[ExI] Tri Alpha Energy

[John Clark]

On Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 3:06 PM, Stephen Van Sickle <sjv2006 at gmail.com>
wrote:

​> ​
> Very reduced neutrons, but there are still small side reactions that
> produce neutrons.  About .2% of the total energy is fast neutrons.
>

​Well OK, there would be 2 very rare side reactions, ​
11B + α → 14N + n
​  and ​
11B + p → 11C + n
​ ; but that would produce about ​
a thousand times less
 radioactive waste ​
than the
​ conventional
 D-T
​fusion ​
reaction,
​ and the
D-T
​fusion ​
reaction
​ would produce about a thousand times less ​
radioactive waste
​

​than today's fission reactors. ​

​> ​
> But any proton-boron reactor can easily burn deuterium, yielding a large
> fraction in fast neutrons.  And cheap neutrons are a proliferation
> hazard...even a small fusion reactor can breed lots of plutonium, and make
> lots of bombs.
>

​If ​you want to make Plutonium slow neutrons are far more desirable than
the fast neutrons fusion reactions produce. Fission reactors produce lots
of slow neutrons and that's why Uranium reactors (but not Thorium reactors)
produce Plutonium whether you want to or not.

​It's far too late to worry about excess Plutonium, you only need about 5
kg to make a bomb and there
is already ​
1,200 metric tons of
​
Plutonium
​ on the planet and every ounce of it was make by slow neutrons inside
fission reactors.​

 John K Clark
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