Romania's On-Off-On-Off-On-Off On Cernovoda 3 & 4 CANDU Nuclear Reactors On Again.

[NNadir]

2. At different times, I've been fond of lead coolant, not so...

...much LBE eutectics, but pure lead, which in a neutron flux will evolve toward LBE owing to the transmutation of lead-208 into Pb-209 which rapidly decays to Bi-209.

There was lot of talk about lead coolants a few years back, a Soviet era technology, but I haven't been hearing a lot about it, perhaps because I'm not paying attention. From my perspective it sure beats sodium.

One of the things about which my son's Ph.D advisor complains is the reliance on doing everything in nuclear materials based on habit and tradition. Sodium coolants are an egregious case. I'm saddened by the sodium coolant revival. Lead is better for a lot of reasons.

All this said, my interest in high temperature fast spectrum coolants has changed, not that my opinion matters unless at some point in his career my son takes these ideas up after I kick off. I've moved back toward salt focused eutectics, not Flibe, but something very different.

It's interesting to see lead coolants being considered in Romania. I wasn't aware of that. It's fine by me. I'd love to see Romania become the next France. Poland also has a shot. Like France in the 1960s, Poland is entirely coal dependent, and like 1960s France, they are serious about doing something about it.

Any country that outlaws nuclear energy is a climate outlaw in my opinion.