ArmchairGeneral

IIRC, he got thorium salts from gas lamp mantles, mixed it with pitchblende, and irradiated it with a neutron gun powered by radium salts from luminescent paint. He used beryllium to create the slow neutrons necessary to convert thorium into fissile U-233. Apparently he managed to massively increase the radioactivity of the mixture, which could indicate that U-233 was being produced. I doubt he really could have gotten a working pile. My knowledge of the physics involved is scanty, however.

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"Apocalyptic thought is curiously pleasurable."
-Theodore Dalrymple

tankie

Reading this , you do yourself an injustice young fella

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TANKIE , WITHOUT WAX

tankie

Like a GLOWING testimonial huh ?

texacali

Thank you, Historical David and Armchair General. It appears the scout was too clever for his own good, looking at his picture in the wiki article. Did the boy ever write up his thesis on nuclear physics?

ArmchairGeneral

I know just enough to be dangerous...to myself, at least.

tankie

xrough

I vote for YES. But adequate study and planning should be undertaken to ensure the safety of all.

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Canmoore

Nuclear Power? I voted yes

It is our cleanest and most efficient source of power! Not to mention safe, why not vote yes?

BMF12

Well........how much Uranium is actually left? How many years of Nuclear power can we get from such a scantly available resource? I also voted yes........but, like other fossil fuels......it'll still run out, only a matter of time. What's going on with Fusion anyway? Still a near impossibility?

Canmoore

Don't know. I do know that there is a new Uranium mine being planned for Sharbot Lake, which is just a 45minute drive from where I live...

Im sure there is enough.. and once its all gone, we can start dismantling nuclear weapons!

captain

I don't think we will be running out of uranium for a very long time.

Uranium is one of the most common substances on the face of the planet.

Canada has a huge resource at Cigar Lake although the mine is flooded at the moment.

Australia has mountains of the stuff in South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Teritory.
In South Australia, the Gawler Craton covers a large portion of the state and includes the huge Roxby Downs mine as well as The new Prominent Hill resource.

South Africa (the continent) and Russia also have vast reserves mostly unmined as yet.

I have read some industry estimates that claim the world has enough known reserves to last for another two centuries even at the predicted future rate of use.
Long before that time is up I think other technologies will have emerged that are cheaper, safer and renewable.

Cheers.

Dwarven Pirate

Apparently, the democrats have decided that Yucca Mountain storage site is a BAD thing, judging from responses in the recent debate. But did you get the NMGov's answer? Regarding nuclear waste: "There is a technological solution!" This he trumpets repeatedly. He then goes on to say that he has always been against Yucca Mountain and that he plans to turn it into a scientific paradise where this technological solution can be 'discovered'. Hahahah, classic political rhetoric. Anyway...

I take back my statement that geothermal cannot be implemented in the short term. I think it can on a large scale. There are, in fact, plans being considered for a geothermal electric plant to take over for the community I live in.

glyn

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Semper in excretum. Solum profunda variat.

captain

Glyn,

In addition to Dwarven Pirate's info he may supply, you can have a look at this.

Geodynamics has a bore field in the north of South Australia at the moment and are still in the proving stage I think.

Geodynamics

All interesting stuff but they are a long way from any major power distribution lines and that and possibly the lack of enough water may make the project uneconomic.

Cheers.

Dwarven Pirate

I'm pretty sure that geothermal projects exclusively focus on hot water into turbines, whether its pressurised into steam, the motion of the water circuit harnessed or some means of harnessing the cooling of the upstream. But I am no engineer. Still, I'll go to the city and see what they'll tell me about this electric project on the volcano across the bay. Give me a couple of days. Note that this particular deal is in a rich community and likely funded by grants, but still rather small in scope; atm they are looking for a more accessible site downslope on the mountain.

If I purported myself as very knowledgeable about this stuff, I was misguided

There is another type of energy production thing that I thought sounded very interesting when I read about it. Could surely be implemented today to produce electricity, but I dont know if that electric could be feasibly used.

Basically, it is a set of pipes lowered into the deep ocean, to a layer of the ocean that is either cooler or warmer than the waters above and below it, cant remember which. The water flowing through the pipes then, in some sort of siphon process, is harnessed in the usual ways via turbines, apparently. Anyone heard of this?