The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

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Bill Gates on the future of nuclear energy, AI>>>>>

Video in the link>>>

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/bill-gates-future-nuclear-energy-ai/story?id=99160110

Nuclear snippets:

>>>>TerraPower, founded by billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 2008, is opening a new nuclear power plant in Kemmerer, Wyoming. The plant will be the first of its kind, with the company hoping to revolutionize the nuclear energy industry in the U.S. to help fight climate change and support American energy independence.

"Nuclear energy, if we do it right, will help us solve our climate goals," Gates told ABC News. "That is, get rid of the greenhouse gas emissions without making the electricity system far more expensive or less reliable."

>>> Most nuclear reactors in the U.S. use water to cool the system, but water is not the best at absorbing heat, and there are pressure risks associated with overheating, which could eventually lead to a meltdown. This new reactor, which is set to open in 2030, will use liquid sodium instead of water to cool it. Sodium's boiling point is eight times higher than water, and, unlike water, liquid sodium does not need to be continually pumped back into the system.

"We've solved all the areas where there have been safety challenges. And we have dramatically less waste," Gates said. "A great thing is that the regulator in the United States is the best in the world and they do a very good job. So part of the process between now and 2030 is an immensely detailed review with that safety commission about how this design is far safer than anything that came before."

The new plant, which has been in the works for 15 years, faced delays at the end of 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February of that year resulted in the loss of a special fuel source made in Russia. But Gates assured these issues are temporary.

"A lot of uranium mines and processing factories got shut down because people expected Russia to stay as a supplier. We do need to build that up domestically," Gates said. "But we have uranium domestically. We have the ability to do the processing domestically... In the long run, because of our uranium deposits here, because of the efficiency of the reactor, this thing can have a completely domestic supply chain."

h/t: gpf