Re: APARTMENT-STYLE NUCLEAR REACTORS

[Paul William Shafer <paulwilliam_s@YAHOO.COM>]

Dear John et. al:



Very interesting.  Are these really nuclear reactors

or thermionic electric units?  This was proposed for

selected concentrated separated radioisotopes from

radioactive waste by the US AEC decades ago.  Many

SNAPs and isotope convertors were built. A scientist

from Oak Ridge told us in Nuclear Physics class in

1969 that soon we would have "backyard nuclear units

available to supplement electrical power from the

grid." These would theorectically be better than the

NG/LPG or gasoline fuelled units currently available

at Home Depot etc. at costs of thousands of $. They

should be more reliable than the solar photovoltaic

units currently available from AES for $10K+.  This

scientist said "some of these units could be used to

power small vehicles." Obviously this never

materialized in the US because of Health Physics and

Safeguards reasons. 



The US AEC "Understanding the Atom"---Power from

Radioisotopes, Power Reactors in Small Packages and

Direct Conversion of Energy (1964, 1966)and technical

reports on SNAPs give some good info on these. With

advances in semi-conductive materials and the ability

to manufacture multi-spherical capsules since the

1960s, perhaps it is time to take another look at this

technology. 



Paul Shafer







--- jenday1 <jenday1@EMAIL.MSN.COM> wrote:

> I received this information from another list server

> and thought I should

> share it with you.

> -- John

> 

> John Jacobus, MS

> Certified Health Physicist

> 3050 Traymore Lane

> Bowie, MD 20715-2024

> jenday1@email.msn.com (H)

> 

> ----- Original Message -----

> From: "ArcaMax" <ezines@arcamax.com>

> To: <jenday1@email.msn.com>

> Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2001 11:56 AM

> Subject: ArcaMax Science News for Thursday August

> 23, 2001

> . . .

> 

>   APARTMENT-STYLE NUCLEAR REACTORS

>   Nuclear reactors are usually housed in huge

> nuclear plants, but mini

> nuclear reactors could soon supply power to

> apartment blocks,

> according to a New Scientist report. Researchers in

> Japan have been

> testing a fail-safe mechanism for just such a

> reactor. The design was

> originally conceived as a power supply for moon

> colonies, but it's

> small enough to have more terrestrial applications.

> "In the future it

> will be quite difficult to construct further large

> nuclear power

> plants because of site restrictions," said Mitsuru

> Kambe, head of the

> research team at Japan's Central Research Institute

> of Electrical

> Power Industry. "Rapid power plants could be used in

> developing

> countries where remote regions cannot be

> conveniently connected to the

> main grid," he added. But Malcolm Grimston, a

> nuclear expert at the

> Royal Institute of International Affairs, suspects

> people will balk at

> the idea.  "There's nothing wrong with the concept,"

> said Grimston.

> "But if the Japanese public won't now accept big

> reactors for safety

> reasons, then you have to wonder what the response

> would be building

> lots of small reactors in the middle of cities."

> 

> --

> Copyright 2001 by United Press International.

> All rights reserved.

> . . .

> 

>

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