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This is the second of a four-part series of extracts from the book Plentiful Energy — The story of the Integral Fast Reactor by Chuck Till and Yoon Chang. Reproduced with permission of the authors, these sections describe and justify some of the key design choices that went into the making the IFR a different — and highly […]
Filed under: IFR FaD, Nuclear | 47 Comments »
Over the next month or two, I will publish four extracts from the book Plentiful Energy — The story of the Integral Fast Reactor by Chuck Till and Yoon Chang. Reproduced with permission of the authors, these sections describe and justify some of the key design choices that went into the making the IFR a different […]
Filed under: IFR FaD, Nuclear | 66 Comments »
Below is the foreword I wrote, on invitation of Chuck Till and Yoon Chang, for the book “Plentiful Energy” (I included a shorter version in my review of the book on Amazon). In this short essay, I draw an analogy between the IFR and the Wright brothers’ 1903 ‘ ‘Flyer’. The idea is that successful […]
Filed under: IFR FaD, Nuclear | 25 Comments »
Yesterday the hard copy of the book “Plentiful Energy — The story of the Integral Fast Reactor” (CreateSpace, Dec 2011, 404 pages) arrived in the post. It is wonderful to see it in print, and now available for all to enjoy and absorb. I was honoured to play a small part in its realisation. The […]
Filed under: Hot News, IFR FaD, Nuclear | 52 Comments »
With regards to Generation IV nuclear fission technology, most of the attention on BNC has been on the Integral Fast Reactor (IFR), for reasons explained in this post, which I quote: The focus of this series (IFR FaD) is aimed squarely at the Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) rather than other Gen IV designs, such as the […]
Filed under: IFR FaD, Nuclear | 134 Comments »
Steve Kirsch of SCGI is like the Energizer Bunny — he never runs out of energy in trying to get something meaningful done on the carbon emission mitigation problem. Below is his open letter to the U.S. President’s energy and climate policy staffer. His aim: to get Chuck Till an invitation to the White House! […]
Filed under: IFR FaD, Nuclear, Policy | 79 Comments »
I’m currently on a 3-week trip to North America, and will be returning to Australia in mid-June. At the end of my travels I’ll be attending an energy futures conference in Waterloo, Canada (and will write more about that in an upcoming blog). But at present, I’m in Davis, California, and have been visiting Tom […]
Filed under: Emissions, Future, IFR FaD, Nuclear | 127 Comments »
A fair amount of material has now accumulated on BNC regarding nuclear energy and the possible ‘proliferation’ implications of commercial nuclear power. Here is a list of the key posts: Response to an Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) critique (Barry Brook, George Stanford, Tom Blees) Carbon emissions and nuclear capable countries (Barry Brook) Nuclear safeguards and […]
Filed under: IFR FaD, Nuclear, Policy | 17 Comments »
This is a modified version of the full conference paper. This is the most up-to-date executive summary available, written for a general — albeit technically conversant – audience, of the Integral Fast Reactor. You can download the 16-page printable PDF version here. 91st American Meteorology Society Annual Meeting, Jan 23-27, 2011, Seattle, WA Second Conference on Weather, […]
Filed under: Emissions, IFR FaD, Nuclear, Policy | 51 Comments »
Here is a blog-post version of the poster to accompany the AMS paper discussed in the previous post. You can download a printable, high rez (11 MB) version of the poster here, or a low rez (1 MB) version here. —————————
Filed under: Emissions, Future, IFR FaD, Nuclear | 43 Comments »
A few days ago, an important poster and written paper were presented at the 91st American Meteorological Society (AMS) Annual Meeting, 23-27 Jan 2011, Seattle, WA; Second Conference on Weather, Climate, and the New Energy Economy. The Integral Fast Reactor (IFR): An Optimized Source for Global Energy Needs Charles Archambeau (1), Randolph Ware (2,3), Tom Blees (1), […]
Filed under: Emissions, IFR FaD, Nuclear | 105 Comments »
Want to know more about the Integral Fast Reactor technology from the comfort of your lounge room chair? Then these two fascinating videos, recently transcoded and uploaded by Steve Kirsch to the “http://vimeo.com/skirsch/ifr” website, are for you. You can watch online, or download in .MP4 format (choose the format and then the download link below) […]
Filed under: Emissions, IFR FaD, Nuclear | 33 Comments »
Back in 2001, Dr George Stanford conducted an interview with the National Policy Analysis Center on the IFR. Nearly ten years later, in September 2010, George has updated this material, which is pitched squarely a layman audience. I post the updated version below (7-page printable PDF version here), since it fits like a glove with […]
Filed under: IFR FaD, Nuclear | 151 Comments »
There are many topics in the IFR FaD series that I want to develop in sequence — and in some detail. But for the moment, here’s a little diversion. People often complain that sodium-cooled fast reactors are about as easy to control as wild stallions — at least compared to the docile mares that are […]
Filed under: IFR FaD, Nuclear | 71 Comments »
So far in the IFR Facts and Discussion series, I’ve discussed Gen III and Gen IV fuel cycles and energy densities. In later IFR FaD posts, I aim to explore some possible scenarios for future deployment of the IFR and related technologies. But before I can do this, I need to explain (and justify!), some […]
Filed under: IFR FaD, Nuclear | 38 Comments »
In a newspaper Op Ed last year, I wrote the following: Imagine someone handed you a lump of silvery metal the size of a golf ball. They said you might wish to put on some plastic gloves to hold it, although that would not be necessary if you washed your hands afterwards. You look down at […]
Filed under: IFR FaD, Nuclear | 162 Comments »
This is a context statement for the IFR FaD series, written by Dr. George S. Stanford. You can download the printable PDF here. George is a nuclear reactor physicist, part of the team that developed the Integral Fast Reactor. He is now retired from Argonne National Laboratory after a career of experimental work pertaining to […]
Filed under: IFR FaD, Nuclear | 35 Comments »
The following post in the Integral Fast Reactor Facts and Discussion series centres around two important diagrams prepared by Dr Yoon I. Chang – Distinguished Fellow at Argonne National Laboratories, a key figure in the development of the IFR between 1984 and 1994, and founding member of the Science Council for Global Initiatives. These allow one […]
Filed under: IFR FaD, Nuclear | 67 Comments »
With the Chinese announcing a projected 10-fold increase in their country’s uranium demand by 2030, some observers are worrying that we face a uranium supply crisis. In the short term, there may indeed be bottlenecks, if mining expansion fails to keep pace with escalating demand. (Frankly, I find this unlikely — price will dictate resource […]
Filed under: IFR FaD, Nuclear | 39 Comments »
As a complement to TCASE category, I’m starting another series of posts on the Integral Fast Reactor design for sustainable nuclear power, called IFR FaD (facts and discussion). There are many, many issues worth raising about this Gen IV nuclear power, and I hope to cover them here, in brief, manageable chunks. There won’t be […]
Filed under: IFR FaD, Nuclear | 39 Comments »
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