Quote:
Originally Posted by dcb
Have you really looked into it? The fact that some breeder reactors create additonal plutonium-239 is a serious concern. Half life of 24000 years, good weapons material.
And the pure sodium cooling systems, that have to be cooled themselves by water, is not a thing to waive your hand at either.
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Why is Plutonium used in weapons? The answer is because it is one heck of a fission material. That said it makes a great fuel for power plants as well. There are solutions that are on the way, and I am not talking about like figuring out fusion in the next 25 years. This is in the implementation stage (start reading on page 3)
New age nuclear | COSMOS magazine
supporting documentation
IEEE Spectrum: Q&A: Thorium Reactor Designer Ratan Kumar Sinha
Breeder reactors are very much a reality as well and present us the opportinuty to have a near endless supply of fissionable material.
Breeder reactor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The reason we have not been recycling our fuel in the past was twofold, politics and the same reason we still burn coal, its easier than doing something that costs a little more but has a better end result.