RE: How Does an RBMK Reactor Explode
09-10-2019, 03:44 AM (This post was last modified: 09-10-2019, 03:45 AM by hazard.)
09-10-2019, 03:44 AM (This post was last modified: 09-10-2019, 03:45 AM by hazard.)
To be fair, thorium reactors still need long term storage, just not 'let's wait a few thousand years' long term storage.
Another reactor option is KNa cooled reactors, using a sodium and potassium alloy. Under the right ratios that mixture is liquid at room temperature and has a boiling point well above 1000 degrees celsius. The USA had a test reactor cooled this way, it ran for years (decades IIRC) without issue and at one point they yanked every control rod out of the reactor for a test and just let it come up to whatever temperature it wanted.
Funny thing about nuclear reactors, they do tend to become less active as temperatures increase. And by the time it reached some 1100 degrees celsius, temperatures ceased to increase. No need for a pressure vessel to contain the reactor, very little risk for a meltdown.
Another reactor option is KNa cooled reactors, using a sodium and potassium alloy. Under the right ratios that mixture is liquid at room temperature and has a boiling point well above 1000 degrees celsius. The USA had a test reactor cooled this way, it ran for years (decades IIRC) without issue and at one point they yanked every control rod out of the reactor for a test and just let it come up to whatever temperature it wanted.
Funny thing about nuclear reactors, they do tend to become less active as temperatures increase. And by the time it reached some 1100 degrees celsius, temperatures ceased to increase. No need for a pressure vessel to contain the reactor, very little risk for a meltdown.