Comment on Reactor goes brrr

• Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  And are those modern molten salt reactors in the room with us now?

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  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMSR-LF1

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    • Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      2 MW. Fantastic. And only 8 years until it reaches continuous operation. How long will it be before that is anywhere near utility scale?

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• synapse1278@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Ah yes, the passive safety of the molten salt spontaneously catching on fire when in contact with air and can’t be put out with water.

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• roguetrick@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  You can’t stop decay heat. It’s just molton salt reactors can operate at much higher temperatures and if it loses active cooling passive cooling with just air and blackbody radiation while the salt passively circulates could be enough.

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• PieMePlenty@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Isn’t molten salt just energy storage? Heat up salt when you have excess of energy, take heat out when you need it. The worst disaster there is just the container melting.

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  • Agent641@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    No, there are molten salt thermal batteries, but they aren’t the same as molten salt nuclear reactor. In a nuclear reactor the fissile material is dissolved in the salt for some reason, and the molten salt acts as a moderator or something. Apparently its safe because if the reactor power fails, the salt ‘freezes’ which prevents fission from occurring. Seems like complex extra steps to me but what do I know.

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    • roguetrick@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      “Can’t have a meltdown when you’ve already melted the fuel” is pretty much the whole idea there.

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    • JATtho@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      MSRs have negative temperature reactivity coefficient and outlet temps around 700C at atm pressure. PWR is at measly 300C and 150 Bar.

      If all control is lost, the salt expands as it heats up pushing the expanded volume out from the reactor core. The fission stops once the fuel is leaves the core region where the moderator is. Reverse is also true: you pull heat off from the loop, so the fuel-salt becomes denser, increasing reactivity. MSRs can naturally “follow” the load, if done right.

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• humanspiral@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  there’s no active commercial molten salt reactors.

  Experimental ones were all shut down within 5-10 years because corrosion makes them uneconomical to repair.

  Fukushima’s case, which is the last significant nuclear incident in past 13 years

  Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine has military attacks against it, with intent of fundraising and politically blaming a disaster on the side that weapons providers, and the media they own, love to hate. Our media normalizes civil war as a response to Netanyahu not having his favorite ruler appointed.

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