"Another basic problem with MSRs is that the materials used to manufacture the various reactor components will be exposed to hot salts that are chemically corrosive, while being bombarded by radioactive particles. So far, there is no material that can perform satisfactorily in such an environment. A 2018 review from the Idaho National Laboratory could only recommended that “a systematic development program be initiated” to develop new alloys that might work better. There is, of course, no guarantee that the program will be successful."
Molten salt reactors are designed to avoid meltdowns.
But most of the harm at Chernobyl was from the explosion. There is nothing in a molten salt reactor that makes them any safer than Chernobyl if the reactor containment is breached.
Massive amounts of highly radioactive particles will be ejected into the atmosphere in exactly the same way as happened at Chernobyl.
Molten salt advocates will say "yes, but what could possibly breach the reactor if there is no meltdown". Well we almost saw the answer to that today.
> A steam explosion is what happened to the Chernobyl reactor in 1986. Although this lead to a serious disaster, it is much less destructive than an actual nuclear explosion (Wilkins, 2011). Due to the nature of molten salt reactors, the risk of either a steam explosion, a hydrogen explosion or a meltdown is effectively eliminated.
but also cannot realistically operate for very long becase structural components tend to deteriorate quickly from the combo of salt, high heat, and radiation.
> “further debate would do unnecessary harm to science in general and science in China in particular”.
You know what else causes unnecessary harm to science, public trust and health policy? Repeated and condescending lies and gas-lighting from those in charge.
Ok, but can you please not post unsubstantive comments or flamebait to HN? Your comment here is low-information/high-indignation. We're looking for the other way around.
"Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive."
so also does the firehose of conspiracy theory's, misinformation and lunatic fringe that appears to be the overtly noisy minority on all forms of media these days.
I'm going to jump in here, because I wanted to make a point about conspiracy theorists, too.
What pisses me off most about this is that now it's so much easier for a conspiracy theorist to believe in government cover-ups of big, important things. One of my family members is way into all this stuff, and next time I tell him cancer isn't cured because how would all the experts across the globe all simultaneously keep that a secret--he's gonna point at this.
People can be stupid and believe really crazy ideas, but let's not have governments and experts lying to the people they represent.
Deliberate misinformation directly from your government meant to control the reaction of the masses is orders of magnitude more dangerous than your right-wing uncle meme-ing on Facebook.
Its harder for Gov to keep a secret than it is for a facebook group to maintain a lie.
much much harder.
And there are various degrees of accountability to every level of a Gov. Not as much as I'd like and not as reliable as i'd like it to be, but its there.
there is zero, zilch, no accountability for facebook liars.
The problem is that the lab leak was dismissed as a conspiracy theory as are many of the things that have now come to pass, e.g.: ineffective vaccines, side effects.
Pair that with the disinformation coming from once trusted institutions, e.g.: 5 vs 10 day quarantine, sending health care workers to work while still positive.
It's no wonder people are giving more credence to these fringe groups. The government has nobody to blame but itself for such poor messaging.
But don't you see the conflicting positions here...
on one hand The Gov and bureaucracies in general have ham-fisted the response. This surprises no one really. we all know that Governments can be awful at these sorts of things.
yet somehow they have masterminded the development and release of a contagious bio weapon and done it in damn near perfected secrecy?
How can someone hold both those statements with equal weight in their minds at the same time.
The "Government" is not one monolithic being. They are composed of various people/orgs with varying capabilities. Some are incompetent and some are competent at the work they do.
thats exactly why its so ridiculously hard to keep a secret. its made up of thousands of people, all with their own personalities, objectives, desires, beliefs and competencies.
