Hans Bethe on Fission-Fusion Hybrid Reactors

Well, this is my light reading for tonight – from Physics Today, May 1979.

Very interesting stuff indeed – and of course, there’s no doubting that the author knows what he’s talking about.

France and Italy: is nuclear power the way for energy independence?

I’m quite a fan of The Oil Drum, and the very interesting posts and very lively discussions that go on over there.

Here’s a very good recent post about nuclear energy in France, and the potential gains from a nuclear energy renaissance (how appropriate!) in Italy.

The discussion thread is very very long – and makes for extremely interesting discussion.

If there’s one thing they know about on The Oil Drum, it’s EROEI:

“Reality continues to make a fool of van Leeuwen.”

A question for my readers:

Just a quick question that I’m trying to find an answer to.

We all know that when used fuel is discharged from a reactor, it’s highly radioactive.

But exactly how radioactive? Considering, say, typical used uranium oxide PWR fuel material at a typical burnup, what is the activity of the used fuel at discharge, in terms of, say, curies per GWh, or curies per gram?

I’m looking for a specific number, like that – can anybody direct me to it?