So the depleted nuclear fuel cannot be used to heat the reactor, but still has plenty of energy in the form of radiation. Why this radiation cannot be used or eliminated by trapping the neutrons from it and produce heat?
In: Physics
It could! We do something like that with nuclear batteries wich are used in space probes.
The issue is simply cost, for the amount of energy you actually get the effort (and especially cleanup+security features) is just way too large.
The use case is really only things where extremely long energy supply without refuels are essential. The energy per weight is pretty good, but you receive it rather slowly, and the cost per energy is incredibly high.
A single RTG (radioisotope generator) costs about 100-150 million USD, wich outputs up to 2kW for 25-30 years. For comparision, a windpark costing that much would easily output 100,000 kW over the same timeframe
Latest Answers