There are however safer Nuclear Reactors. But the real drawback is that even France – that spent 600 million Euro son there’s – gave up their research one 2 years ago. So Bill Gates may be one of the smartest men on the planet, but for a badly mixed metaphor, he is barking up the wrong tree. Since sodium remains liquid at high temperatures – instead of turning into steam – sodium reactors do not need the heavy pressurized hulls of PWRs. But sodium burns on contact with air and explodes when plunged into water. Like I said “safer” reactor. Then as always, there is the problem with what to do with the fuel.
https://news.yahoo.com/tiny-wyoming-town-bill-gates-051826365.html
In tiny Wyoming town, Bill Gates bets big on nuclear power
KEMMERER, Wyoming (AP) — In this sleepy Wyoming town that has relied on coal for over a century, a company founded by the man who revolutionized personal computing is launching an ambitious project to counter climate change: A nationwide reboot of nuclear energy technology.
Until recently, Kemmerer was little-known for anything except J.C. Penney’s first store and some 55-million-year-old fish fossils in quarries down the road.
Then in November, a company started by Bill Gates, TerraPower, announced it had chosen Kemmerer for a nontraditional, sodium-cooled nuclear reactor that will bring on workers from a local coal-fired power plant scheduled to close soon.
The demonstration project comes as many U.S. states see nuclear emerging as an answer to fill the gap as a transition away from coal, oil and natural gas to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Many residents in Kemmerer, where the population of 2,700 is little-changed since the 1990s, see the TerraPower project as a much-needed economic boost because Rocky Mountain Power’s Naughton power plant will close 2025. The plant employs about 230 and a mine that supplies coal exclusively to the plant — and is also at risk of closing if it can’t find another customer — almost 300.
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Go there and read (pray). More next week.
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