• N-Power Re: blasting smallish tunnels in hard rock

    From pyotr filipivich@21:1/5 to All on Fri Mar 29 10:40:44 2024
    Richard Smith <null@void.com> on Fri, 29 Mar 2024 09:16:16 +0000 typed
    in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:
    Sodium-ion batteries might be cheap enough. Promising for static >applications (Li-ion for mobile applications).
    Pump-storage hydro. schemes are viable where you have togography.

    Nuclear fission power has to way improve.

    Could switch from Uranium fueled to Thorium. There isn't any such animal as "enriched thorium", which minimizes that issue.

    In the USA you can have inland water-cooled-reactors - PWR's (and BWR's)
    - because you have continental-sized rivers to take away the abundant! waste heat.

    Or scale down. Nuclear power's biggest issue is that effectively,
    all the plants are Mega Plants, and each one is a one-off, hand
    crafted artisan production. No economies of scale, which applies to
    the learning curve for manufacturing as well.

    Can see nuclear reactor operating temperature has to go way way up to >increase efficiency. Then power plants can be small (mass-produced so
    cheap) and located inland - much less waste heat to disperse.
    Distributed, for energy security.

    Reach I think it's 1060C and you can produce hydrogen no electric >intermediary. So you could make electricity all day and hydrogen all
    night. 100% loading on the plant.
    --
    pyotr filipivich
    "With Age comes Wisdom. Although far too often, Age travels alone."

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