Multiscale Mechanistic Insights into Hydrogen Production from Microalgae via Molten Hydroxide-Mediated Thermochemical...

[NNadir]

3. I didn't really follow Seaborg/Saltfoss, but in some writing I'm trying to find time to send my son, Transatomic is a...

...topic. I would have never thought that NaOH, would be a good idea as a moderator. Although it might offer a decent epithermal spectrum, valuable for breeding with multi-cycled plutonium with a lot of ²⁴¹Pu and/or its source ²⁴⁰Pu, as MOX used fuel would have, it is highly corrosive, something that the coal people described in the OP glossed over but addressed as best they can.

It does seem that Leslie Dewan, financed by Peter Theil, was of hot interest for a time, with her claim that she could eliminate the need for used fuel repositories. It seems she made so basic calculational errors, which embarrassed MIT, where she was a star undergraduate and graduate student. They fell for Transatomic as well.

The piece I'm writing for my son involves putting medium lived ¹³⁷Cs and long lived ¹³⁵Cs along with non-radioactive (natural cesium) ¹³³Cs for certain neutronic purposes involved in making the bulk fission product cesium more highly radioactive for use. I believe that because of these special properties of radioactive cesium, its high gamma output, and ready solubility, make it extremely valuable.

Transatomic is a cautionary tale on hype.

In this case, there would be no need for nuclear waste dumps if similar applications can be found for the stream of elements across the periodic table found in used nuclear fuel. After nearly 40 years of working on the problem, I believe these applications exist. It may be possible in a sane world - although a sane world is less and less likely owing to the suicide of the United States and reactions around the world exploiting that suicide and suffering for it - for actinides and fission products to become extremely valuable materials.