elljayjay
- The Environment
The Explosive Nuclear Question
It's going to be at least another two decades before any commercial models are built, but researchers are at work designing the Generation IV nuclear reactors. Unlike the generation II and III models now in use that use water to cool and control the fission (preventing runaway reactions, subsequent meltdowns and the environmental apocalypse that would result), the leading contender for cooling material for the Gen IV reactors is molten sodium. Not sodium chloride (plain, unreactive table salt), but sodium metal.
2.18.2008 at 05:01pm - Comment by elljayjaysodium melts at 370.87 K (97.72 °C, 207.9 °F) obviously just less than the boiling point of water . . . BUT how easy is pure sodium to find? I mean . . . water is pretty prolific, hence not a very expensive coolant . . . I grew up near Sizewell Powerstation in Suffolk, England . . . the reactors used sea water as a coolant . . . it was pumped in and pumped back out again . . . it was the warmest stretch of the North Sea for miles around . . . great for swimming :D Heysham 2 in Lancashire, England used the same principle. The point is . . . are they making the product prohibitively expensive to stop its expansion???? Just a thought . . .
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December 2009: Best of What's New
In our December issue, Popular Science names the 100 best innovations of the year: bombproof wallpaper, self-parking cars, the fastest helicopter, and 97 more. Plus inventor profiles and videos.
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