- #1
sevenperforce
- 82
- 16
In 1958, chemical operator Cecil Kelley was killed by a nuclear excursion in a mixing tank. A tank intended to reprocess trace amounts of dissolved plutonium-239 accidentally had dramatically more radioactive material dumped into it. The plutonium, being dissolved in a lower-density fluid than the rest of the solution in the tank, floated to the surface. When Kelley turned on the mixing tank, centrifugal force caused a vortex to form which concentrated the lower-density plutonium at the center. The plutonium reached prompt criticality in under a second and irradiated Kelley with about 36 Grays, seven times the adult lethal dose. He died within hours.
In this event, the excursion was halted almost immediately by the release of energy, which rapidly heated the solution and dispersed the momentarily concentrated plutonium.
I'm wondering:
In this event, the excursion was halted almost immediately by the release of energy, which rapidly heated the solution and dispersed the momentarily concentrated plutonium.
I'm wondering:
- Would it be possible to build a nuclear reactor using dissolved radioactive salts in aqueous solution by generating a vortex in the fluid?
- Could such vortices be designed in order to self-sustain, so that the energy was released in such a way as to accelerate the rotation?
- If so, would it be possible to dissolve magnetic particles in the solution so that the whole rotating fluid mass produced a rotating magnetic field which could be used to directly provide electrical power by electromagnetic induction?