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Will Sub-Critical Nuclear Reactors Power AI? Sabine is Skeptical
Nuclear power has a political problem, the fear of meltdown leading to a large release of radiation. One way that companies have been seeking to move forward in this sphere is to develop reactors that never reach criticality. Instead of using a chain reaction, they use a fuel that isn't dense enough to sustain a chain reaction. To release energy, they bombard a fuel stack with neutrons that they create using a conventional neutron source, such as a proton accelerator that launches high energy protons into heavy nuclei. That shatters the nuclei and release a pulse of neutrons in the process. These neutrons can then be used to create excess (more than the energy required to create the neutrons) energy. They can't produce much energy compared to standard fission reactors--only tens of megawatts. But they might be sufficient to power data centers and other stand alone power sinks.
In this video, Sabine Hossenfelder summarizes the current state of the art.
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Will Sub-Critical Nuclear Reactors Power AI? Sabine is Skeptical
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