Search found 106 matches
- Tue Sep 21, 2010 4:38 pm
- Forum: News
- Topic: 2011 DOD alternative energy research budget
- Replies: 34
- Views: 12692
Re: 2011 DOD alternative energy research budget
I wonder what the "alternative energy research" consists of? Completely unsupported speculation suggests the Polywell, or not... :roll: http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4782472&c=POL&s=TOP "The Senate Appropriations Committee lopped $8.1 billion off the 2011 defense budget Sept. 16, ........ ...
- Fri Sep 17, 2010 4:28 pm
- Forum: News
- Topic: Is the nuclear renaissance dead yet?
- Replies: 102
- Views: 32699
Re: Why not use Oklo?
As you may be aware, there was a reactor in Gabon at a place called Oklo which was decommissioned some years back. The radioactive waste was left in situ exposed to ground water. Most significantly, transport of radioactive isotopes did not render the surrounding countryside a sterile wasteland. Th...
- Thu Sep 16, 2010 11:35 pm
- Forum: News
- Topic: Is the nuclear renaissance dead yet?
- Replies: 102
- Views: 32699
Err, if waste is vitrified, could it later be un-vitrified to have the actinides and useable uranium burned in a reactor? I'm guessing it'd be possible, but perhaps difficult, as not only would you have to melt the glass, but then seperate the waste from the glass (although, I suppose some sort of c...
- Thu Sep 16, 2010 8:36 pm
- Forum: News
- Topic: Is the nuclear renaissance dead yet?
- Replies: 102
- Views: 32699
- Thu Sep 16, 2010 5:38 pm
- Forum: News
- Topic: Is the nuclear renaissance dead yet?
- Replies: 102
- Views: 32699
In general I'm all for micro-distributuon of power generation, but in the case of nukes, you do realize that a 1/5 sized plant needs all the same security measures as a full sized plant, so if you build 5 1/5 sized plants, you'll spent 5X as much on security and manage 5X the risk. Or you put 4-5 r...
- Thu Sep 16, 2010 4:42 pm
- Forum: News
- Topic: Is the nuclear renaissance dead yet?
- Replies: 102
- Views: 32699
The point someone skirted around earlier is that there are TWO types of "economies of scale". You can do one-up REALLY BIG plants or a large number of identical moderate sized plants. Back when the electricity use was growing exponentially, the REALLY BIG plants made sense. Now there is just too mu...
- Wed Sep 15, 2010 1:04 am
- Forum: News
- Topic: Is the nuclear renaissance dead yet?
- Replies: 102
- Views: 32699
A bit of a confused start in the article: Is the "nuclear renaissance" dead yet? by Harvey Wasserman America's much hyped "reactor renaissance" is facing a quadruple bypass. In actual new construction, proposed projects and overseas sales, soaring costs are killing new nukes. And the old ones are l...
- Tue Sep 14, 2010 9:18 pm
- Forum: News
- Topic: Is the nuclear renaissance dead yet?
- Replies: 102
- Views: 32699
Is the nuclear renaissance dead yet?
I realize this is a forum devoted to fusion more than fission, but I believe there is a lot of general expertise on these forums regarding both, so I hope you don't mind if I ask about this here. I came across this article: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1009/S00099/is-the-nuclear-renaissance-dead...
- Tue Sep 14, 2010 9:10 pm
- Forum: News
- Topic: Peak oil conspiracy spreads to compromised military
- Replies: 30
- Views: 19064
The fisrt study I know on peak oil, was by the DOD during the Nixon admin. About the time US production peaked- circa 1973. Yeah sure when the price doubles reserves increase. But comeon... The says of API 40-60 crude are long gone. Medium grade with sulfur contents over 2% and a 36API are probably...
- Mon Sep 13, 2010 2:16 pm
- Forum: News
- Topic: Peak oil conspiracy spreads to compromised military
- Replies: 30
- Views: 19064
"Just remember, for every barrel of oil available at an extraction cost <$50/bbl, there are probably two with extraction cost >$50/bbl. " I don't know if this is true or not, but I remember reading an argument somewhere, about geologic resources (oil, metals, other minerals), that generally speaking...
- Thu Sep 02, 2010 6:24 pm
- Forum: Implications
- Topic: plasma recycling plus vapor deposition
- Replies: 5
- Views: 13788
CVD is used to make the current crop of high-temperature superconductor tapes in just the method you suggest - basically laying down each layer of the ceramic in atomic thicknesses. Am I correct in thinking that, for mass-produced items for which we already have fairly simple processes (like cast-m...
- Thu Sep 02, 2010 5:13 pm
- Forum: Implications
- Topic: Is Mankind ready for "cheap and clean" energy?
- Replies: 9
- Views: 21221
Unfortunately it is regulated at the consumer who still must pay delivery fees to the one and only local utility. My delivery fee runs about 8 cents per kwh, with the electricity another 8 cents, and I don't expect the delivery fee to go down. I think you're mostly right about the delivery fee, but...
- Wed Sep 01, 2010 3:53 pm
- Forum: Implications
- Topic: Is Mankind ready for "cheap and clean" energy?
- Replies: 9
- Views: 21221
In other words, the economic wolves will twist the polywell into a cash cow for their benefit, to the detriment of the consumers of the world. That is, the consumers will benefit just enough to support the trend, the wolves will skim all the gravy. But they will pay taxes, so that will help from an...
- Wed Sep 01, 2010 4:16 am
- Forum: Implications
- Topic: Is Mankind ready for "cheap and clean" energy?
- Replies: 9
- Views: 21221
Do I think fusion power would bring an end to war and international conflict? No. Do I think it could potentially make the lives of billions of people better, especially the poorest? Maybe However, I also realize it's not a given. Very likely the rich will keep getting richer. . . but just maybe the...
- Mon Aug 30, 2010 9:23 pm
- Forum: Implications
- Topic: Industries which would be most likely to profit from fusion?
- Replies: 4
- Views: 12697
Of course there is aluminum refining. A direct conversion polywell might result in a transportable power plant, to be set up at the mine. This way, the refining could be done at the mine site. This would almost eliminate transport of ore and the attendant costs for trucks and trains and roads, not ...