/sci/ - Science & Math

>Sometimes nuclear volts make your alarm clock run backwards, and you wake up the day before you went to bed.
holy shit i'm laughing like a motherfucker right now
good show op, 10/10

>>3994870
>expressions of a new frontierism inspired by frustration with the huge gap between the future we were promised and the future we got.
more like the future we weren't expecting
the steady march of computers has gone almost unnoticed compared to "hey, why aren't we on mars yet? Oh, i'll just make a post on a global friend-connecting database using my handheld device that uses a scaled down desktop computer architecture and a screen you can interact with by touch and receives data using a nationwide microwave frequency using network"

>>3994775
email sent, by the way

>>3994123
k
but it'll have to wait until tomorrow
i'll keep your info on email

>mad actually went through with the livestream RC submarine idea

HOLY SHIT

/diy/ is your best bet for rigging the submarine. i've been hanging around there a lot.
make sure to implement some anti-griefing measures, like an engine cutoff at some distance from the habitat or something

>>3991757
FUCK THE ODDS

the other possibility is doing very small scale startup reactors for investing, like what FLIBE is doing.
unfortunately the NRC is a bag of dicks and will probably demand a 20 year waiting period to "check designs" or whatever

>>3991492
there probably just needs to be some profitable buisness model built around LFTR for it to take off. Selling reactors at a high markup sounds decent since you can claim the fuel is super cheap (and it is)
just gold plate the core or something silly to boost the cost.

>>3991484
that was the implication, yes

>>3991456
>It's a lot "safer" for them to just be overly careful.
i don't want to live on this planet anymore.jpg

>>3991443
they could prove its safer through worst-case-scenario simulations as well as pointing to the MSRE.

but this is the american legal system. whoever has the most expensive lawyers wins

petroleum engineering
the oil industry takes care of their own

>>3959088
i really wish you'd wear a trip so i could filter you

>>3959056
>http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/10/ron-paul-would-erase-billions-in.html
ah bummer. i was wondering that ron's stance on research was

>>3959043
you're really annoying, do you know that?
i'm not even mad, i'm just irritated. it's like a cat sitting on your shoulder meowing constantly

it's cute at first, then you try to ignore it since it's no longer cute, then you have trouble blocking it out, then it gets annoying

that's you, guy.

apparently they've found soft tissue within large thighbones of some species, like they literally cracked them in half and got almost-organic material

hit it with an acid bath to remove the calcification and the tissue was actually ELASTIC and PLIABLE, crazy stuff.

DNA extraction is a whole other ballgame though, any intact strands are going to be horrifically fragile and basically dissolve in the presence of any kind of temperature swings, moisture, or air

best bet is probably some kind of nanomachine solution, as cliche as it sounds. they need to get in there and reinforce the DNA before technicians can fully extract it

>>3946348
well, read the denial-of-further-funding reports to oakridge in 68', naval, that should answer your question

also, just a fun fact, the biggest problem when designing a two-fluid LFTR is going to be the main barrier between your u233 core and the Th232 blanket

and you'll need something that;
-can take temperatures in excess of 500-800 degrees Celsius (900-1400 degrees Fahrenheit)
-can withstand corrosion from fluorine, since a few fluorine ions will be floating around in the mostly stable salt
-is structurally sound enough to hold all this salt (possibly several tons) flowing through it constantly without warping
-it's COMPLETELY TRANSPARENT to neutrons, and will not degrade in any way from high neutron flux

a lftr core is basically breeding hell in a bottle, if you think about it. pretty cool

EVERYONE ON /SCI/ WHO WANTS TO BACK THORIUM REACTORS

WATCH THIS VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F0tUDJ35So

IT'S GOT A SHIT TON OF PRACTICAL ENGINEERING DATA ON HOW TO ACTUALLY MAKE A REACTOR

watch that video and understand everything in it, fascinating even if it's pretty high level stuff

>>3946111
fast breeders make plutonium, but then immediately burn it, it sounded like a cheap "toss anything in the pot and get electricity" type thing, since it kicked all the U238 up to Pu239 which then fissioned down and made heat. it's basically the same story as a traveling wave reactor.
the only problem is that as the years dragged on, the realized making a fast breeder stable and efficient would be borderline impossible.

LFTR could do something similar to a fast breeder since your core is going to be lousy with nuetrons, kicking all your actinides up high enough that they fission back down into something less irritating to store as waste. The only problem is that you can only add a little at a time, or your LFTR starts becoming an iso-breeder since your losing neutrons .

of course lftr has a different neutron spectrum so that's going to change what kind of stuff you can put in there and what to expect to come out the back end.

>>3946048
he meant to say neutron moderation, as in slowing down

control rods absorb
moderators slow down

>>3946039
not quite
there is the possibility of the graphite core somehow dissolving into the salt solution, meaning your neutron moderator is now floating around with your fuel and keeping it hot even outside the core, bad news

this is why i REALLY REALLY don't like salt-as-moderator MSR designs, it kills one of the main safety features of an msr with only the benefit of easier start-up

however the entire core being broken up and distributed into the core salt is pretty much impossible, and even then the question becomes how quickly does the salt cool down as it exist the core? is the falloff significant enough that a double-ended pipe shear will result in the core salt freezing up the break in a reasonable time frame? would it take half a second or like an hour?

of course we need one to be ACTUALLY BUILT before we can do real crisis scenario work, but the nrc is a bag of dicks and the general public is dumb as a rock so ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

>>3945971
> The problem is that funding was taken from them as they are terrible for nuclear weapons proliferation.
i'm starting to realize this wasn't very much the case. the problem was that MSR and fast breeder reactors got in a headbutting match, and msr lost. losing technologies are usually discarded and almost completely forgotten

emphasis on "almost"

although it'd be interesting to read some transcripts leading up the cancellation of the MSRE and see if there are some things to be read between the lines

>>3945854
man i love that video
>>3945847
>I also heard that solar and wind power can never produce enough energy to make up for their original creation, is that true?

wind, probably
solar, efficiency is on a linear rise, not exponential. I wouldn't pay much attention to solar until you can get 1 one square inch of solar panel with 25% efficiency for $20, at minimum.

>>3945861
>the reason why wind energy is shit and solar efficiency is mediocre is because of the jewish conspiracy
i want to punch you
with my car

>>3943719
should i feel bad for laughing at this?

also, dreams and aspirations are more of goal than a specific rule. don't get caught up in the "but look how far we've come, of course we can go ftl by next tuesday" crap.
>impossible is nothing
is a nike advertisement

/sci/ in general needs a little more realism