International Bill Gates nuclear startup unlikely to build reactor in China due to new US laws.

[MicroBrew]

1 of the good things about the Trump administration.

Gates's nuclear venture has had to abandon its plan to build an experimental reactor in conjunction with China's state owned China National Nuclear Corp. due to the Trump administration passing new laws aimed at curtailing technology transfers to China.

The Bellevue, Washington-based company is now unsure which country it will work with to conduct trials of its technology, which is designed to use depleted uranium as fuel for nuclear reactors in a bid to improve safety and costs, company officials told the Journal.

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The West has been too blase on China for too long. From Clinton funder Bernie Schwartz giving them the expertise to better aim their missiles and rockets to US companies enabling their military and economic ascendancy to America going soft on China stealing American I.P. China is acting quite bellicose and certainly wants to dominate the world. About time America started to pullback from enriching China's war machine and crimped their agenda.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/bill-gates-nuclear-venture-hits-205553461.html

 

[ToxicShocker]

I don't think humanity is capable of taking care of nuclear waste for its what, 250,000 year life span. We should probably start rethinking nuclear power.

 

[7437]

I don't think humanity is capable of taking care of nuclear waste for its what, 250,000 year life span. We should probably start rethinking nuclear power.

You are wrong, and that exact thinking stops us from using the sites that are perfectly safe for nuclear waste storage, like Yucca Mountain.

 

[Phr3121]

Bill Gates nuclear startup unlikely to build reactor in China due to new US laws.

Interesting. I thought Gates had retired for good. I'm all for nuclear power, but a venture with a Chinese company? WTF. I can't believe Gates can't get a deal with an American company.

@ToxicShocker, Generation III and IV Nuclear Reactors generate much less waste than the old ones:

 

[ToxicShocker]

If I hand you an egg, can you hold it for a day without breaking it?

What about 40 years? Well accidents happen.

How about 100,000 years...

You are wrong, and that exact thinking stops us from using the sites that are perfectly safe for nuclear waste storage, like Yucca Mountain.

But by all means, put what waste we have in the best possible location.

 

[therealdope]

If I hand you an egg, can you hold it for a day without breaking it?

What about 40 years? Well accidents happen.

How about 100,000 years...

But i can put that egg in a vault with 11 ft thick walls and bury it miles deep. in that case, I'm not actually holding the egg for 400,000 yrs.

 

[Phr3121]

If I hand you an egg, can you hold it for a day without breaking it? What about 40 years? Well accidents happen.

Was that question for me?

No shit. Accidents do happen. Cars, planes, guns, doctors, medication, vaccines, etc. Should we do away with something good because there was an accident?

Are you referring to Chernobyl and Fukushima? Both have been brought under control. Chernobyl was a poor design and poorly maintained. That's 2 accidents in roughly 50 years. How many plane and car accidents do we have in one year? Certainly more human death through planes and cars than nuclear power plant accidents.

 

[ToxicShocker]

Well I'm convinced.

 

[Michaelangelo]

American billionaire builds Chinese nuclear reactor against wishes of the president

sounds like a Bond movie

 

[cincymma79]

Simple solution
The nuclear waste identifies as fresh cut flowers
Done

 

[Cuauhtemoc]

But i can put that egg in a vault with 11 ft thick walls and bury it miles deep. in that case, I'm not actually holding the egg for 400,000 yrs.

Exactly, and it isn't nearly as bad with nuclear waste. To be fair I do not even think you need to bury it so deeply, just keeping it in dry casks in a secure area is enough. Think of a desert without earthquakes. These dry casks are massive pieces of steel and concrete, they can't be stolen by terrorists with some basic surveillance and if some terrorist manages to destroy one of them it will be a nuisance but nothing compared to Fukushima, Chernobyl or even atmospheric nuclear tests. So, there is a risk but the advantages are enormous. Nuclear doesn't release carbon, fuel is plentiful, it's much more reliable than renewables etc

 

[IGIT]

1 of the good things about the Trump administration.

Gates's nuclear venture has had to abandon its plan to build an experimental reactor in conjunction with China's state owned China National Nuclear Corp. due to the Trump administration passing new laws aimed at curtailing technology transfers to China.

The Bellevue, Washington-based company is now unsure which country it will work with to conduct trials of its technology, which is designed to use depleted uranium as fuel for nuclear reactors in a bid to improve safety and costs, company officials told the Journal.

-

The West has been too blase on China for too long. From Clinton funder Bernie Schwartz giving them the expertise to better aim their missiles and rockets to US companies enabling their military and economic ascendancy to America going soft on China stealing American I.P. China is acting quite bellicose and certainly wants to dominate the world. About time America started to pullback from enriching China's war machine and crimped their agenda.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/bill-gates-nuclear-venture-hits-205553461.html

hiya MicroBrew,

this is terrible news.

if i remember correctly, Mr. Gates was teaming with the Chinese to develop thorium reactors.

clean nuclear power - and the United States has rich deposits of thorium. if the venture has worked out, the US could one day purchase this paradigm shifting technology from the Chinese. i have to believe the rest of the planet would follow, and we'd all be better for it.

bountiful clean energy. it would change the world, my friend.

