BlackRock CEO Larry Fink—who played an instrumental role in forcing woke diversity quotas on companies—now concedes that the "woke era" was "a failed experiment".
@LouiseSavoie@War4theWest@elonmusk modern reactors are nearly impossible to melt down. Control rods fall into place and stop the reaction via thermal neutron absorption should anything go wrong. They can be made incredibly safely, but shouldn’t be abandoned for several weeks at a time.
Okay
There are 4 fundamental forces in the universe. Gravity, electromagnetism, weak nuclear, strong nuclear. Weak nuclear has to do with emission of radiation due to transformation of a proton to a neutron, so it’s not really worth discussing in terms of energy production.
Gravity isn’t really a force we can manipulate, but we can use it for hydro power, which is caused by rain putting water in raised places, which is directly caused by the sun (nuclear energy).
Electromagnetism encompasses all chemical reactions.
Chemical reactions like burning fossil fuels is an interplay of electrons. An atom has a nucleus made of protons (+) and neutrons (neutral). Electrons (-) buzz around this nucleus, forming a cloud or orbital around this atomic nucleus. The minimum energy they can have is at the lowest orbital cloud. There is potential energy locked in higher orbital states of electrons. This potential energy is maintained through electronic pressure. In other words, electrons on lower layers push up against electrons on higher layers. When heat is released through exothermic chemical reactions, you are seeing the energy released of those “falling” electrons.
The strong nuclear force is what brings protons close to other protons and neutrons. This force acts only on short range but has immense power. Anyways, the reason nuclear reactions are so strong is because mass is literally deleted when light nuclei fuse (any element lighter than iron comes together) and when any element heavier than iron undergoes fission (its nucleus separates). As an example, a hydrogen nucleus, aka just a proton, has a mass of 1.007825 amu (atomic mass units). A helium nucleus (2 protons and 2 neutrons) has a mass of 4.001506 amu. At first glance this looks correct… but 1.006825 x 4 =4.0273. Our helium nucleus is too light! This is surprising, as a neutron is heavier than a proton. So what happened? Matter was converted directly to energy according to Einsteins equation E=mc^2. This mass conversion is unbelievably efficient relative to electron orbital potential. It is about 1,000,000 to 10,000,000 times more efficient per unit mass of fuel ( depending on the specific chemical reaction, fission vs fusion).
So one of the major reasons nuclear fuel is more environmentally friendly is because per unit energy, we need to mine waaaaaayy less of it. An entire persons life could be powered by a soda can worth of uranium. Compare this to how much coal one must need (around 312 tons).
Another reason it is more environmentally friendly is because we DO in fact have a way to store the “waste” safely. (Not all of it is useless). Radiation is defined as electromagnetic radiation (light), electron emissions (beta), and helium nucleus emission (alpha).
The longest lived fission byproducts are technetium-99, Tin-126, selenium-79, zirconium-93, caesium-135, palladium-106, and iodine-129. The reason they last so long is because they emit their radiation less intensely. All of them produce beta decay, which is easily shielded with a piece of thin aluminum, but two of them produce gamma rays (a form of electromagnetic radiation) which requires much more shielding. Most dangerous of all is neutron radiation, where a neutron is accelerated away from the material.
The MOST volatile of all fission byproducts in terms of gamma ray emission is Cesium-137 (short lived because it’s so intense). 99% of the gamma rays from this can be stopped by:
4.2 cm of lead
Or
28 cm of ordinary concrete
Or
55 cm of water
The most volatile in terms of neutron radiation is curium, californium, and plutonium. These are usually bred by the reactor itself in order to make more thermal neutrons, but say we needed to get rid of this waste. These dangerous neutrons can be stopped by:
38 cm of water
Or
38 cm of concrete
Or
30 cm of polyethylene
In other words… a kiddie pool with the most volatile and dangerous of all fission products will mostly protect you. Put them under a mountain or on the bottom of the ocean floor (securely) and those byproducts will never cause any measurable damage of any kind to any living or nonliving thing because of radiation. Sometimes the radiation is even useful for cancer imaging or treatment. We have reactors online today safely storing this waste underground where it will never harm anyone.
Can someone explain why there are so many opponents to the H1B Visas? Competition makes us better, they aren’t prioritizing foreigners, having an employee on a visa is not nearly as secure as a citizen! They have to have a minimum of a Bachelors degree to qualify - this should merely push US citizens to get better!
Let’s Discuss:
@elonmusk@therabbithole It’s all about control! How do they get control? Taking freedoms! Always weigh: Is the security of this, worth never having this freedom again?
@jgmac1106 Public education is others values and morals being taught to your children with you having little to no control. That’s dangerous when unchecked…