chunesMar 7

I know nuclear is expensive, but power generation isn’t the only reason to build nuclear reactors. Nuclear power plants basically prop up nuclear science. Without nuclear power plants, you’re hampering the chances of discovering a breakthrough that could lead to cheaper nuclear energy. And you’re pushing back the timeline on fusion.

Also, medical isotopes used for cancer treatments are created in nuclear reactors.

Lutetium-177 PSMA Therapy for Prostate Cancer (Pluvicto) - UChicago Medicine

Lutetium-177 (Lu-177) PSMA therapy (Pluvicto) is a new theranostic treatment that targets a specific molecule on the surface of prostate cancer cells, effectively killing the cancer cells while preserving healthy tissues.

Show threadgandalf_der_12te

fusion is a pipe dream at this point; nuclear physics has been so thoroughly researched through CERN and other organizations that it’s utterly unlikely that any big break-throughs are gonna happen anytime in the next 100 years.

the only optimization that could still happen is in the reactor design, that is, in everything except the nuclear physics part. stuff like how do you build cheaper plumbing through a 1 m thick concrete wall … not really exciting stuff.

Mar 8 at 12:52amWeb