In reply to [email protected]'s message of Wed, 19 Sep 2012 16:33:12 -0400 (EDT): Hi, [snip] >Good points, Jeff > >Maybe, I'm assuming incorrectly, bu from Mosier-Boss paper excerpt - > >"These results indicated that there were at least two channels - an >aneutronic channel that produced heat (the so-called true Fleischmann-Pons >effect) and another channel that favored formation of energetic charged >particles, neutrons, and tritium. It was Swartz [3] who suggested that, by >adjusting the experimental parameters, one could >switch from one channel to the other." > >- I surmised that rather than just fully aneutronic channels, there were >also low energy neutrons, since (I think) transmutations have been reported >in the absence of high energy neutron emissions. > >Yes, Pu-239 is very long-lived, but doesn't this mean it will hang around >long enough to capture enough neutrons to convert to some shorter-lived >isotope? And, similarly with other long-lived byproducts? [snip] They are clearly planning on using the D+D reaction to create T + p then the D+T reaction to create 14 MeV neutrons. In the world of fission reactions, anything > 1 MeV is considered "high energy".
A 14 MeV neutron will fission *any* of the Actinides directly, resulting in the release of about 200 MeV, and radioactive daughter products. However as a (very) rough rule of thumb, the lighter the isotope the shorter the half life. It's the radioactive Actinides that have very long half lives that require storage "forever". Since all the Actinides will be "burnt up", there should be few isotopes left with very long half lives. Since by far the largest component of nuclear reactor waste is unburned U238, such waste can clearly be a fuel, as can Plutonium, natural Uranium, and Thorium. BTW as some Vorticians will remember, I have previously suggested using muon catalyzed fusion to achieve this same result. Now it seems these folks are planning on doing the same thing, but using a LENR reaction to create the neutrons. (1 GeV => 1 muon => 100 DT fusion reactions => 100 neutrons => 100 x 200 MeV fission reactions = 20 GeV thermal => 6-8 GeV electrical). COP = 6-8. Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html
