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| Leslie Dewan Founder - Transatomic |
When a 30 something upstart feminist with zero commercial nuclear power experience claims that her molten salt reactor design can generate 75 times MORE energy per ton of uranium than the existing fleet of reactors that have been in operation in the United States for nigh unto 40 years, do NOT believe her! The article below explains this best:
Nuclear Energy Startup Transatomic Backtracks on Key Promises
It turns out that this little girl made a mistake in her math. Her reactor design can generate twice - not 75 times - the energy from a ton of uranium that an existing light water reactor can generate. She has corrected her white paper to reflect that:
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| Example Molten Salt Reactor |
Furthermore, her reactor design cannot burn spent nuclear fuel as she initially advertised. The article explains the following:
Now that statement is correct on its surface. But it fails to describe the problem underneath. These young spoiled brats are arrogant. Yes, they did not intentionally lie. But they think that because they are so darn innovative and so freaking smart with their natural born genius that they get to make the rules, they get to interpret the regulations and they get to say how science is supposed to behave. Even now when confronted to the immovability of math and physics this progressive Leslie Dewan thinks she's going to build her molten salt reactor by 2021. That isn't going to happen. First of all, the US NRC has no regulations for licensing non-light water reactors, and devising those regulations will take years. Second, it normally takes 10 years to go from where her company Transatomic is currently at to a fully licensed and operating reactor, and only if it's a light water design, not some esoteric design like molten salt. This little youngster has no idea what she is in for. Hubris of the highest order!
My advice to such individuals who think they know it all? Get some real operating experience from people two decades your senior in the commercial nuclear power industry instead of winging it on your own. Paper reactors designed by college students in liberal Academia will never survive the test of hard reality:
Reactores Charti, Reactores Reales ab Admirale Hyman G Rickover
“They didn’t do any of this intentionally....It was just a lack of experience and perhaps an overconfidence in their own ability. And then not listening carefully enough when people were questioning the conclusions they were coming to.”
Now that statement is correct on its surface. But it fails to describe the problem underneath. These young spoiled brats are arrogant. Yes, they did not intentionally lie. But they think that because they are so darn innovative and so freaking smart with their natural born genius that they get to make the rules, they get to interpret the regulations and they get to say how science is supposed to behave. Even now when confronted to the immovability of math and physics this progressive Leslie Dewan thinks she's going to build her molten salt reactor by 2021. That isn't going to happen. First of all, the US NRC has no regulations for licensing non-light water reactors, and devising those regulations will take years. Second, it normally takes 10 years to go from where her company Transatomic is currently at to a fully licensed and operating reactor, and only if it's a light water design, not some esoteric design like molten salt. This little youngster has no idea what she is in for. Hubris of the highest order!
My advice to such individuals who think they know it all? Get some real operating experience from people two decades your senior in the commercial nuclear power industry instead of winging it on your own. Paper reactors designed by college students in liberal Academia will never survive the test of hard reality:
Reactores Charti, Reactores Reales ab Admirale Hyman G Rickover
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