11-15-2018, 03:31 PM | #51 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: DIY Nuclear Reactors After the End
That's a lot more practical. You'll have to re-float it, because it depends on seawater for cooling.
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11-15-2018, 03:44 PM | #52 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: DIY Nuclear Reactors After the End
It would honestly be easier to build a nuclear reactor from scratch. Nuclear submarines are possibly the most complex devices in existence, and they require massive support structures for their maintenance. People of an AtE setting would be just as capable of repairing a nuclear submarine as they would be of establishing a moon base.
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11-15-2018, 07:25 PM | #53 |
Join Date: Feb 2011
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Re: DIY Nuclear Reactors After the End
Well, not repairing the whole thing. I could see them cutting it apart and just making use of the reactor alone.
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11-15-2018, 10:10 PM | #54 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: DIY Nuclear Reactors After the End
That would be an interesting thing to watch from a safe distance...such as the Moon. I know that I would much rather depend on any other source of energy than a repurposed nuclear reactor from a nuclear submarine. While there are probably more dangerous ways to use nuclear power, I cannot think of any.
Anyway, the fuel would have decayed sufficiently within a quarter century to 'poison' the fuel rods, so they would just be highly radiative waste. Without new nuclear fuel or reprocessed nuclear fuel, the reactor would be useless. Of course, with new nuclear fuel or reprocessed nuclear fuel, the salvaged nuclear reactor would be a deathtrap, but I doubt that an AtE society can make or reprocess nuclear fuel. |
11-15-2018, 11:06 PM | #55 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: DIY Nuclear Reactors After the End
How so? Submarine reactors use highly enriched uranium, and U-235 has a half-life of just over 700 million years. Now, if the reactor has been used significantly, some of the fission products may be strong neutron absorbers, but finding a nuclear sub is sufficiently implausible already that you might as well make it one with a fresh reactor.
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11-16-2018, 01:37 AM | #56 | |
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Luxembourg
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Re: DIY Nuclear Reactors After the End
Quote:
Such as the NB-36H. (I knew they were researched, I didn't knew till today they actually flew a prototype...) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_NB-36H That thing could make an interesting scenario prop... Last edited by Celjabba; 11-16-2018 at 01:48 AM. |
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11-16-2018, 05:24 AM | #57 | |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: DIY Nuclear Reactors After the End
Quote:
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11-16-2018, 07:15 AM | #58 |
Join Date: Jun 2008
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Re: DIY Nuclear Reactors After the End
Aw you had me going for a moment.
According to the wiki cited it carried a nuclear reactor and the reactor was operated during flight, but the aircraft wasn't powered by that reactor ;( |
11-16-2018, 02:35 PM | #59 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: DIY Nuclear Reactors After the End
Do you have a source on that? I've read a bit about the NB-36, and never encountered a mention of it being a thorium-based reactor. Half an hour's searching hasn't found anything on the point either.
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01-11-2024, 08:13 PM | #60 | |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Idaho Falls, Idaho
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Re: DIY Nuclear Reactors After the End
Quote:
Thorium, Uranium, and Plutonium reactors of the same power emit about the same level of direct radiation. The "benefit" of Thorium reactors is not during operations, but a few decades later. At that point, the radiation dose from Thorium fuels starts to become a bit less. As to taking Thorium fuel seriously, I would say the Peach Bottom Unit 1 (Cores 1 and 2) and Fort Saint Vrain power reactors were more serious uses of Thorium fuels. Both are actual commercial power reactors that operated. Thorium has some nice properties, but it isn't a silver bullet solving all the problems of nuclear reactors like some of its advocates claim. I would say its chief problem is a Thorium Reactor won't start without at least an initial core of Uranium or Plutonium (an explanation of which would require an explaining the differences between fissile, fissionable, and fertile isotopes and some reactor physics). Thorium reactors actually produce Uranium 233 (U-233), and use U-233 to sustain the nuclear reaction. |
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