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BattleMaster posted:would probably be fairly safe even without a coating as long as you washed your hands after handling it and didn't let it get damaged This. Just treat it like it's a lump of lead. Don't eat it, inhale it, or rub it in open wounds.
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May 21, 2016 05:20
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Long story short, I want this belt buckle somehow made of DU. I don't know what strings I would have to pull, or what watchlists I would go on, but goddamn I'd be happy. (not mine, just the first picture I found on google)
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May 21, 2016 05:23
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uraninite is cool looking
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May 21, 2016 05:28
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SniperWoreConverse posted:uraninite is cool looking I prefer Uranophane 
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May 21, 2016 05:33
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Kilo147 posted:Long story short, I want this belt buckle somehow made of DU. I don't know what strings I would have to pull, or what watchlists I would go on, but goddamn I'd be happy. not official legal advice and also I'm canadian and assuming you're american but https://www.quora.com/Is-it-legal-to-possess-depleted-uranium there's no exempt limit (i.e. possession without a license) for DU except when used as an aircraft ballast, but you can get a general license to possess up to 7 kg of it in metal form edit: do it but you'd better be able to pull off a good duke nukem cosplay BattleMaster fucked around with this message at 05:45 on May 21, 2016 |
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May 21, 2016 05:34
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BattleMaster posted:not official legal advice and also I'm canadian and assuming you're american but I did some digging, and the license application is a minimum of eight pages long and has, at minimum, a $2,500 fee that goes along with it. Which the NRC will keep even if they deny your license. This would be the most expensive belt buckle ever. Well, maybe not ever, I'm sure someone put a bunch of diamonds on a belt buckle for some reason.
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May 21, 2016 05:59
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Yeah you also need to explain the use of the material (they may not agree that a belt buckle is a good idea) and you also need a radiation safety program and a radiation control officer. Like if you register a company and hire a nuclear engineer or someone similar you have a shot at pulling it off, assuming you can find someone who will sell you the metal and someone who will be willing to work it. And even then you might not be allowed to take it off the site that it was licensed for use at.
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May 21, 2016 06:03
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And here I just wanted to make AxeManiac proud.
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May 21, 2016 06:18
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Why does so much nuclear stuff seem to involve fluorine? Every time I see anything about fluorine chemistry my reaction is just 
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May 23, 2016 04:32
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Grand Fromage posted:Why does so much nuclear stuff seem to involve fluorine? Every time I see anything about fluorine chemistry my reaction is just Fluorine is rather safe when it's chemically bound to something it likes, fluoride is common in the water in the US to prevent tooth decay and it's widely considered both safe and one of the most successful public health programs of all time. As to the nuclear stuff, I'm not entirely sure. I imagine it has to do with the chemical stability of compounds, particularly salts, that fluorine is part of and the properties that produces. Things like high melting/boiling temperatures, good resistance to irradiation, not coming apart to grab things in there that aren't salt, etc. It also binds with lithium, which absorbs neutrons and produces tritium, if that's a thing you are after. That's almost exclusively for fusion designs, though, when they are attempting to breed tritium for use as fuel. The really nasty stuff like ClF3, chlorine trifluoride, is because there's an imbalance there chemically, chlorine wants to steal an electron from somewhere (sodium wants to give one up, that's why table salt exists and isn't toxic/explosive) and fluorine also wants to steal an electron from something. So instead of reaching a balance you just have fluorine being more electronegative than anything else and they each rob the chlorine of an electron, leaving the chlorine four electrons short of happy. Then it burns glass, sand, concrete, etc in the quest for more electrons.
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May 23, 2016 07:37
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Uranium hexafluoride is used in enrichment processes because it's a gas at pretty low temperatures and this makes it easier to use a few different gas-based isotope separation processes it's not a very nice material other than that
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May 23, 2016 07:39
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Ok, I did some digging in scientific literature about MSRs and whatnot; the fluoride salts aren't the only option, you can use chloride salts as well, but it is definitely a thermodynamic properties thing. They want stuff with favorable melting/boiling points with regards to reactor temperatures, especially in pool type reactors where it isn't as easy to rapidly adjust the core temperature. Salts also have very high thermal conductivity, to the point that heat may travel through the pipe faster than the salt itself. It can also store very large amounts of heat, which is good. Corrosion resistance is an issue, but you have to make trade offs somewhere.
