Interesting thoughts about nuclear power...

[MechAg94]

What sort of environmental concerns will you run into?  If you have a few steam leaks, no one cares as it is just water vapor.  If you have a mercury vapor leak, someone is going to care.  Your level of maintenance and required quality of maintenance goes up considerably.

Also, what changes do you think you will see in the metallurgy of your basic piping and casing materials if your operating temperature gets up that high.  You might be talking about pretty exotic alloys all through the system, not just in the turbine blades.  The steam methane reformer I work with uses manurite catalyst tubes in the fire box that operate up to 1760 F.  That stuff is expensive.

Also, the corrosion and erosion mechanisms and rates may be completely different with exotic metal fluids. 

[MillCreek]

As a result of the Hanford nuclear plants, I am told that the Tri-Cities area of Washington (where Hanford is located) has the highest number of skilled titanium piping/fittings fabricators in the country.  Apparently titanium is used a lot in various nuclear applications.  Because of staff reductions at Hanford, a lot of skilled workers have left to start up and staff a number of titanium manufacturing companies.  For a while, there were at least two high-end titanium bicycle frame companies there, and a company known for titanium golf clubs.

[Firethorn]

What sort of environmental concerns will you run into?  If you have a few steam leaks, no one cares as it is just water vapor.  If you have a mercury vapor leak, someone is going to care.  Your level of maintenance and required quality of maintenance goes up considerably.

After reviewing the problem again, you don't need the mercury; steam will easily go that high.  The trick with using a metallic coolant in the reactor is that you can do it at close enough to environmental pressure that your vessel is greatly simplified.

As for corrosion, well, that's one of the things we've gotten a much better handle on in the last 30 years or so.

[Brad Johnson]

As a result of the Hanford nuclear plants, I am told that the Tri-Cities area of Washington (where Hanford is located) has the highest number of skilled titanium piping/fittings fabricators in the country.  Apparently titanium is used a lot in various nuclear applications.  Because of staff reductions at Hanford, a lot of skilled workers have left to start up and staff a number of titanium manufacturing companies.  For a while, there were at least two high-end titanium bicycle frame companies there, and a company known for titanium golf clubs.

Isn't titanium prone to become brittle after extended neutron bombardment?

Brad