@ChuckMcManis @benroyce @GhostOnTheHalfShell @anthropy @blogdiva Breeder reactors don't output more uranium than what is fed into the system, they make more *fissible* material than they are supplied with
"Orange juice from concentrate" isn't more oranges than it took to produce
Our world's matter-system is all but a closed loop, we're not getting - or making - more of it. But our is bombarded by all the energy we could use and we let it just slip away because there's no gold-pressed latinum
Yes, but the point of the Oak Ridge demonstration was a nuclear fuel cycle that ran "forever." Not trying to divert this wonderful discussion, just noting that 'nuclear' can be 'renewable' 😃. I too rage against folks who just want to go back to living in caves with 99% of the current population gone.
@ChuckMcManis @paneerakbari @GhostOnTheHalfShell @anthropy @blogdiva
while i generally like breeder reactors you have to admit the teensy tiny problem that this is how we make plutonium for bombs
this is why breeder reactors are downplayed
otherwise i agree
Yeah there is that downside. When my kids were younger we talked about how as technology became more sophisticated, it also becomes more capable. And capability has both good and bad vectors associated with it.