- IGIT

 

[MicroBrew]

hiya MicroBrew,

this is terrible news.

if i remember correctly, Mr. Gates was teaming with the Chinese to develop thorium reactors.

clean nuclear power - and the United States has rich deposits of thorium. if the venture has worked out, the US could one day purchase this paradigm shifting technology from the Chinese. i have the believe the rest of the planet would follow, and we'd all be better for it.

bountiful clean energy. it would change the world, my friend.

- IGIT

Yeah I recall something about him funding thorium reactors, don't know if this is part of that program.

There's lots of other countries. I mean surely he can find another partner. The problem with China is that they will end up sharing a dominant market position on nuclear power generation . If this works out , and considering how they are acting now, that isn't a good thing. A dominant China is looking more and more like a bad thing for regional countries.

 

[ultramanhyata]

How many plane and car accidents do we have in one year? Certainly more human death through planes and cars than nuclear power plant accidents.

I will go out on a limb here and say that deaths associated with wind and solar power are even lower than deaths associated with nuclear power. (Not to mention damage to the surrounding environment.)

But, hell, let's go balls to the wall with nuclear. If it's a smart enough strategy for Bill Gates it's smart enough for me.

 

[IGIT]

Yeah I recall something about him funding thorium reactors, don't know if this is part of that program.

There's lots of other countries. I mean surely he can find another partner. The problem with China is that they will end up sharing a dominant market position on nuclear power generation . If this works out , and considering how they are acting now, that isn't a good thing. A dominant China is looking more and more like a bad thing for regional countries.

hey again MicroBrew,

i checked on it - they're called traveling wave reactors. they are powered by depleted uranium waste! it would be like making your car run on the carbon dioxide that your engine burns.

incredible stuff.

as far as a dominant China being a "bad thing" - i haven't seen it yet, though i admit i don't follow regional politics in Asia too closely. if by "bad thing" you mean that its bad that the US is supplanted by the Chinese, such is the arc of history and innovation, you know?

if the Chinese can bring cheap, clean power to the planet, whilst also managing to reduce nuclear waste that we currently have no idea what to do with (for the next several centuries), its a major win for mankind.

the fact that some corporate entity in the US won't be able to reap the trillions such an innovation would generate is small beer to me.

this is sad news.

- IGIT

 

[Phr3121]

Yeah I recall something about him funding thorium reactors, don't know if this is part of that program.

...they're called traveling wave reactors. they are powered by depleted uranium waste!

I'm still not sure what type of nuclear reactors Gate's TerraPower LLC is working on.

'Traveling Wave Reactors' (TWR) is a particularly difficult implementation of the 'Fast Breeder Reactor' (FBR), which is already hard to build in the first place.

'Breeder Reactor' concepts -- two main types:

. Reactors with a 'fast neutron spectrum' are called Fast Breeder Reactors (FBR) – these typically utilize Uranium-238 as fuel.

. Reactors with a 'thermal neutron spectrum' are called Thermal Breeder Reactors (TBR) – these typically utilize Thorium-232 as fuel.

You can collect from the ground and own Uranium here in the U.S. Buy or sell it. I have some. Natural Uranium is U-238. Depleted Uranium is also U-238. The difference is that Depleted Uranium has had U-235 removed from it. The U-235 is the bomb grade Uranium. That is what Iran is currently processing. It is a very long and complicated process. There is very little U-235 in any one amount of U-238. So, you need a lot of U-238 to get enough U-235 for a bomb.

Plutonium 239 (Pu-239) is a man made element that comes from Uranium 238. Pu-239 is also weapons grade material. Hiroshima bomb was made from U-235. Nagasaki bomb was made from Pu-239. But, back to Nuclear Reactors...

 

[Orgasmo]

Americans calling other countries of belligerence and seeking dominance always give me a good chuckle. I love my daily dose of irony.

Westinghouse already transferred the AP1000 design to China years ago. The cat is out of the bag. France and Russia also supplied China with their own reactor designs. The nuclear energy market in US is not enough to sustain US companies due to declining demands.

 

[Stranger Come Knocking]

American billionaire builds Chinese nuclear reactor against wishes of the president

sounds like a Bond movie

Shit like this is gonna be more commonplace. Gotta compete with guys like zuckerberg. Not gonna be long before one of these guys has so much power and money and tech that they'll be able to do whatever the fuck they want.

 

[MicroBrew]

Americans calling other countries of belligerence and seeking dominance always give me a good chuckle. I love my daily dose of irony.

Westinghouse already transferred the AP1000 design to China years ago. The cat is out of the bag. France and Russia also supplied China with their own reactor designs. The nuclear energy market in US is not enough to sustain US companies due to declining demands.

Still better to live here than in China. Despite all the crap we do, we are freerer. And despite all our crap, a Chinese dominated world would be much worse. China would act worse than us if they had the same power.

Those designs are commercially accepted , while Gates is funding R&D for a new type of reactor. Considering his philanthropic / funding of medical programs around the world, this looks like a cause for Gates and not a money making venture. So the size of the US market wouldn't be a concern for him.

 

[Big Nasty Edison]

if the Chinese can bring cheap, clean power to the planet, whilst also managing to reduce nuclear waste that we currently have no idea what to do with (for the next several centuries), its a major win for mankind.

the fact that some corporate entity in the US won't be able to reap the trillions such an innovation would generate is small beer to me.

this is sad news.

- IGIT

As an American id rather Americans work with Americans to make these kinds of breakthroughs. Its kind of what made America the powerhouse it is/was for the last half of the 20th century.