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Old 11-15-2018, 03:31 PM   #51
johndallman
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
Default Re: DIY Nuclear Reactors After the End

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Originally Posted by jfleisher View Post
What about finding a beached nuclear submarine and restarting the reactor?
That's a lot more practical. You'll have to re-float it, because it depends on seawater for cooling.
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Old 11-15-2018, 03:44 PM   #52
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default 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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Old 11-15-2018, 07:25 PM   #53
PTTG
 
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Default 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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Old 11-15-2018, 10:10 PM   #54
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default 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.
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Old 11-15-2018, 11:06 PM   #55
johndallman
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Default Re: DIY Nuclear Reactors After the End

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
Anyway, the fuel would have decayed sufficiently within a quarter century to 'poison' the fuel rods, so they would just be highly radiative waste.
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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Old 11-16-2018, 01:37 AM   #56
Celjabba
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
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Default Re: DIY Nuclear Reactors After the End

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
T
While there are probably more dangerous ways to use nuclear power, I cannot think of any.
Nuclear-powered planes ?
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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Old 11-16-2018, 05:24 AM   #57
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default Re: DIY Nuclear Reactors After the End

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Originally Posted by Celjabba View Post
Nuclear-powered planes ?
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...
The nuclear powered planes used thorium as a fuel source, so it was not actually that dangerous. They could not use uranium-235 or plutonium as a fuel source because the radiation that leaked through the shielding would have killed everyone. It was actually the only time the USA took thorium seriously as a fuel source...
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Old 11-16-2018, 07:15 AM   #58
swordtart
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Default 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 ;(
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Old 11-16-2018, 02:35 PM   #59
johndallman
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Default Re: DIY Nuclear Reactors After the End

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
The nuclear powered planes used thorium as a fuel source ...
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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Old 01-11-2024, 08:13 PM   #60
DAT
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Default Re: DIY Nuclear Reactors After the End

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
The nuclear powered planes used thorium as a fuel source, so it was not actually that dangerous. They could not use uranium-235 or plutonium as a fuel source because the radiation that leaked through the shielding would have killed everyone. It was actually the only time the USA took thorium seriously as a fuel source...
No. The nuclear-powered planes and cruise missile were designed to use full enriched Uranium (greater than 93% U-235) or highly purified Plutonium (Pu-239). Reactor cores with enriched Uranium or highly purified Plutonium are much smaller (and weigh less) than those with Thorium. One of the most advanced designed used a molten salt system, but the nuclear fuel material was not Thorium.

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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