I hate how articles talking about renewable energy never take into account the capacity factor of the production. Wind is about 30% or so, so the real average output will be more like 200 MW, unlike a nuclear or other plant with a capacity factor of 90+%. Yet still, they will be compared on their MAX output, not the AVERAGE.
Your facts about the reactors are completely wrong here.
First off, you can use either light or heavy water reactor to make plutonium, it makes little difference except that a short cycle (typical but not necessary of heavy water reactors) makes better plutonium.
Enrichment is necessary for light water but not heavy water, although it can be economically beneficial for a heavy water reactor.
Heavy water reactors are no bigger, except that the capital costs makes large ones more viable.
The biggest reactors in the world are light water.
Also, the first reactors did not use heavy water, they were graphite moderated.
The CANDU was designed with two main differences:
Heavy Water Moderator
-Lets you use natural uranium
-Safer than graphite
Pressure Tube Design
-To avoid needing heavy manufacturing capabilities
-This has nothing to do with ability to use natural uranium
The Caladria is indeed big but does not need to be forged in one piece (or be as thick) as it does not have to hold in a significant amount of pressure (unlike the pressure vessel, naturally).
When comparing reactor powers, you really need to make sure you know what convention they are using when they say power - thermal power, or electric power? The thermal power of a plant is usually about 3x the electric. A 1000 MW (electric) plant runs at about 3000 MW (thermal). In the field they'll say MWe or MWt.
A 60MWe reactor will be about the same as a 180MWt reactor.
Another point is that on the nuclear powered ships, so cut down on space they have to use small (in terms of volume) reactors, and they use fairly highly enriched uranium (up to 90%), so the pressure inside gets much higher, and so they are more dangerous that conventional reactors. On a large barge, however, they have less space constraints so could go for a less energy dense and safer reactor.
The problem is that all they're doing to get their high contrast ratios is to make the darks very dark. The max brightness is bitiful, less than a standard lcd screen.
The big problem with wind power is that on top of that price, you also have to invest in a huge (and very expensive) energy storage system that can supply your entire energy needs for at least a day when there is little/no wind.
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I hate how articles talking about renewable energy never take into account the capacity factor of the production. Wind is about 30% or so, so the real average output will be more like 200 MW, unlike a nuclear or other plant with a capacity factor of 90+%. Yet still, they will be compared on their MAX output, not the AVERAGE.
Your facts about the reactors are completely wrong here.
First off, you can use either light or heavy water reactor to make plutonium, it makes little difference except that a short cycle (typical but not necessary of heavy water reactors) makes better plutonium.
Enrichment is necessary for light water but not heavy water, although it can be economically beneficial for a heavy water reactor.
Heavy water reactors are no bigger, except that the capital costs makes large ones more viable.
The biggest reactors in the world are light water.
Also, the first reactors did not use heavy water, they were graphite moderated.
The CANDU was designed with two main differences: Heavy Water Moderator -Lets you use natural uranium -Safer than graphite Pressure Tube Design -To avoid needing heavy manufacturing capabilities -This has nothing to do with ability to use natural uranium The Caladria is indeed big but does not need to be forged in one piece (or be as thick) as it does not have to hold in a significant amount of pressure (unlike the pressure vessel, naturally).
I hope no one here will forget about the 2nd law of thermodynamics...
HUDs always have the image focused at infinity, so it's like the image is on the horizon, and you don't have to try to focus close up
When comparing reactor powers, you really need to make sure you know what convention they are using when they say power - thermal power, or electric power? The thermal power of a plant is usually about 3x the electric. A 1000 MW (electric) plant runs at about 3000 MW (thermal). In the field they'll say MWe or MWt. A 60MWe reactor will be about the same as a 180MWt reactor. Another point is that on the nuclear powered ships, so cut down on space they have to use small (in terms of volume) reactors, and they use fairly highly enriched uranium (up to 90%), so the pressure inside gets much higher, and so they are more dangerous that conventional reactors. On a large barge, however, they have less space constraints so could go for a less energy dense and safer reactor.
The problem is that all they're doing to get their high contrast ratios is to make the darks very dark. The max brightness is bitiful, less than a standard lcd screen.
The big problem with wind power is that on top of that price, you also have to invest in a huge (and very expensive) energy storage system that can supply your entire energy needs for at least a day when there is little/no wind.