The technology is 50 + years old, and all the materials engineering and chemistry work since is in the public literature, because almost all of it has been done on the dime of various publics. If someone implements a MSR and it proves cheap to build and a reliable machine in practice, that is going to involve good engineering and design practice, but absolutely nothing any patent board that is not utterly corrupt would class as a breakthrough.
Not to mention that putting up legal barriers to implementation would violate both common practice, and at a minimum the spirit of the NPT.
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.
The technology is 50 + years old, and all the materials engineering and chemistry work since is in the public literature, because almost all of it has been done on the dime of various publics. If someone implements a MSR and it proves cheap to build and a reliable machine in practice, that is going to involve good engineering and design practice, but absolutely nothing any patent board that is not utterly corrupt would class as a breakthrough. Not to mention that putting up legal barriers to implementation would violate both common practice, and at a minimum the spirit of the NPT.
If that’s true, what’s the core of the uncertainity about whether it’s cheap to build and a reliable machine?
If all the leg work is done, why do the Chinese think they need 20 years of work to build one?
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.