Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
Economics will make it up. If more energy is demanded than can be provided, then high prices will drive demand down. High prices will spur energy development so that something approaching an equilibrium exists.
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Developement of what? That is the question. Solar and wind are not dense enough to even cover growth. Let alone replace much fossil fuel. And storage for a high intermittent percentage grid is completely out of reach. The India case is just a (big) microcosm for the situation around the world. We need to get moving with GenIV reactors. Fortunately Moltex found a willing home in Canada so all of the intelectual property doesn't have to end up in China. Although TerraPower finally gave in and anounced that will be their first home.
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The Moltex SSR is brilliant.
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https://youtu.be/-IiIdG0asbM
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Liquid salt fuel in standard certifiable rods that are solid during transport. Molten salt non-fuel coolant. Not sodium. No new materials to certify. Atmospheric pressure. So no high pressure steam in the reactor to explode. No water to make a hydrogen explosion. Iodine and Caesium are bound in the molten fuel salt. Only vents stable Xenon and Krypton.
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Negative temp feedback in the molten fuel density is self regulating. Online refueling by adding 1 rod in a row at a time eliminates critical controls needed. Simple Boron plates drop in for emergency shut down. Molten fuel salt and molten cooling salt are miscible so in the event of an attack, the fissile material is diluted in the coolant and the reactor goes out.
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Passive air cooling. No emergency cooling needed due to high operating ranges of the molten salts. 600C operating temp so turbines are the same as for the ubiquitous natural gas plants. 600C thermal energy storage in nitrate salt for additional load following of a high intermittent grid.
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Runs on simple processing of existing high level waste. 2X burn up, 1/2 the waste. 125MW reactor modules are factory built and certified and small enough to transport by truck. Stack modules to make 1GW in one non hardened building. Very cheap. $2 Billion / GW plant. $0.055/ kWh lifetime with investors paid at 9% and with all costs of decommissioning and Moltex operator profits. $0.085/ kWh even with a 3X constuction cost overrun. Online in Canada 2026. 2nd, full size reactor online 2030.