Bringing us one step closer to the day when I can have a nuclear reactor in my utility room to power and heat my house and swimming pool, like Maniac Mansion always taught me was a totally reasonable, safe and not at all unhinged idea.
this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2026
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Just don't put the hamster in the microwave
The founder of this company is an old buddy of mine from college. He was always a smart guy but I mean.. damn, nuclear physics! Definitely one of those “small world” moments to find someone you know IRL mentioned in some article on Lemmy lol
If it helps at all, the people who found the companies usually aren't the brains of the operation
It's an awesome idea.....but I wonder what happens when one gets destroyed in combat
Nothing actually. TRISO fuel is both meltdown proof and fusion resistant.
Meaning, it resists melting down even without coolant and it resists fusion reactions to a high level bomb. This is because the fuel is about the size of a seed roughly 1mm in size and each piece is coated with layers of other materials to prevent such occurrences.
Nice thanks for the explanation!
What happens if the coating was not applied correctly or somehow comes off?
First, nuclear fuel production is one of the most highly regulated and monitored processes mankind has ever developed. Second, if by some astronomically small chance enough of the fuel is faulty, there are multiple other safety layers to keep a runaway reaction from occurring. These are built into the design of the reactor itself and don't need human intervention. Third, if the reactor were destroyed, by anything, all it would accomplish is scattering the fuel pellets, effectively extinguishing any reaction. After that it's a fairly straightforward job to gather the scattered fuel during cleanup. These reactors don't need a water source like the old ones do so once the fuel lands somewhere it's not going to be washed away and become difficult to trace. Fourth, reactors are built seriously tough. If something hits one hard enough to cause anything more than an emergency shutdown then you've got much bigger problems to worry about.