[fdfgyu]

There's radioactive and there's radioactive.

With a neutron source we can control what the isotopes will be by choosing the appropriate metals for construction.

In fission you get, more or less, all the isotopes you can. fission doesn't split U235 into the same parts every time - its a random process and broad distribution of daughter fission isotopes are produced.

But I still agree. We should go with breeder reactors and call it a day

[physicsguy]

It’s actually really hard, the atoms you normally dope steel with on absorbing neutrons become really quite nasty isotopes. I went to a talk on this a few years ago from a materials scientist at Culham and he was saying while the physics might be getting closer, choosing appropriate vessels is really hard and the expected life of them at the moment is under 5 years which wouldn’t be viable for a commercial reactor running full time. Helium bubbles can form within the steel along grain boundaries, causing it fracture.

[fdfgyu]

I know ;)