Noone has built one since the initial prototype—or at least, no one outside black initiatives. That’s it. It really should /not/ take 20 years. 20 months, is more like it, if you set sensible design goals.
IE: I want an electricity making machine. Anyone who utters the words “High temperature” “Hydrogen Production” or “enhanced proliferation resistance” will be summarily fired. “Reliability” “Safety” and “Simplicity” are our watchwords. .
Most research on advanced reactor types turn into exercises in extremely advanced materials science due to goals creep—Trying to make a reactor that can safely operate at a temperature of over 900 degrees celcius genuinely is a 20 year project. It is also fracking pointless—the supply of fuel for a thorium breeder is effectively infinite, maximizing thermodynamic efficiency at the cost of engineering difficulty and complexity is the kind of very special stupid that only ever infests smart people.
maximizing thermodynamic efficiency at the cost of engineering difficulty and complexity is the kind of very special stupid that only ever infests smart people.
Noone has built one since the initial prototype—or at least, no one outside black initiatives. That’s it. It really should /not/ take 20 years. 20 months, is more like it, if you set sensible design goals.
IE: I want an electricity making machine. Anyone who utters the words “High temperature” “Hydrogen Production” or “enhanced proliferation resistance” will be summarily fired. “Reliability” “Safety” and “Simplicity” are our watchwords. .
Most research on advanced reactor types turn into exercises in extremely advanced materials science due to goals creep—Trying to make a reactor that can safely operate at a temperature of over 900 degrees celcius genuinely is a 20 year project. It is also fracking pointless—the supply of fuel for a thorium breeder is effectively infinite, maximizing thermodynamic efficiency at the cost of engineering difficulty and complexity is the kind of very special stupid that only ever infests smart people.
Now that would make a great quote.