Light Water Reactors Suck Cody Smith

Light Water Reactor Sequoyah Nuclear Plant located in Tennessee

Light Water Reactor

LWR Reactors So WTF’s going on down there?

 Uranium-235 and Plutonium-239 are big heavy atoms  Both split or “fission” when hit by a neutron  When they split:  Lots of energy is released as heat  Useful for power generation  More neutrons are released  Can sustain the reaction if more U-235 or P-239 is nearby  Fission products are created  Basically what’s left of the two atoms

So WTF’s going on down there?  Fission of U-235, U- 233 & Pu-239 likely to yield atoms in the mass number range or

Fission Products

By Half-Life (years)

LWR’s are old!  34 years average  Most only licensed to run for 50 years  Some will receive 20 year extensions

LWR’s are $$$ to start up!  About $3-9 billion per plant  Takes 5-7 years to build  Burn approx. $40 million / 1.5 years fuel

But they are pretty cheap to run…

…and have some niche applications Nimitz class nuclear powered aircraft carrier U.S. nuclear submarines only need to be fueled once every 20 years. The reactor supplies the crew with power, clean drinking water and clean air.

…and have some niche applications NASA JPL Mars Science Laboratory aka Curiosity Curiosity’s two Pu-238 nuclear batteries supply 100W of power to the rover for at least 14 years.

A better way? Let’s talk alternatives

Solar!  Is a thing  Costs a lot  But…  No waste  Power! (when the sun is out)

Solar!  Cost is going down  Going to need an energy storage solution…

Batteries for solar panels and/or cars

So solar? Soon enough…

Thorium!  More efficient  Less radioactive  Decays faster  Eats LWR waste  That’s right  Video Video

And eventually fusion…  Will hopefully be the end-all be-all of power  We’ll just have to do with what we have for another years

Thanks! Questions?