Comments by "David Elliott" (@davidelliott5843) on "The Problem with Solar Energy in Africa" video.

  1. The Moltex molten salt nuclear reactor runs continuously while heating the same type of heat storing salt used in solar boilers. The heat is used to fill peaks in demand while the reactor runs continuously. Costs are cheaper than coal and you don’t need all the cabling of solar (any type) to connect the panels.
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  2. Locking your economy into an energy supply from countries with unstable authoritarian governments. What could possibly go wrong?
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  3. Molten chloride salt is LESS corrosive than hot pressurised water. It’s also completely impervious to neutron radiation. This cracks water into hydrogen (which embrittles metals) and oxygen which corrodes metals.
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  4. Molten salt nuclear especially the Moltex) is intrinsically safe. Temperature rise above normal reduces power output to zero well within acceptable limits. Temperature falling increases power from the reaction. It’s entirely self regulating. The coolant loop could be disconnected at full power and nothing bad will happen. The fuel is liquid so cannot suffer physical degradation or the internal pressure rise that stops solid nuclear fuel being fully used. The result is 99% fuel burn vs 4% burn in a PWR. This cuts the waste storage time by 1000x. The list of benefits is huge. The only reason it’s not been done before is the endemic engineering conservatism of the nuclear industry and regulators who move glacially slowly and cannot comprehend anything new.
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  5. Used fuel from a PWR still contains 96% of the fissile materials. That’s right - just 4% gets used. That why it has a 30,000 years 1/2 life. Moltex reuses that used fuel. Their process uses almost all of that unused energy. Their waste has a 1/2 life of just 30 years. That’s easy to manage while the 30,000 years of our existing waste line will just dig for 30,000 years.
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