86944 OP wrote (edited )
Reply to comment by moonlune in An excellent educational website covering the basics of Nuclear power. by 86944
Breeder reactors don't existe yet.
But they do, and have.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeder_reactor#Development_and_notable_breeder_reactors
The BN-600 and BN-800 reactors in Russia, the Fast Breeder Test Reactor in India and a Chinese fast breeder reactor remain in operation today.
Also the Soviets had a submarine powered by a breeder reactor.
Lol@ extracting 0.001 ppm uranium from sea water lol
It's completely possible, just not economical today. We wouldn't have to resort to that for a long time though.
moonlune wrote
Wow! today I learned!
I'm looking forward to thorium reactors since today thorium isn't used in anything and is "trash" for most mines, where they pile it up at the entrance because they don't know what to do with it.
86944 OP wrote
Well first I recommend you look at the "thorium as nuclear fuel" and ""thorium myths" sections of the site.
https://whatisnuclear.com/thorium.html
https://whatisnuclear.com/thorium-myths.html
When people gush about the benefits of "thorium reactors" they're mostly describing the benefits of molten fuel fast breeder reactors, which don't necessarily run on thorium.
Furthermore, Thorium can be used as fuel in many existing reactors. It's just more expensive to do so.
"trash" for most mines, where they pile it up at the entrance because they don't know what to do with it.
It's not that we don't know what to do with it, it's just not economical to use. Uranium is so cheap that it's also mine trash. Phosphate mines have uncountable amounts of uranium as a byproduct just sitting in the open.
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