peter.trocano
- 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 07:17pm - Comment by peter.trocanoA very poor article. Until NIMBY is no longer the standard, we can't deal with nuclear waste. Sodium has some real uses, but since we already have about 10,000 kilos of military plutonium in stock world wide, we probably don't need the technology. See the links if you want to learn something about sodium. http://nuclear.inl.gov/gen4/sfr.shtml http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/physics/sobel/Nucphys/breed.html good info without an axe to grind.
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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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