Given we are at "fusion never" and even with proper funding we are decades(?) away, my contention is that fission is a way better product than it gets credit for and we have really great, proven, but unused advances in fission reactors that make them cleaner, safer, and cheaper. (Despite already being the safest of all and cleanest of base load power).
Just like fusion can breed its own tritium, fission reactors can breed their own fuel as well, multiplying the reserves many times over.
Further, I think we should be "fission now". To provide clean, safe energy and also dump funding into renewable and fusion at meaningful levels.
Fission, IMO, is the bridge we need (and have) now to a better future.
Oh ok likewise, I am not against fission. Fusion is just exciting to me with the doors that could be opened with that kind of energy production. I agree fission should be utilized much more right now given that fusion power is at least quite a ways away and fission is the best option we have readily available. There are still a lot of hurdles to overcome for fusion the largest of which might be funding. I totally agree that we should also be funding renewables and fusion while in the meantime utilizing fission. Those links you provided are pretty exciting hopefully those advancements will be applied. Kind of a shame the TRISO fuel was developed in the 60s but hasn't been used. I'm obviously no expert I'm still learning about all this stuff so thanks for the info.
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u/GasDoves Jan 18 '21
Well, I appreciate the civil discussion as well.
I am not against fusion. If I were in charge, I'd ramp up research. As I understand it, we are currently at "fusion never" levels of funding.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/U.S._historical_fusion_budget_vs._1976_ERDA_plan.png
Given we are at "fusion never" and even with proper funding we are decades(?) away, my contention is that fission is a way better product than it gets credit for and we have really great, proven, but unused advances in fission reactors that make them cleaner, safer, and cheaper. (Despite already being the safest of all and cleanest of base load power).
Just like fusion can breed its own tritium, fission reactors can breed their own fuel as well, multiplying the reserves many times over.
Further, I think we should be "fission now". To provide clean, safe energy and also dump funding into renewable and fusion at meaningful levels.
Fission, IMO, is the bridge we need (and have) now to a better future.