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First U.S. nuclear reactor built from scratch in decades enters commercial operation in Georgia (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 1 year ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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First U.S. nuclear reactor built from scratch in decades enters commercial operation in Georgia::ATLANTA — A new reactor at a nuclear power plant in Georgia has entered commercial operation, becoming the first new American reactor built from scratch in decades.

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[–] rm_dash_r_star@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Here's something more interesting. A matter-antimatter reactor converts 100% of mass to energy so it's a hundred times more efficient than fusion. In modern times antimatter has been produced at quantum levels in large accelerators such as the Hadrian collider. So it does in fact exist and can be produced.

However a matter-antimatter reactor has some serious technical problems. For one it's currently impossible to create antimatter in any practical quantity. Second if antimatter comes in contact with matter, instant boom. Like a sugar cube size of the stuff could level a large city. So containment would be an insurmountable problem.

The interesting part is when you see an antimatter reactor in shows like Star Trek, it's based on real science. Interestingly in 1968 when they wrote the original Star Trek, nobody knew antimatter was a physically real thing. That's a case of sci-fi predicting science.

[–] brianorca@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

But antimatter needs energy to create, probably more energy than it can produce. Unless you can find some source of it in the environment. Fusion is much more likely to be feasible.

Antimatter might make a good compact way to store energy for a starship, if it was created in a large fixed facility with access to huge power sources. But it's not a way to generate energy by itself.