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May 23, 2016 14:49
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Olothreutes posted:Exactly. It's illegal because there is a law that says so. I'm not really sure of the motivation for it in detail (bombs), but a reprocessing program is essential to a weapons program, you (very nearly*) can't have weapons without reprocessing. On the civilian side right now there isn't an impetus to have reprocessing because uranium is abundant enough that we don't need it. There are a few nations that have poor natural reserves of uranium that are pursuing civilian reprocessing, Japan and South Korea, but it is fraught with troubles and complications and there is a lot of international oversight because of the weapons program potential those facilities present. One thing to keep in mind is that the anti-nuclear movement used to be a lot more strident than it is today, in significant part because the threat of nuclear war still loomed over everyone's heads. Opposing nuclear power on environmental grounds (however well- or ill-founded) was once considered a vital strategy in obstructing and discouraging nuclear armament overall. Some people genuinely feel that nuclear power is environmentally disastrous but there are also people who were (maybe still are?) willing to make that argument in bad faith if they think it brings us one step closer to nuclear disarmament.
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May 23, 2016 16:08
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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36385778 French nuclear workers going on strike. Seems like a big deal considering it makes up 75% of the county's electricity.
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May 26, 2016 03:27
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This thread has been absolutely fascinating. Thank you to all the contributors so far. I have several dumb questions about corium (nuclear fuel that has melted down and turned into radioactive nightmare lava). First, about the elephant's foot: how long is it going to be quite so potently nightmarishly radioactive, and is it still hot? Is it actually still melting into the floor today? Second, about Fukushima. From my reading, I understand they don't know what the status is of the melted fuel. It's too radioactive down there to go down and check it out in person, and even robots are fried by it. But I'm curious about what the possibilities might be. Can't they just kind of assume it melted down and is now sitting in the basement like the elephant's foot? Or are there more possibilities than that? What is the endgame for Fukushima, basically? Like, the best possible outcome is what? They ideally want to recover the melted fuel and box it up (somehow?!) because it's powerfully evil, right? Is melted fuel a lot worse than spent fuel, radioactivity-wise?
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Jun 2, 2016 08:03
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Popcorn posted:This thread has been absolutely fascinating. Thank you to all the contributors so far. Melted fuel is about the same as spent fuel, radioactivity-wise, just delightfully spread out and uncontained. Spent fuel is (hopefully) contained in rods, so the fission products can't spread all around, whereas if it melts, it can. Chernobyl's "Foot" has long solidified and is relatively cool, and is diluted by all kinds of other poo poo melted in with it. It is still super radioactive, but stationary. IIRC, the Jury is still out if the bottom of any of Fukushima's three reactors melted-through. I don't think they all did, if any. If the reactor vessel is intact, then it can be more easily delt with. If they did melt though, the fuel is probably in the containment vessel still.
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Jun 2, 2016 08:13
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Nuclear fuel is a ceramic (uranium oxide) with a structure that is riddled with lots of little holes and cracks on the inside. These voids fill up with gaseous fission products like iodine and xenon and others as the fuel is used, but as long as the fuel remains solid the fuel has enough of a structure to it to keep that stuff locked inside. It will still be incredibly radioactive, but the risk of radioactive gases entering the surrounding environment is a lot less if the fuel remains solid during its life time. The main issue with fuel melting, even if it doesn't get hot enough to damage the surrounding environment, is that this structure becomes compromised and there's one less barrier to a radioactive gas release. Therefore, a puddle of melted reactor fuel will be about as radioactive as a similar mass of unmelted spent fuel, but that all sorts of bad gaseous crap would have already been released into the environment and put people in surrounding settlements at risk. edit: also, undamaged spent fuel is easier to handle than a blob of melted fuel for obvious reasons
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Jun 2, 2016 08:16
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Thanks! Fascinating!Michaeldim posted:IIRC, the Jury is still out if the bottom of any of Fukushima's three reactors melted-through. I don't think they all did, if any. If the reactor vessel is intact, then it can be more easily delt with. What might dealing with it entail?
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Jun 2, 2016 11:32
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is it true that molds have adapted to feed off the radiation like how plants get energy off sunlight, and are growing on the inside of melted down / unused reactors like Chernobyl?
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Jun 2, 2016 18:58
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SniperWoreConverse posted:is it true that molds have adapted to feed off the radiation like how plants get energy off sunlight, and are growing on the inside of melted down / unused reactors like Chernobyl? Yes, it is metal as hell. Fungus can do anything. Discovered at Chernobyl 'cause that's where people were really looking for environmental effects of the incident. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiotrophic_fungus
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Jun 2, 2016 19:25
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Popcorn posted:Thanks! Fascinating! I'm not sure, presumably dismantling the core blob and packing it up as best as one can.
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Jun 3, 2016 00:40
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Grognan posted:Yes, it is metal as hell. Fungus can do anything. Discovered at Chernobyl 'cause that's where people were really looking for environmental effects of the incident. If you think about it this is super loving nuts. Imagine if spores somehow got into a regular plant, they'd have to go disinfect and scrub the goddamn thing all the fuckin time (assuming it wouldn't jut cook them cause it's so hot). 1000 years from now "gently caress we accidentally inoculated the lenses of our quasar monitoring satellite with Cryptococcus chernobyli this data is fuckin ruined."
