You can login if you already have an account or register by clicking the button below.
Registering is free and all you need is a username and password. We never ask you for your e-mail.
When you twist the dragon's tail, sometimes you get fire. Honestly, we need to fully divest from the uranium fuel cycle, but too many people are far too interesting in fully killing nuclear power generation for a real attempt at more advanced reactors to be had.
Research continues, but the powers that be can decide that research isn't needed any longer. An example is the Integral Fast Reactor that was shut down in 1996, when the Clinton Administration and a Democratic majority in both Houses defunded research into a plant that had been in development for 10 years (with only a handful of years left anyway), would be able to reprocess it's spent fuel (greatly minimizing the actual waste material generated), and was proved to be immune to meltdown due to systems failures (like those that afflicted Three Mile Island #2 and Chernobyl #4).
To truly use nuclear power as a transition from fossil fuels to fully renewable power, we need better education of the populous and the policy makers, and more privately funded research into developing the better reactor designs that can be achieved.
If you're interested in the current state of the world's nuclear power industry, you might want to look at the World Nuclear Industry Status Report. Be warned, the full text is 200 pages.
view the rest of the comments →
[–] KyJoCaThe2nd ago
When you twist the dragon's tail, sometimes you get fire. Honestly, we need to fully divest from the uranium fuel cycle, but too many people are far too interesting in fully killing nuclear power generation for a real attempt at more advanced reactors to be had.
[–] [deleted] 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
[–] KyJoCaThe2nd 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Research continues, but the powers that be can decide that research isn't needed any longer. An example is the Integral Fast Reactor that was shut down in 1996, when the Clinton Administration and a Democratic majority in both Houses defunded research into a plant that had been in development for 10 years (with only a handful of years left anyway), would be able to reprocess it's spent fuel (greatly minimizing the actual waste material generated), and was proved to be immune to meltdown due to systems failures (like those that afflicted Three Mile Island #2 and Chernobyl #4).
To truly use nuclear power as a transition from fossil fuels to fully renewable power, we need better education of the populous and the policy makers, and more privately funded research into developing the better reactor designs that can be achieved.
If you're interested in the current state of the world's nuclear power industry, you might want to look at the World Nuclear Industry Status Report. Be warned, the full text is 200 pages.