I consider these folks, MIT, an authority of all things technical. If they say not to worry about the reactors melting down, and the do, then don't worry. We're good. Mind you these reactors are not going to be used again, but at least they won't go Chernobyl.
Interestingly, they think the newer designs wouldn't have failed. Certainly, a Thorium Liquid Fuel Reactor (LFTR) would not have failed. In one of those, the pumps supply the pressure that makes the critical mass to generate the heat. If the pumps fail, the pressure drops and the thing automatically shuts down. The critical mass is removed, and there is no threat. Also, since you can't make a bomb out of Thorium, and the reaction doesn't use explosive uranium nor does it create plutonium, it's not a proliferation threat. Beyond that, Thorium is cheap.
IF these LFTR reactors are so great, then why don't we use them; a little digging will show that the technology has been around just as long as the uranium ones, and Thorium is easier to find and more abundant in the Earth. Well, you see the people behind making the reactors was the Military. We needed them to make enough explosive plutonium for the Cold War. It made sense at the time, but the time is now past. It's now time for LFTR reactors.
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