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Jun 3, 2016 18:35
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So I calculated it for the OSHA thread, but it looks like YTD I've been exposed to around 40 mSv in various CT scans and whatnot. Might breach 60 by December. Seeing as that's at the limit for radiation workers, I'm assuming I'd be pulled off the job at that point?
Kilo147 fucked around with this message at 10:02 on Jun 4, 2016 |
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Jun 4, 2016 09:59
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Kilo147 posted:So I calculated it for the OSHA thread, but it looks like YTD I've been exposed to around 40 mSv in various CT scans and whatnot. Might breach 60 by December. Seeing as that's at the limit for radiation workers, I'm assuming I'd be pulled off the job at that point? If you told them about it all, yeah. Plenty of guys don't say a godamn word about xrays and all that kind of poo poo, which is probably stupid. But then you get the other kind of stupid where a guy puts his TLD through an xray machine at the airport or even the security checkpoint at the plant itself.
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Jun 4, 2016 12:50
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Just letting you guys know, this thread inspired me to write an 8 bit nuclear reactor simulation/management/puzzle game for a recent game jam. You can play it and read more about it here. Playing it in the browser, you use the arrow keys, x and z to play it.
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Jun 4, 2016 16:15
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Kilo147 posted:So I calculated it for the OSHA thread, but it looks like YTD I've been exposed to around 40 mSv in various CT scans and whatnot. Might breach 60 by December. Seeing as that's at the limit for radiation workers, I'm assuming I'd be pulled off the job at that point? Honky Dong Country posted:If you told them about it all, yeah. Plenty of guys don't say a godamn word about xrays and all that kind of poo poo, which is probably stupid. Actually, no. The limit for workers is occupational exposure and specifically excludes medical exposures, so you'd still be good to go.
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Jun 4, 2016 19:28
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Olothreutes posted:Actually, no. The limit for workers is occupational exposure and specifically excludes medical exposures, so you'd still be good to go. Oh that's cool. Never knew.
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Jun 4, 2016 20:58
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chaosbreather posted:Just letting you guys know, this thread inspired me to write an 8 bit nuclear reactor simulation/management/puzzle game for a recent game jam. You can play it and read more about it here. Playing it in the browser, you use the arrow keys, x and z to play it. Cute game. "Steady" state is virtually impossible due to the impreciseness of the tools. The funny thing is once you have some fuel rods and a couple of control rods, the geometry of them doesn't matter too much, you moderate the reaction with well, the moderator. Pump coolant to start the reaction as it slows down the neutrons so they have time to hit something before a control eats them. Once you ramp it up you paradoxically remove the coolant which really should be called moderator as the amount of coolant doesn't affect how much heat can be adsorbed nor the cooling rate, to slow down the process. Once it gets too slow add a little bit more back in. Go back and forwards until you are bored. Dumping coolant is a hilarious way to avoid a melt down as it is the opposite of Chernobyl assuming you have some control rods to capture the fast neutrons. Unless you make a bomb or do something really stupid like no control rods or have a massive imbalance, the reaction effectively self moderates downwards. I haven't made a pure fuel reactor but since the coolant eventually eats the neutron it is it's own control rod so it should work. In the end like a real reactor you are changing the probabilities to get as close you can to 1 neutron in, one neutron out to react.
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Jun 5, 2016 00:51
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oohhboy posted:Cute game. "Steady" state is virtually impossible due to the impreciseness of the tools. The funny thing is once you have some fuel rods and a couple of control rods, the geometry of them doesn't matter too much, you moderate the reaction with well, the moderator. Pump coolant to start the reaction as it slows down the neutrons so they have time to hit something before a control eats them. Once you ramp it up you paradoxically remove the coolant which really should be called moderator as the amount of coolant doesn't affect how much heat can be adsorbed nor the cooling rate, to slow down the process. Once it gets too slow add a little bit more back in. Go back and forwards until you are bored. I am really glad you played and was amused by it. The physics are pretty simplified/weird/abstracted due to the limitations of Pico8/time constraints for the jam/me. The 'coolant' is indeed a coolant/moderator as mentioned in the Wikipedia article on nuclear reactors, but I just called it coolant because more people have heard of it. It seemed like a good idea to me. The 'level' is a kind of abstracted effectiveness/density, and it does effect the thermodynamics of the system: the coolant level determines the weight given to neighbouring cells when temperature of each cell is calculated. So it does affect how much heat the system can take out and so on, it's just that the generator can only remove a certain amount of heat from its cell so it's not really as noticeable as its effect as moderator during normal play.
