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[Starver]

Forget the salt, stick with the sodium. After all, you don't want to have to deal with the potential problems chlorine when you can stick to nice, safe, 100-800°C liquid sodium, right?

[wierd]

There's a wikipedia article.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten_salt

Don't get too caught up on the word "salt" though.  Technically, a shitload of minerals satisfy the chemical definition of "salt." (A metal that is ionically bonded with a nonmetal.  This would include things like calcite and pals for instance.)

The selection for the purpose would be based on the combination of its melting point, its decomposition temperature, and how chemically corrosive it gets when it becomes molten, in addition to the obvious one of specific heat.

And why settle for molten sodium? Go right for the molten cesium or francium if you want the REAL fun.

[Trekkin]

But what kind of salts are they even? I'm presuming not sodium salts?

There's actually two types of molten salt reactor, and in neither is the salt purely a thermal storage medium.

The first type uses molten salts of fissile material as the fuel source instead of solid fuel rods, which allows for continuous fuel reprocessing and has some advantages in terms of fuel pellet geometry. The most common proposal has uranium fluoride dissolved in FliBe.

You can also have molten salt as the primary coolant loop, much like lead-cooled reactors or other high-temperature reactors, in which case the primary benefits are related to the lack of steam or risk of steam along with just being able to pull more heat out of the core per unit coolant. They work like PWRs, just...hotter. FliBe shows up here too, although I have seen designs that use sodium fluoride or sodium chloride.

There are reactor designs that do both, incidentally.

The selection for the purpose would be based on the combination of its melting point, its decomposition temperature, and how chemically corrosive it gets when it becomes molten, in addition to the obvious one of specific heat.

And why settle for molten sodium? Go right for the molten cesium or francium if you want the REAL fun.

Not to interrupt the usual alkali metal "my boom is bigger" contest, but the selection is actually driven as much or more by its neutron cross-section as by its thermal properties. We can always make the pipes bigger, but moderator's harder to tweak.

[smjjames]

We really need more research done on fun ways to repurpose nuclear waste. The space-taking gamma-leaking long-term waste is really the big obstacle for atomic power, I feel.

Well, I mean, there's also the issue of not putting plants in areas with significant seismic activity or significant slav activity, but the waste management is a big deal too.

The seismic activity isn't the issue, they can be built to survive all but the most powerful quakes. The issue comes when the support systems fail, as happened with Fukushima since the quake did minimal damage, but the tsunami that follwed wrecked the support systems.

Forget the salt, stick with the sodium. After all, you don't want to have to deal with the potential problems chlorine when you can stick to nice, safe, 100-800°C liquid sodium, right?

Just don't let it get into contact with any water.

[Starver]

Like Gremlins

[Kagus]

Don't get too caught up on the word "salt" though.  Technically, a shitload of minerals satisfy the chemical definition of "salt." (A metal that is ionically bonded with a nonmetal.  This would include things like calcite and pals for instance.)

I'm aware, I've watched a few of the videos The Man Who Looks Like Science has on YouTube. Hence why I asked specifically about it not being sodium salts.

You can also have molten salt as the primary coolant loop, much like lead-cooled reactors or other high-temperature reactors, in which case the primary benefits are related to the lack of steam or risk of steam along with just being able to pull more heat out of the core per unit coolant.

Y'know, I wouldn't have thought about something involving flourine as a good coolant, but that's just the fun of chemistry eh? And I guess once you get up into high enough temperatures, everything becomes relative anyways.

Like Gremlins

Yeah, but I don't think sodium explodes on contact with sugar. Unlike my girlfriend.

[Starver]

Once you're in the "You know what this needs? Hot fluorine!" territory you know it's getting interesting. And often best viewed at a distance.

(FOOF!)

[Kagus]

Once you're in the "You know what this needs? Hot fluorine!" territory you know it's getting interesting. And often best viewed at a distance.

(FOOF!)

Always been a fan of ClF3. "Water? I can burn that. Sand? I can burn that. Fire? I can burn that too".

[Starver]

N₃F is interesting, too...

[Trekkin]

You can also have molten salt as the primary coolant loop, much like lead-cooled reactors or other high-temperature reactors, in which case the primary benefits are related to the lack of steam or risk of steam along with just being able to pull more heat out of the core per unit coolant.

Y'know, I wouldn't have thought about something involving flourine as a good coolant, but that's just the fun of chemistry eh? And I guess once you get up into high enough temperatures, everything becomes relative anyways.

Well, you wouldn't think of anything involving sodium as a tasty thing to sprinkle onto soup, but yes, that's chemistry for you.

Part of why fluoride salts are so useful is actually just that they have a very high melting point and don't readily vaporize. If primary coolant has to be vented, it's preferable from a containment standpoint to shovel the waste into a barrel as salt than to have it vent into the atmosphere as superheated radioactive steam. Designing secondary containment to avert all the above corrosive/energetic compounds forming is a comparatively straightforward task.

[Dunamisdeos]

Trump has officially recognized Guaido as leader of Venezuela, and will NOT be pulling our diplomats out of the nation at the demand of the former/current/not sure yet leader who refuses to step down and is being called a usurper.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/23/politics/trump-juan-guaido-venezuela/index.html

Trump continued by saying his administration will "continue to hold the illegitimate Maduro regime directly responsible for any threats it may pose to the safety of the Venezuelan people."

Here's to Iraq..... 3.0 I guess it would be, now. I jest, but also wonder how much support Maduro has to back himself up in comparison to Guaido.

Perhaps of greater concern is that Russia heavily supported the now-deposed administration.

[PTTG??]

Ok guys, let's take this one nice and slow and come to a conclusion ahead of time:

Should the USA be involved in Venezuela, and under what circumstances?

I know normally we just go in and bomb the shit out of everything, but I want to try something a little weird this time. We do NOT want a repeat of Somalia, where it was a bad idea to go, a bad idea to stay, AND a bad idea to leave.

[Karnewarrior]

On one hand, it feels icky agreeing with Trump on something involving politics.
On the other, by all accounts, at least that I've heard and that haven't come directly from the goat's mouth, Maduro is a total douche-nozzle and deserves what he's getting.

I suppose it all hinges on Juan man. If he's also a douche, Venezuela's problems will not get better. If he is not a douche, then they will be solved. Either way, I expect this to go pear-shaped for Maduro, and probably for us if we intervene directly (thus feeding the opposition's fire of 'FOREIGN INTERESTS, US INVASION, VENEZUELA SHOULD MAKE HER OWN WAY)

[Dunamisdeos]

According to various articles, currently planned responses might include things like sanctions, and not bombs.
 
Mind you they have not specifically ruled out responding with every single item of munitions in the nation duct-taped to a rock and catapulted across the Caribbean. This is America and we have to keep our options open.

[redwallzyl]

A Venezuelan civil war is probably likley at this point, sad to say.