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42 comments on On the hazards of ignorance of thermodynamics

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fluffy on October 8, 2008 - 5:51am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Is there any particular reason that Neon or Argon could not be used instead? (Neutron activation?)

In any case, technically a nuclear reactor should produce helium as a by product, although goodness knws how you'd go about capturing it..

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DIYer on October 8, 2008 - 6:32am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Argon isn't quite as good. The heavier the atom, the poorer the heat transfer characteristics of the gas. I don't think Argon has much of a neutron cross section, but I'd be guessing on that.

It does make argon useful in those insulating windows, though :)

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wkwillis on October 10, 2008 - 1:09am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Cryogenic plants for Oxygen and Nitrogen produce Argon, Neon, Krypton, Xenon, and Helium, in that order. Argon has a high thermal neutron absorbtion, like Nitrogen, but is widely available. Neon has a low thermal neutron absorbtion, and is available but scarcer. For Fast Neutron Gas Cooled Reactors, Argon is perfectly acceptable and we aren't about to run out.
If we have carbon sequestration rules, then there is also going to be a good deal of byproduct Neon arriving for Pebble Bed Thermal Neutron Gas Cooled Reactors.
Since we have a limited production capability for Pressurised Water Thermal Neutron reactor pressure vessals, the only quick reactor ramp up is going to be Fast Neutron Gas Cooled Reactors. Pebble Bed Thermal Neutron Gas Cooled Reactors don't have to worry so much about pressure surges, so the pressure vessal is simpler and cheaper to build.

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Engineer-Poet on October 10, 2008 - 10:42pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Thermal-neutron molten salt reactors might be even faster to build than gas-cooled, because the fuel cycle might be started with plutonium from spent PWR fuel instead of enriching raw uranium.  MSR's don't merely dispense with forged reactor vessels, they operate at atmospheric pressure.

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42 comments on On the hazards of ignorance of thermodynamics

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