Re: The joy of actual numbers, was Democracy

On Sun, 3 Nov 2024, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 03/11/2024 10:24, D wrote:

  On Sun, 3 Nov 2024, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

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It is pointless to wait for governments. But it is fortunate that serious money needs serious power and has determined that renewables are as much use as a wet fart in a desert when it comes to reliable 24x7 power.

 It is as I always say... when politics and reality collide, reality always wins in the end. The chinese communist party accepted the market, because they had to.
 I wonder if ships would be a good fit for a smallr SMR-reactor, that is welded shut with all the fuel for its lifetime? I also wonder what the environmental effects would be if such a ship would sink and the outer layer would slowly corrode and break down. On the other hand, the ocean is big, so any potential leakes would probably be absorbed without any effect at all. Add to that the fact that sunk cargo/cruise ships in todays world seems to be pretty rare.

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SMRs are being developed FROM submarine reactors.
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In reality any reactor is going to be massively shielded - there is no weight issue on a ship - and massively isolated from the sea -  and presumably have failsafe SCRAM on sinking!
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Most reactor products cease to be even interesting after a couple of hundred years and iron will last that long underwater.
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And the sea is a great shield. And also full of uranium already.

Well, it seems the science and economics has spoken! We will see atomic powered ships. The political fuel will be climate change.

 When it comes to trains, just imagine a global vacuum tunnel system with trains reaching every country on the planet without any sonic boom! Completely unfeasible economically at present I guess, but a fun idea I read in some science fiction book from the goldenera of science fiction.

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Not economically viable at the moment. More likely to use hydrogen powered sub orbital rockets for those in a hurry.

True.