Comments on: Gates Goes Nuclear: Billionaire Backs Fledgling Mini-Reactor Technology

By: WebSelling4U

WebSelling4U — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 22:04:49 +0000

Yes, its great that it can run on depleted uranium and yes, it’s efficient but the benefits don’t stop there. Most of our current (no pun intended) electricity is used up just pushing itself through miles of lines. With more but smaller power facilities, the need for the super towers with mega voltage crossing the country would eventually be eliminated, just as wireless eliminates the need for running miles of cable through an office building for communications. The savings should be huge and it should be safer (even for air traffic).

And just imagine, with lots of cheap electricity, would that make it possible to have roads where cars pick up electricity like the old street cars did but just every so often kind of like rolling through a gas station. Drive your car through a shed where it picks up a charge or a charged battery and off you go for another hundred miles or more. Or perhaps, high speed trains with linear induction motors criss-crossing the country with a reactor every so many miles to power them. Of course I want to keep my old pickup but quiet efficient travel also has an appeal.

By: anthony yeager

anthony yeager — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:13:13 +0000

could this be used one day in space craft?

By: Tim

Tim — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 16:14:11 +0000

Check out Bill’s talk on the stuff. (ted feb 10)

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/bill_gates.html

from 13mins 30s

By: Gary Ansorge

Gary Ansorge — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 23:30:52 +0000

We need all the long term, clean energy solutions we can build. This is just one of them. I just Hope Bill is keeping one eye on the Polywell research. If THAT pans out, he should be hanging around with venture capital in hand.

Go for it, Bill.(of course, you WILL have competition)

GAry 7

By: scribbler

scribbler — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 18:31:06 +0000

Sour grapes makes for a very bitter whine, KK…

;-)

BSOD was funny, though!

By: Kapryan Kennedy

Kapryan Kennedy — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:03:40 +0000

The idea of upgrading our energy sources and technology is a good one. However,…Bill Gates has a long, predatory business history of destroying and or usurping the ideas and endeavors of his competitors (Think Amiga, think Macintosh, think of all the software companies that were trashed by Gates so that we could have Windose), and then offering a substandard and barely functional product. Can we really afford the influence of a man with this track record developing potentially lethal nuclear reactors. It would give new meaning to the “Blue screen of DEATH”. If he gets into this technology, somebody better keep an eye on him.

By: Hawkeye

Hawkeye — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 06:39:59 +0000

It figures that Gates would back a dirty nuclear technology. Although it has had a bad rap for a few decades, cold fusion is far from dead, and probably just a viable as this technology.

By: dan mayberry

dan mayberry — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 00:50:23 +0000

I understand the grid is outdated, as well as the rest of our infrastructure to boot… doh… and this could be a real help for the moment. I still want to see E.M.P. tech to push forward. When you can create completely free energy that cannot be any cleaner, why not ?… doh.. And you don’t go broke paying your money to some monger. You use your savings to get out of this sickening debt we all have created and education for our future.

Men , rich beyond anyone’s need or means, should always try to help the world and not themselves.

By: kdb

kdb — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 15:54:29 +0000

Do want.

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:46:34 +0000

This is exactly what we need! After days of fading hope listening to government “plans” for increased clean energy (really, air is not the way to go) and corrupted and/or environmentally blind officials crying about coal, gas and car emissions, I take heart in seeing a wealthy (very wealthy) private investor actually taking a legitimate look into nuclear power. Especially this kind of progressive proposal that uses old nuclear fuel to power it. We need more billionaires to maybe put a hold on buying that new football stadium and instead invest into technologies that require a lot of capital to get moving, but eventually could lead to something earth-changing.

By: Avoirdupois

Avoirdupois — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 03:04:35 +0000

Want.

By: scribbler

scribbler — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 00:38:32 +0000

What I find most appealing is that it uses used up reactor fuel. It also give us a great incentive to keep track of said fuel.

Does anyone know if this is at all viable or is the caveat of “take a rest” indicitive of “pipe dream” status?

By: Zachary

Zachary — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 21:54:05 +0000

Yay! Let us embrace our nuclear future, please, the longer we do the ridiculous wind and solar route the more outdated our power grid becomes.