Talk:Nuclear power reconsidered

Purpose of this article

The purpose of this article is to raise questions and establish criteria for evaluating the many nuclear reactor designs that are now being proposed as solutions to the global warming caused by our use of fossil fuels. Answers to these questions should be provided in the subpages on each reactor design. We should not, for example, go into detail on the handling of liquid waste, as that question would only apply to specific reactor designs. That is a topic that might deserve a subpage, however, since many of the new designs use liquid fuel. We want to keep this top article short and non-controversial. There will be plenty of opportunity for questions and comments from skeptics on these discussion pages.

The reactors included in the section "Proposed Designs" can be added or deleted as we get authors to contribute their expertise. My initial choices are just what I think are the most likely to succeed in the next few years. I have also included one gas-cooled reactor, because I am fascinated by the possibility of a really high-temperature reactor generating hydrogen with no CO2 waste. There are many other choices, liquid or solid fuel, thorium or uranium, fast or slow neutrons, breeder or burner, liquid or gaseous coolant, etc. David MacQuigg (talk) 23:06, 11 October 2021 (UTC)

Ordering of proposed reactor designs?

Is there a reason (such as priority of interest) in the ordering of the proposed reactor designs? If no particular reason for the current order, might we please alphabetize them? That is what I did over on the Related Articles tab, for now. Pat Palmer (talk) 14:12, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

Yes, it was just the order that I encountered them, and spent more time developing the articles. There are dozens of these new designs, so perhaps to put them on an even footing, we should move them all to the Related Articles tab. That would also be the place to list dozens of subtopics, which we don't consider worthy of mention in the main article, topics like the world supply of nuclear fuel (unlimited on any timescale we need to worry about). But back to the question of what to highlight in the main article, I would say let's pick the ones our editorial council finds most interesting. That could be 1) Furthest along in providing a near-term climate solution (ThorCon) or 2) Some unique and worthy feature, like ability to burn old bomb cores (MSCFR, Natrium) promise of generating zero-carbon hydrogen fuel (VHTR) or closest to existing reactor technology and thereby maybe more acceptable to regulators with thousands of pages of existing standards (NuScale). Perhaps we should make this ordering a reward to authors who will do a really good job in developing a citable version of an article on their favorite design. For now, we could move the undeveloped articles off the main page. David MacQuigg (talk) 21:16, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

A list of high profile technically expert advocates from outside the industry itself might be helpful

Some very high profile figures have recently begun to advocate for a reconsideration of nuclear power in light of looming climate change, including (for example) Bill Gates. I mention this because Gates is exactly the kind of person, with engineering expertise and deep knowledge about climate change, who has helped highlight the need to reconsider designs. It might be helpful to include a list of high-profile, credible, technical-minded advocates such as Gates, maybe near the end of the article. Or not. Just an idea. Pat Palmer (talk) 14:29, 13 October 2021 (UTC)