Nuclear Reactor Powered by Nuclear Waste

Nov-12-12 A start-up company is developing a nuclear reactor able to use nuclear waste as fuel.

The company, Transatomic Power, has based their work on the molten salt reactor, which dates to the late 50s. The new reactor, called the Waste Annihilating Molten Salt Reactor, (WAMSR) uses spent fuel from other reactors, which is dissolved in fluorine to create a molten “salt” with its elements bound by negative and positive charges. The salt behaves like liquid, which makes it easier to use in self-sustaining reactors, and doubles as a coolant, which reduces the risk of coolant system failures.

Although the WAMSR reactor does produce waste, that waste is only radioactive for about 300 years, compared to the millennia of years for current reactors.

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[DISCOVERY.COM]

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