Supercooling reactors

[steevey]

I'm not saying cooling reactors would stop the decay, but could you cool them down with liquid nitrogen and super-cool them by removing the medium that carries the heat?

I don't know if you can actually really cool a nucleus reactor because the nuclei of atoms breaking down are constantly causing fission reactions which then release energy.

[imatfaal]

Steevey - there's a good explanation of why you might as well use water here post #7 .

 

The "medium that carries the heat"? - if you mean the substance that surrounds the rods "ie carries away the heat" - then no this would lead to them getting hotter; the water that the rods are in will conduct more heat away than air. If you mean the substance that produces the heat - well yeah, but if we could do this then there would never have been a problem. By its nature this material is highly radioactive and the systems that would normally allow it to be moved safely and remotely etc are mal-functioning/non-functioning - the only way is to let it slow down naturally and it will eventually cool.

 

BTW supercool is a term usually referring to a specific form of cooling in physics where the liquid or gas does not solidify

Edited April 20, 2011 by imatfaal