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by cplusplusfellow 897 days ago
> are not necessarily aligned with the key problems in nuclear, which are currently construction project management related

I think the hope is that with passive cooling and passive anti-meltdown characteristics, the complexity of the constriction can be reduced. And that has exponential returns for cost structure.

1 comments

All the passive cooling/passive anti-meltdown reactors of the past struggled operationally because to get there you have to use somewhat exotic coolants with low vapor pressures at high temperatures. Liquid metals, organic fluids, molten salts, etc. all have serious operational challenges and were largely phased out because of them. Water coolant took off after out-performing them. So it's not so easy.
Are you familiar with all the newer generation technologies that haven’t been phased out and are under development?
Yes, I'm a nuclear engineer in this area. I'm quite familiar with what's going on in it.