permits, zoning, human lives, environmental concerns…
Here’s hoping it doesn’t go boom.
Comment on China plans world’s first fusion-fission power plant
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 3 weeks agoI’m pretty sure they aren’t doing the design part of the research. A lot of the “new” designs that China has been testing recently, have been sitting on US and European shelves for decades, like since the late '60s and early '70s. There’s just not really a way, in the West, to legally set up a test reactor. China can just ignore things like permits and zoning.
singletona@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
MangoCats@feddit.it 3 weeks ago
They don’t usually go boom so much as ticky ticky ticky on the Geiger counters, maybe a little glow in the night too…
FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
The likelihood of one blowing its top is about as likely as the front of a boat falling off, which I’d like to make clear is very uncommon
pulsewidth@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Not sure if you’re being sarcastic but boats splitting in half is not uncommon, as far as boat structural failures go it’s a relatively common one.
Stats on such a thing are unavailable but there are many news articles regarding boats splitting in half. I’d hope the safety factor on a fission reactor is several orders of magnitude higher than a seafaring vessel.
cynar@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
This is one of the biggest frustrations with nuclear power. The first power plants had issues (mostly due to them being bomb factory designs). We learnt from that, and designed better ones. They never got built. They were swamped in red tape and delays until they died.
Decades later, China comes in and just asks nicely. The designs work fine. China now leads the way, built on research we left to rot.
It’s also worth noting that there is a big difference between a fusion power plant and a fission one. China is doing active research on it, as is the west. There’s quite a friendly rivalry going on. We have also basically cracked fusion now. We just need to scale it up. The only big problem left is the tokamakite issue. The neutron radiation put off by the reaction transmutes the walls. Using radioactive materials as a buffer is an idea I’ve not heard of. I’m curious about the end products. A big selling point of fusion is the lack of long term waste. Putting a fission reaction in there too might lose that benefit.