Re:Safer Nuclear Reactors Are on the Way
by acdha on Friday July 05, 2019 @10:45AM
(#20362881)
That would fall under OP's “otherwise render harmless” clause: there are proposals for managing this but currently at least the United States has a problem with waste being stored in places which weren't designed for it. Storage and reprocessing really needs to be demonstrated as a reliable working system before many people are going to be comfortable expanding capacity.
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Additionally someone has to finally say "back off" to Oil Industry which is lobbing hard against any Nuclear Power advancements.. I think this is the biggest issue.
(ALMR tests performed in USA already confirmed what you asked for and that was 1984..)
> (ALMR tests performed in USA already confirmed what you asked for and that was 1984..)
So … where's it in production yet? The reasons why it hasn't happened might be instructive for learning why this problem is harder than it might seem.
China is currently building two such reactors. The reason why this technology has not spread is simple: "Energy would be too cheap. Oil industries would collapse, you can imagine how big of an impact that would have on other economy segments and how some of the richest ppl in the world would instantly lose influence on the goverments."
I look at it as a tragedy. Oil Industry is like a cancer to our society right now.
I'm sorry, but what you are saying there is ludicrous. If it would really make energy "too cheap to meter" then no conspiracy could keep it back -- the people making it would have plenty of excess cashflow to grease the palms of potentially interfering politicians.
The truth is more mundane (and you should have realized something was wrong when you started thinking in conspiracy theories). The technology is simply not as great as you think it is, and like most technologies it's probably not going to win. There's no dishonor in that; the market is a brutal place.