Comments by "David Elliott" (@davidelliott5843) on "The Formula That Will Determine Our Energy Future | Answers With Joe" video.

  1. Have you seen the cost of hamster food?
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  2.  @MrMattumbo  Nuclear power has directly killed less than 200 people over the life of the whole industry. Most of that is Chernobyl which is a special case with a fundamentally dangerous reactor operated by communists who let it burn for a week before they admitted there was a problem. Nuclear bombs and their production are a whole different story, but they are not nuclear power and should not be confused with nuclear power.
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  3. Check out Ian Scott from Moltex and Ed Pheil from Elysium. High level nuclear waste still contains 95% of the fissile energy. That's why it's active for thousands of years. They both have new plants that will burn down that 95% to produce 20 times more power than the original plant ever did. Their waste has a 30 year half life, against 30,000 years for the currently stored high level waste.
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  4. One day they might get more energy out than they put in. But it will never be low cost and will still generate nuclear waste. On top of that, the fuel (deuterium) is extremely difficult to refine
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  5. That saves less than you think because the fridge and freezer will power up to chill themselves down again as will the water heating if you use electric.
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  6. The really hard part is finding somewhere with two lakes separated by a big drop. It's also pretty rough on the fish. UK has one but there are no other sites that can do the job.
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  7. But only when the sun shines.
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  8. Moltex energy are using the same hot salt technology found in Solar Thermal power to follow the fluctuating load from renewables. They use the reactor to heat the thermal stores. Stored heat raises steam for turbines. More importantly, they burn high level spent nuclear fuel. The stuff they release has a half life of 30 years (easily managed) against 30,000 years with the current nuclear plants. Moltex are building a plant in Canada with plans to be making electricity by 2028. No new mining, zero CO2 and very low waste. The waste it does make is easily managed. Elysium has similar plans. They will clean up high level nuclear waste, dispose of nuclear bomb cores and they can even use the depleted uranium we have left over from making the bombs. No new fuel has to be mined and a considerable waste storage problem is solved.
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