Our waterways are becoming more and more polluted due to PFAS, plastics, medicines, drugs, and new chemicals made by companies that just hand over the responsibility of cleaning to plants paid for by public moneys. Detecting the different chemicals and filtering them out if getting harder and harder. Could the simple solution of heating up past a point where even PFAS/forever chemicals decomposes (400C for PFAS, 500C to be more sure about other stuff) be alright?
Molten Salt Nuclear Reactors (like the one China’s making with thorium) operate at something like 700* C to generate electricity. With the waste heat, we could desalinate water. Instead of Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository, it becomes Yucca Mountain Molten Salt Nuclear Reactor and brackish groundwater distillation for Las Vegas.
This, I like. The water would be radioactive though, wouldn’t it? I wonder if “exchanging” the unknown toxins for radioactivity in the dispelled water would be better or worse. But, it could maybe help decompose some of the toxic chemicals during in the process.
Not how reactors work, they are very much closed systems specifically to avoid this problem.
Think of it like and air conditioner or refrigerator. The the attempt that cool the inside by dumping heat outside uses a closed loop and the two mediums do not directly interact or mix, which is why your home isn’t full of pollen when running an air conditioner all day if your windows and doors all properly seal.
No. Radioactivity isn’t like a disease. Specific particles are radioactive. If you remove it prevent contamination form the first place, there is no reason the water would become radioactive. Heat is just heat.
That made no sense at all. Do you think toxic water is 100 toxins or that when somebody is sick they become one big walking disease?
And “water can’t become irradiated” is a great take. So radioactive radiation has no effect on water whatsoever? “High energy particles don’t exist and they can’t hurt you🧠”
Ok so i think the disconnect here is that you are visualizing the water literally passing into the reactor and out the otherside.
In reality the water would pass around the outside of the shielding, where it is still plenty hot, but the radiation from the reactor isnt passing through.
This is more or less how a nuclear power plant operates today. We sont get the power directly from the reaction, we get it by using the heat fenerated to boil water to operate steam turbines. In fact, they are just steam engines with the coal replaced with nuclear fission.
When someone more knowledgeable than you is giving you good answer your questions you should maybe show a bit more respect