this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023
72 points (98.6% liked)
British Columbia
1361 readers
9 users here now
News, highlights and more relating to this great province!
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Which type of reactor is that?
I know there one that will have a salt melt and encapsulate the nuclear rods in case of an overload event, but that's a containment measure and would still need a radioactive element such as plutonium for the process to work.
They were barge built, towed thorium salt nuclear reactors that would be build in a shipyard and towed to site. Most designs for thorium reactor use uranium doping to kick off the reactor after wich its self feeding. It comes with a salt plug in the botton of the reactor that will allow the fuel to drain out of the reactor core if there is a case of overheating. The safety bonus to these things is they have many passive means of self-moderation and self-snuffing if something isnt right. Im not a fan of on the water with a reactor. The chances that maintenance will get ignored is not insignificant. The terms of the deal with the company also both sucked and introduced extra risk.