07-03-2006, 05:19 AM
According to some people, the little-known Integral Fast Reactor, which was developed to prototype stage before the plug was pulled by Clinton, could save us from energy woes and do it quite safely simply by exploiting a different reaction chain that consumes itself more fully, thus producing less hazardous waste.
Apparently, the main reason we use the current reaction chain (which is very inefficient and polluting) is that we wanted to produce plutonium for bombs. The IFR doesn't produce any plutonium, so it's much less of a proliferation risk.
This article on Wikipedia should be enough to tweak anyone's interest:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integral_fast_reactor
Hmmmn. Why isn't anyone talking about this? Maybe the aliens like radioactivity or something. (Is there anybody out there?)
Apparently, the main reason we use the current reaction chain (which is very inefficient and polluting) is that we wanted to produce plutonium for bombs. The IFR doesn't produce any plutonium, so it's much less of a proliferation risk.
This article on Wikipedia should be enough to tweak anyone's interest:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integral_fast_reactor
Hmmmn. Why isn't anyone talking about this? Maybe the aliens like radioactivity or something. (Is there anybody out there?)