IFFYdata.org is a nuclear power proponent. In our opinion, if we don’t embrace nuclear power, when the oil runs out we will become peasants.
No energy source will last forever, even the sun. Oil won’t last that long, and coal not much longer than oil. We have gotten the easy stuff out. The rest will get harder and harder. Clever engineering, like fracking or deep-sea rigs, can keep oil prices low for a while. But the energy return on investment (EROI) will keep dropping. Back in the gusher days a dollar spent drilling could return $80. Nowadays, the EROI is down to 30:1 for oil (or coal). When it reaches five or so, we will spend so much effort obtaining the energy there won’t be enough left over for such luxuries as hospitals or universities.
Renewables will not be able to power a modern society because they are not available 24/7. We can’t have hospitals that work only when the sun shines or wind blows. The best renewable options offer an EROI of 6-8, and that does not include efforts to fix the intermittency problems. In terms of cost, sun and wind are just too thin. Proponents of renewable energy are living in a dream. Learn some physics.
The only solution available today is nuclear power. Our favorite is the molten salt reactor (MSR), but there are a lot of ways to do nuclear. The core advantage of nuclear energy over chemical energy remains: nuclear bonds are about a million times more powerful. If you ask an unbiased engineer how to power our society for the next millennium, there will be only one answer, nuclear power.
Organizational Goal
Our vision of the future includes plentiful, cheap, clean, and safe electrical power for all. The obstacles include a public perception of danger, both from operations and byproducts. Our focus is on the byproducts – what is now called nuclear waste. We want to demonstrate strategies that will minimize the waste problem.
Site Objectives
Describe the IFFY database
This site describes a new nuclear waste analysis tool, the Integrated Fission Fragment Yield (IFFY) database. This began with a focus on MSRs, but is now generic for any type of reactor. The main output is a table of cumulative yields of nuclear waste as the reactor is operating. Other parts of the database have value as well.
Offer the first installment of processed data
The first effort of this project is a database-ready list of nuclear waste products as they evolve over time. The complete output is available in a comma separated value (csv) file with over 900,000 records. We also include several smaller versions. The user can predict the composition of nuclear waste for their particular reactor, given the “speed” of their reactor and the fuel used.
Verify the concepts
IFFY was developed by an engineer, but not a nuclear engineer. Until blessed by a competent authority, the project remains iffy. The documentation of the concepts is hopefully sufficient to allow verification and validation of the model.
Extend the tool from one reactor to a fleet
This site also describes the framework for the next generation analysis tool, called the Fleet Sim. This will extend the scope of the project from a single reactor to a series of reactors. It is possible to feed the “waste” from one reactor into a different type of reactor and virtually eliminate long-term radioactive waste.
Conclusion
Nuclear power is the only realistic method of keeping modern civilization running. The only thing preventing us from adopting nuclear power is a badly misinformed public. We hope this site can convince people that the problems aren’t that bad.