• ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    Run low on water, stop reaction. Fission products keep getting hot even though reaction stopped. Not enough water to cool them off. Shit.

    • Kaelygon@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      thankfully modern ones like molten salt reactors have passive safety, where they stop the reaction if overheating occurrs.

      • humanspiral@lemmy.ca
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        17 days ago

        there’s no active commercial molten salt reactors.

        Experimental ones were all shut down within 5-10 years because corrosion makes them uneconomical to repair.

        Fukushima’s case, which is the last significant nuclear incident in past 13 years

        Zaporizhzhia (shutdown with IAEA concerns but may not fully report any emission releases) in Ukraine has military attacks against it, with intent of fundraising and politically blaming a disaster on the side that weapons providers, and the media they own, love to hate. Our media normalizes civil war as a response to Netanyahu not having his favorite ruler appointed.

      • Synapse@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        Ah yes, the passive safety of the molten salt spontaneously catching on fire when in contact with air and can’t be put out with water.

        • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
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          17 days ago

          Yeah our track history with all the old research molton salt reactors catching fire during regular operation wasn’t encouraging lol.

      • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        You can’t stop decay heat. It’s just molton salt reactors can operate at much higher temperatures and if it loses active cooling passive cooling with just air and infrared radiation while the salt passively circulates could be enough.

      • PieMePlenty@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        Isn’t molten salt just energy storage? Heat up salt when you have excess of energy, take heat out when you need it. The worst disaster there is just the container melting.

        • Agent641@lemmy.world
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          17 days ago

          No, there are molten salt thermal batteries, but they aren’t the same as molten salt nuclear reactor. In a nuclear reactor the fissile material is dissolved in the salt for some reason, and the molten salt acts as a moderator or something. Apparently its safe because if the reactor power fails, the salt ‘freezes’ which prevents fission from occurring. Seems like complex extra steps to me but what do I know.

    • Rakonat@lemmy.world
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      17 days ago

      Turn water back on suddenly and realize what happens when water touches an object many times warmer than it’s boiling point.