# Nuclear power insight article



## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

A while back, a few people in this group expressed some concerns about nuclear energy, particularly that they were afraid of it. This article might help to shed some light on research that has been done in recent years that has not been widely publicized.

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-05-09/a-nuclear-option-for-energy?cmpid=yhoo

My personal favorite developments have been Integral fast reactors and thorium fueled reactors.

I'm not so much in favor of salt cooled or sodium cooled reactors simply because liquid sodium is some nasty, nasty stuff. I worked with liquid sodium at ANL as a reactor coolant and, while very efficient as a cooling agent, the corrosiveness, cleanliness, handling were tough issues--tougher than what I believe belongs in a nuclear facility.

Ralph

The solution to fear is knowledge.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Interesting article. I have to agree with your assessment of fast reactors and thorium fueled. Especially until a much better method of disposing of spent fuel from a conventional reactor is found.

Nuclear power itself doesn't scare me, the waste does, where can a secure storage facility that can withstand the 50,000 year wait for some of todays hotter stuff to cool off ever be found or built?

Dad was certified to work both at Palisades and Cook Nuclear when he was still a union sheet metal worker.


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## RockmartGA (Jun 29, 2011)

The article mentions the construction of Plant Vogtle units 3&4 near Augusta GA as the first nuclear units being built in the US in the past thirty years. Ironically, units 1&2 were among the last units built prior to that thirty year hiatus.

Units 1&2 were under construction when the Three Mile Island event occurred. The regulatory aftermath of Three Mile Island resulted in the costs of Vogtle 1&2 to quadruple. It almost bankrupted Georgia Power. i knew some guys who worked on the original project and they said they had installed equipment and the NRC would change the requirements and they would have to rip it out, re-engineer, and install new equipment.

I would guess that licensing and regulatory costs comprise about half of the costs of building a new nuclear power plant. What the industry is trying to do now is to get the NRC to approve a standard design and then all new plants will be based on that design.


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## RockmartGA (Jun 29, 2011)

rjmoses said:


> My personal favorite developments have been Integral fast reactors and thorium fueled reactors.


I haven't heard much about those. A lot of the talk in the industry about the small, modular reactors though.


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