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Jun 5, 2016 01:56
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chaosbreather posted:Just letting you guys know, this thread inspired me to write an 8 bit nuclear reactor simulation/management/puzzle game for a recent game jam. You can play it and read more about it here. Playing it in the browser, you use the arrow keys, x and z to play it. This is really fun, and works pretty well all things considered. I plugged in a sort of basic fuel bundle, adjusted for the grid, and I'm making money on the first* try. *Not the first, the third, because I kept screwing up which buttons were which and ended up with control rods all over the place by accident.  E: My design is not quite critical, I have to juice it every now and then, and sometimes it gets away from me and boils off some coolant, but it works. E2: I got bored and totally screwed it up. Still fun, excellent job. Olothreutes fucked around with this message at 10:28 on Jun 5, 2016 |
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Jun 5, 2016 09:21
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Olothreutes posted:E: My design is not quite critical, I have to juice it every now and then, and sometimes it gets away from me and boils off some coolant, but it works. It's not possible to maintain a "Stable" or "Critical" due to restrictions of the gameplay. You are either going to be sub-critical or super critical. You control which side it is by the level of coolant. I looked it up and the game is based a Pressurized Water Reactor a subset of the Light Water Reactor. Gave the fuel only reactor a try. The longest I can keep it going is 10 minutes. If you are lucky enough neutrons miss for a short while letting the reactor breathe but the design is inherently super-critical so it will meltdown eventually and lost of coolant doesn't prevent this as by the time it is lost there are already too many neutrons. Having a sub-critical reactor is a possibility, but is not economically viable in game. If the game modelled a negative void coefficient, then having a self regulating reactor is possible with a fuel only. If you expand the game I would like to see other types of reactors. Since you can't remove rods the options are pretty limited though but I am sure you can find some other restrictions if you do.
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Jun 6, 2016 08:25
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tardwrangler posted:Thanks....''llI bet Mothers For Peace are kind of miffed that the rods are still literally sitting around their backyards in mothballs and they cant even boil the kettle with them any more. What's going to happen is that the government will keep getting owned in court for breach of contract by every utility company that operates nuclear power plants in the country until we get a president willing to say "gently caress you Nevada" and get Yucca Mountain in gear again. In a typical short-sited vote grabbing display of gutless cowardice, the current administration shitcanned the entire project, which has resulted in various utility companies, which have a contract with the government for the government to build a central repository and then deal with the spent fuel, descending on the court system like a pissed-off swarm of bees. You can imagine how happy they are to have to eat the costs of keeping all that spent fuel in place, especially since the government kept trying to take their money for the disposal site fund after cancelling the only disposal site that was in the works. (the courts put a stop to that poo poo eventually).
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Jun 6, 2016 09:21
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chaosbreather posted:Just letting you guys know, this thread inspired me to write an 8 bit nuclear reactor simulation/management/puzzle game for a recent game jam. You can play it and read more about it here. Playing it in the browser, you use the arrow keys, x and z to play it. This is awesome, nice work!
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Jun 7, 2016 06:37
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chaosbreather posted:Just letting you guys know, this thread inspired me to write an 8 bit nuclear reactor simulation/management/puzzle game for a recent game jam. You can play it and read more about it here. Playing it in the browser, you use the arrow keys, x and z to play it. Very nice. Been playing this all morning.
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Jun 7, 2016 16:41
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chaosbreather posted:Just letting you guys know, this thread inspired me to write an 8 bit nuclear reactor simulation/management/puzzle game for a recent game jam. You can play it and read more about it here. Playing it in the browser, you use the arrow keys, x and z to play it. I really enjoyed this. Was still humming along at $10B when I decided to close it. I found that you don't need that many rods at all. I had eight fuel rods and a single control rod and was able to keep it well under control. Going to have fun exploring other combinations though.
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Jun 7, 2016 16:58
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chaosbreather posted:Just letting you guys know, this thread inspired me to write an 8 bit nuclear reactor simulation/management/puzzle game for a recent game jam. You can play it and read more about it here. Playing it in the browser, you use the arrow keys, x and z to play it. How would you feel if I took your concept and ran with it in a different game engine, adding things like reactor vessel geometry that would affect neutron trajectories and the like? I'd rather not step on your toes if you want to cling to this as a game idea to develop for the future.
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Jun 8, 2016 19:18
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chaosbreather posted:Just letting you guys know, this thread inspired me to write an 8 bit nuclear reactor simulation/management/puzzle game for a recent game jam. You can play it and read more about it here. Playing it in the browser, you use the arrow keys, x and z to play it. I melted down by not paying attention for like 8 minutes
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Jun 8, 2016 21:51
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