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Can hydrogen be the transportation fuel in an otherwise nuclear economy?
Let’s face it: The global economy should be powered primarily by nuclear power. And it probably will by the end of this century, with a still-significant assist from renewables and hydro. Once nuclear systems are dominant, the costs come down to where gas is now; and when carbon emissions are reduced to a small portion of their present state, it will become obvious that most other sources are only good in niche settings. I mean, why use small modular reactors to load-follow when they can just produce that power instead of buffering it?
Sümer Şahin, Jacques Ligou
Nuclear Technology | Volume 50 | Number 1 | August 1980 | Pages 88-94
Technical Paper | Nuclear Explosive | doi.org/10.13182/NT80-A17072
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Assuming the spontaneous fission neutron level as a neutron source, and using point kinetic methods in the course of the analytical treatment, the energy excursion of hypothetical nuclear explosives with mixed plutonium of various isotope compositions has been investigated. The α-Rossi values for the metallic density of different configurations have been evaluated with multigroup SN methods. Commercial plutonium from relatively low burned-up nuclear fuel, containing 5% 240Pu, is shown to reveal similarities with high weapons-grade plutonium, thus making possible a nuclear explosion (in combination with a sophisticated conventional implosion technique). On the other hand, commercial plutonium from moderately to highly burned up (containing 15 or 25% 240Pu nuclear fuel) will have a small probability for an energy excursion up to 100 tons TNT, even by extremely improved implosion techniques.