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A comment on Small nuclear reactors: tiny NuScale reactor gets safety approval. Parent comment

Re:Small nuclear reactors: tiny NuScale reactor gets safety ... by ansible on Thursday September 03, 2020 @06:26PM (#24369597)
Yes. Molten Salt Reactors (MSR), while operating very hot, are not operating under a lot of pressure. A pressurized water reactor (PWR) does, and if there is a leak or other problem, it can turn into an explosion.
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Re:Small nuclear reactors: tiny NuScale reactor gets safety ... by kryogen1c on Thursday September 03, 2020 @10:05PM (#24371052)
you are confusing two different characteristics of reactor design.

one is whether or not the coolant is highly pressurised relative to atmosphere, the other is what the thread was originally about, which is how reactivity changes with respect to temperature. this is the temperature coefficient of reactivity.

https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/glossary/moderator-...

the people you were responding to were referring to the latter. specifically, if a reactor becoming more reactive results in more or less total reactivity. this characteristic is related to, but independent of, how pressurized the coolant and/or moderator are.

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Re:Small nuclear reactors: tiny NuScale reactor gets safety ... by sandworm101 on Friday September 04, 2020 @01:56PM (#24377296)
While not under pressure, molten fluoride is still molten fluoride. It needs to be contained well. You wouldn't want water getting anywhere near it.
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