Toshiba's "Micro Nuclear Reactor" – it's not fusion, but it's here now

[Charles Wilcox]

Actually, I think this is real.

NRC: Backgrounder on New Nuclear Plant Designs

It was also referenced in Gwyneth Cravens’ “Power to Save the World: The Truth About Nuclear Energy” on page 363. ( I literally just finished reading this book an hour ago. High recommend it for the non-expert & skeptic. )

[Brian H]

IMO, if the ball can be kept rolling on FF, these other alternatives will fall away. Between 6-10

[Charles Wilcox]

IMO, if the ball can be kept rolling on FF, these other alternatives will fall away. Between 6-10

[Brian H]

IMO, if the ball can be kept rolling on FF, these other alternatives will fall away. Between 6-10

[Rematog]

Regarding the replacement of taxes now collected on oil, etc (mentioned earlier in this thread).

Electric utilities are already major (if not the biggest non-governmental) tax collectors. Look at your electric bill. Electric power is already taxed more than many commodities. So, if cost the of power went down, I don’t doubt govenment’s willingness to increase taxes on retail sales to make up for other lost revenues……

Rematog

[Rematog]

My experience, working for one of the companies making investment decisions regarding electrical power, it that it is not being considered at all.

But, granted, I’m about a half dozen paygrades below the people attending Board of Director meetings.

Rematog

[Brian H]

I’m sure their estimate of the likelihood of FF success is so low that it doesn’t register yet. But as that threshold is crossed, I’d expect consternation to spread.

[Tasmodevil44]

I think that these micro nuclear reactors are really cool. I’ve also read all about the other one Hyperion plans to produce soon. I’ve always argued for years that gargantuan reactors like Three Mile Island is the wrong approach. The capital outlays upfront are far too expensive and it takes too long to build them. A standardized design of mass – produced reactors rolling off an assembly line more like Detroit automobiles is a far more economic approach.

But while this may represent a great improvement in the economics of cheaper mass – produced nuclear reactors, I still have to agree with Lerner and Brian H that when focus fusion reactors begin to surpass the breakeven threshold and start producing more energy than requred to start the pB11 reaction, then it will be a whole new ballgame of nuclear economics in town. It would begin to far surpass and knock the socks off anything else out there. And Brian H is also correct in stating that many of the more closed – minded and conservative skeptics still don’t think FF is anywhere near practical yet …… that we are still chasing a moving target that keeps moving farther into the future. But when it begins to far surpass breakeven, it will definitely cause consternation and raised eyebrows. It will definitely make a lot of people out there stand – up and take notice.

[Tasmodevil44]

Or maybe I’m just too optimistic in counting chickens before they hatch. But we have to try to keep being optimistic in keeping fingers crossed.

[Brian H]

Tasmodevil44 wrote: Or maybe I’m just too optimistic in counting chickens before they hatch. But we have to try to keep being optimistic in keeping fingers crossed.

Here’s my “odds estimation” summary:

Either Eric’s modeling and calculations are totally out to lunch, or they’re close enough to work (produce a viable reactor). I don’t see any intermediate possibilities; the critical items are the existence of the quantum gap that prevents X-ray cooling and the resulting long-enough existence of the hi-temp fusion plasmoid. Given those, the rest follows.

At this point, the available data strongly support his hypotheses, and the next 2 years of experiments, culminating with proton-boron fusion, should clinch the matter.

Then comes the 3 yrs of dealing with the engineering devilish details: can the core be cooled adequately? Will the foil shell work and stand up to the X-ray flux it must “drain” for current? Most or all of the rest of the “rig” is off-the-shelf stuff, and would need little fiddling and refinement.

Given the huge payoff for success, I anticipate dedicated and even inspired work to go ahead to attain those benchmarks, and that it will succeed. Probability >60%. IMO.

[Author]

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