- Gloating Swann ( @gloating_swann@beehaw.org ) English4•11 months ago
For anyone who is understandably anti-nuclear, I would say watch this documentary first before voting against it.
- Hirom ( @Hirom@beehaw.org ) English4•11 months ago
Got mixed filling about nuclear fission energy. It’s less bad than the alternative. I’m glad we built these rectors at the time rather than coal/gas plants.
But the technology used in current reactors is not a good solution mainly due to the waste and risks. I hope we get either Gen IV (ie fast neutron reactors) or Thorium or fusion reactors to work, and it’s not prohibitively expensive, so old reactors can be retired.
- sexy_peach ( @sexy_peach@feddit.de ) English4•11 months ago
Current reactors also use huge amounts of water which many places don’t have (France for example).
- Hirom ( @Hirom@beehaw.org ) English5•11 months ago
Water is used mostly for cooling. It’s pumped in and then pumped back out as is, only a few degrees warmer.
Because of environmental regulations reactors are forbidden from rejecting hot water during heatwaves, when the extra heat would get water above a temperature threshold that’s dangerous for wildlife (ie fishes). But it’s typically not a lack of water.
- sexy_peach ( @sexy_peach@feddit.de ) English3•11 months ago
Yes, that’s what I meant to say.
- Gloating Swann ( @gloating_swann@beehaw.org ) English3•11 months ago
Newer reactors are designed to be cooled by other methods such as, IIRC, liquid metal. Water-cooled reactors were, again IIRC, originally designed for nuclear submarines. Watch the documentary if you have an hour to kill, it’s really interesting!