Georgia. They have not used it in decades because they have a huge glut
of tritium from all of the nuclear bombs they have decommissioned in
treaties with the Russians, but they are thinking of turning it on again.
The old reactors, from the fifties have been shut down but the plant
still is operating with a skeleton crew (no disrespect intended) and
extracts some tritium.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_River_Plant
In 2005 The Tritium Extraction Facility (TEF) was completed and will be
used to extract tritium from materials irradiated in the Tennessee
Valley Authority's commercial nuclear reactors.
And - as a fringe benefit you get clean deuterium oxide to sell back
for more than you paid.
They cannot possibly sell it, except as moderator water, as I said.
That is completely erroneous. Moderator water for Candu is reactor
grade, which is actually as pure or purer than the 3 nine material used
in most labs !!
Confucius say, "An inconvenience is an unrecognized opportunity".
As far as I know the Chinese do not have any heavy water moderated
reactors
You are a fountain of disinformation today: Qinshan, the first of two
Chinese CANDU units, with two more on order, went into service in 2003.
It is 1,450 MWe net ouput - a far cry above the figure you quote.
Qinshan consists of 2 X 728 MWe units constructed by Atomic Energy of
Canada Limited and its Asian and US partners. The project is located on
the shore of Hangzhou Bay off the East China Sea, approximately 125 km
from Shanghai, the fastest growing large city on earth. The plant was
built in the nuclear power complex which already has three Pressurized
Water Reactors (PWRs) operating. The Chinese are switching horses, and
need all the heavy water they can get their hands on cheaply.
As soon as the Chinese learn how to build and operate these heavy water
power plants, they will squeeze out the AECL and the other partners, and
do it all themselves. Why not, it is the Chinese way.
Confucius say, "It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do
not stop," or "Study the past if you would define the future."
Jones
