Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactor — how to keep it from going Kablooey!

[Greg Furtman]

Actually there is one, the molten salt reactor. If the containment vessel is compromised the molten salt runs out and hardens and immediately stops fissioning. Oak Ridge experimented with Thorium which is many times more plentiful that Uranium. It wasn’t commercialized because Thorium reactors can’t produce Plutonium.

Fortunately, there are many companies that are currently working to commercialize the MSR. You want a green solution? This is it. Even existing stocks of nuclear waste can be burned in one of these beauties.

I hope it’s time will soon come.

A very interesting video. It's too bad that the US didn't have the foresight to develop this technology further.

 

[Dotini]

How many nuclear plants are there in Ukraine? Half a dozen? What happens if Russia decides to attack the power grid around one or more of these plants? Why haven't they done it already?

 

[Zbench]

A very interesting video. It's too bad that the US didn't have the foresight to develop this technology further.

As the video points out, can’t make plutonium with an MSR. But, there are literally a dozen companies in the US that are pursuing that technology. I didn’t know the Chinese had one that’s operational. The really cool thing about an MSR is they are scalable so you can have small ones that might just service a small area. That and the notional we can burn up all our waste and get rid of it tells me it’s the future.

And I think the politics will allow it. We have more plutonium and uranium than we will
ever need for the stockpile. So much in fact they are busy blending it down to 5% enriched for energy production.

 

[Greg Furtman]

How many nuclear plants are there in Ukraine? Half a dozen? What happens if Russia decides to attack the power grid around one or more of these plants? Why haven't they done it already?

When Chernobyl had the meltdown it released massive amounts of radioactive materials into the air. (Chernobyl is north of Kyiv near the Belarus border) The wind was out of the southeast that day and spread radiation to the northwest as far as northernmost Finland, Sweden, and Norway. Belarus really got nailed. Huge increases in cancer. Undrinkable milk, inedible meat, etc. Russia lucked out with that accident as the wind was not blowing into Russia.

Hopefully the Kremlin understands what could happen to Russia if another Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant goes critical and has a meltdown.

When this war first started with the push in the Kyiv area I was astounded that Russian troops were digging in at Chernobyl. The area is still deadly radioactive and they were digging the soil up? Then I realized that Chernobyl happened before most of the Russian solders were born and I'm pretty damned sure the Soviets never let the Russian people know what had happed there.

 

[Funkworks]

How many nuclear plants are there in Ukraine? Half a dozen?

According to wiki, it's 4 plants (4 locations) totalling 15 reactors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_Ukraine#List_of_reactors

What happens if Russia decides to attack the power grid around one or more of these plants?

The IAEA is glad Zaporizhzhia was shut down, because now whatever Russia decides will result in less consequences, or less permanent damage.

Why haven't they done it already?

Putin is smart enough to know a disaster like Chernobyl depends on which way the wind is blowing (As @Greg Furtman pointed out), and he probably doesn't want to permanently damage land he'd rather take over. I think what he'd like is a lever, not a moonscape.