In Last Call for Carbon-Based Intelligence on Planet Earth, I explained that we have just about run out of time in regards to climate change possibly putting an end to carbon-based Intelligence on the Earth. This conclusion is an outgrowth of my Null Result Hypothesis explanation for Fermi's Paradox.
Fermi’s Paradox - If the universe is just chock full of intelligent beings, why do we not see any evidence of their existence?
Briefly stated:
Null Result Hypothesis - What if the explanation to Fermi's Paradox is simply that the Milky Way galaxy has yet to produce a form of interstellar Technological Intelligence because all Technological Intelligences are destroyed by the very same mechanisms that bring them forth?
By that, I mean that the Milky Way galaxy has not yet produced a form of Intelligence that can make itself known across interstellar distances, including ourselves. I then went on to propose that the simplest explanation for this lack of contact could be that the conditions necessary to bring forth a carbon-based interstellar Technological Intelligence on a planet or moon were also the same kill mechanisms that eliminated all forms of carbon-based Technological Intelligences with 100% efficiency. One of those possible kill mechanisms could certainly be for carbon-based Technological Intelligences to mess with the carbon cycle of their home planet or moon. For more on that see The Deadly Dangerous Dance of Carbon-Based Intelligence. But in Last Call for Carbon-Based Intelligence on Planet Earth, I also explained that we still had a chance to stop pumping carbon dioxide into our atmosphere by using molten salt nuclear reactors to burn the 250,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel, 1.2 million tons of depleted uranium and the huge mounds of thorium waste from rare earth mines. From the perspective of softwarephysics, this is important because the carbon-based Intelligence on this planet is so very close to producing a silicon-based Intelligence to carry on with exploring our galaxy and making itself known to other forms of Intelligence that might be out there.
Figure 1 – A ball of thorium or uranium smaller than a golf ball can fuel an American lifestyle for 100 years. This includes all of the electricity, heating, cooling, driving and flying that an American does in 100 years. We have already mined enough thorium and uranium to run the whole world for thousands of years. There is enough thorium and uranium on the Earth to run the world for hundreds of thousands of years.
How To Make Molten Salt Nuclear Reactors a Reality
Over the past decade, many organizations have begun research and development programs to produce molten salt nuclear reactors. China and India have both adopted a government-led NASA-type approach to the problem using Waterfall-like methodologies. A number of private concerns throughout the world, most notably ThorCon, are also using a Waterfall approach to produce a design for a large-scale molten salt nuclear reactor that can attain certification by governmental regulatory bodies like the NRC. Once certification by a governmental regulatory body has been attained, it is hoped that it should be possible to find the necessary private funding to build molten salt nuclear reactors on a massive scale.
Copenhagen Atomics Takes an Agile Approach
However, in this posting, I would like to showcase the efforts of a small startup called Copenhagen Atomics. Unlike the other organizations working on molten salt nuclear reactors, Copenhagen Atomics is using an Agile approach. Copenhagen Atomics is applying the same Agile research and development techniques to the production of molten salt nuclear reactors that SpaceX is currently using for the research and development of private spaceflight - only without the benefit of huge amounts of money. For more on the amazing efforts of SpaceX see Agile Project Management at SpaceX. Below is a recent video of Thomas Jam Pedersen, one of the founding members of Copenhagen Atomics, at TEAC10 explaining the Agile techniques that Copenhagen Atomics is using.
CA @ TEAC10, Oak Ridge - Thomas Jam Pedersen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nN4txzie8M
Rather than spending a great deal of time and effort on Waterfall design documents, Copenhagen Atomics is spending their time and effort on actually "building stuff" in an Agile trial and error manner. For example:
1MW Molten-Salt Test Reactor by Copenhagen Atomics - Aslak Stubsgaard @ ORNL MSRW 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9zfYTWjZqk
Now compare the Copenhagen Atomics' presentations to the 1969 film produced by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the United States Atomic Energy Commission that describes the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) and how Alvin Weinberg's team of 30 nuclear scientists built the very first experimental molten salt nuclear reactor from scratch in an Agile manner with only $10 million during the period 1960 - 1965 and then ran it for 20,000 hours from 1965 - 1969 without a hitch. As I mentioned in Agile vs. Waterfall Programming and the Value of Having a Theoretical Framework and Agile Project Management at SpaceX, back in the 1950s and early 1960s technical people used a more Agile approach to solving complex problems rather than using the Waterfall approach that arose in the 1970s.
The Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyDbq5HRs0o#t-1
More Copenhagen Atomics YouTube videos are available on their YouTube Channel:
Copenhagen Atomics YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/c/CopenhagenAtomics
Funding the Copenhagen Atomics Approach
Like SpaceX, Copenhagen Atomics is partially funding its Agile research and development program by developing and building component products for molten salt nuclear reactors that can then be sold to other organizations.
Figure 2 – Copenhagen Atomics is partially funding their research and development efforts by developing and building component products for molten salt nuclear reactors. Above we see some team members sitting on portable test molten salt loops that can be used to test the interaction of molten salts with test components. Since working on molten salt nuclear reactors basically involves dealing with high-temperature plumbing, much research can be conducted with molten salts that are not even radioactive.
The ultimate goal of Copenhagen Atomics is to produce small 50 MW molten salt nuclear reactors the size of a 40-foot shipping container that can burn spent nuclear fuel.
Figure 3 – A schematic for a 50 MW molten salt nuclear waste burner.
Figure 4 – These proposed 50 MW molten salt nuclear waste burners would be the size of a 40-foot shipping container and would be constructed on assembly lines ready for shipment to customers by ship and truck.
Figure 5 – These proposed 50 MW molten salt nuclear waste burners would use a thorium-232 fuel cycle.
Figure 6 – The neutrons from plutonium-239 and plutonium-240 from spent nuclear fuel rods would be used to get the thorium-232 fuel cycle going. Additional spent nuclear fuel could also be added to provide additional energy and to turn the spent fuel into fission products that only need to be stored for 10 half-lives or 300 years.
Time For Action
Last fall, I met with Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois about molten salt nuclear reactors and the possibility of using them to turn the 10,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel currently being stored at nuclear reactors in Illinois. Instead of being a burden, these 10,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel could be turned into electricity and fission products that only need to be stored for 300 years. I explained that currently, Illinois is committed to storing the 10,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel for about 200,000 years. Of the 535 members of the 116th Congress of the United States of America, we only have 11 members with a background in engineering or science. Fortunately for me, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi received a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Princeton and a law degree from Harvard and has had some experience with solar energy and is also very concerned about climate change. I also passed on my concerns about these issues to both of my senators.
Comments are welcome at scj333@sbcglobal.net
To see all posts on softwarephysics in reverse order go to:
https://softwarephysics.blogspot.com/
Regards,
Steve Johnston
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