Host: Rebecca Li

If you'd like to join: Join the Slack channel #learn-nuclear

Meeting time: Inactive

This is a learning group. This means that members commit to meeting once a week at a fixed time. We commit to allocating N hours per week to researching this topic on behalf of the working group. The goal of the working group is to produce a tangible output (e.g. a viable business plan or a white paper on the field).

If you’re new to nuclear power:

Read this first! https://drawdown.org/solutions/nuclear-power

Goals of the learning group

• Generate a Starter Pack for nuclear energy.
• Bring in nuclear scientists to speak.

Basic Vocabulary

• Q - Fusion gain energy factor. Q>1 means power is net created, while Q<1 means power is consumed in the fusion reaction
• Ignition - the point at which a reaction becomes self-sustaining
• Burn - colloquially consuming the radioactive fuel. e.g. CANDU reactors burn natural uranium, in addition to enriched uranium.
• Fission - the process of breaking apart atoms to produce energy
• Fusion - the process of combining atoms to produce energy
• SMR - small modular reactor. Most Gen IV fission reactors aim for this for lower capital costs.
• Tokamak - A kind of fusion reactor
• Stellerator - A kind of fusion reactor
• NRC - Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USA)