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Hospitals use a lot of energy, and for some functions it's quite important that the supply is uninterrupted.
Nuclear medicine is a well-regarded and useful discipline. Radio-Iodine treatment for thyroid disorders; oncological radiotherapy; isotope tracing; PET scans and many others. Radiation is extremely
useful for sterilization, too.
Nuclear plants have an abundance of steam, hot water, neutrons, and gamma radiation.
The synergy is obvious. Carefully engineered ports in reactor shielding can deliver selected radiation of many types; just interpose the appropriate filter materials. Isotopes can be produced on demand, even the short half-life ones. Medical instruments and laundry can be guaranteed bug free by a short but lethal blast of gamma radiation.
The power plant guarantees a reliable energy supply, and hot water is abundant for washing and building heating. Any injuries to plant workers are treatable immediately in the state-of-the-art onsite medical facilities. And sick people are much less likely to be worried about the intimate proximity of the reactors as it's part of the process of being restored to health - plus it's only temporary.
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I am trying to find a flaw here. So far I am left with the
highly unsatisfactory conclusion that this is not an entirely
stupid idea. I'll let you know when I've made progress. |
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This is quite sensible and reasonably easy to accomplish.
Who are you, and what have you done with the REAL [8th of
7]? |
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This actually does make a whole lot of sense. [+] |
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Also, you could use terminally ill/aged patients to
carry out reactor-related activities that had a high
probability of lethal exposure. |
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That's a cynical, exploitative and highly unethical proposal. |
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We have a vacancy as HR director at the pilot facility, are you interested ...? |
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// I'll let you know when I've made progress. // |
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Hit the small piece of flint with the large one; the objective is to create sharp edged flakes. Though don't let anyone see you doing it - you don't want to be caught knapping, do you ...? |
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"don't get caught knapping"
That's almost [marked-for-tagline]-worthy. |
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Unfortunately many radioisotopes used for nuclear medicine do not come from regular power-producing nuclear reactors, but a small number of research reactors throughout the world. Technetium-99, used with gamma cameras, has a half-life of 6 hours so to deliver it to hospitals, molybdenum-99 is produced (through neutron bombardment of uranium-235) which has a slightly longer half-life and decays into Tc-99. This Tc-99 generator (known as a "cow") is shipped to hospitals where the Tc-99 is chemically extracted ("milking" the "cow") as needed over the next few days. From conversations with my friend who works in medical imaging, I'm led to believe that the entire world supply of this stuff comes from a handful of highly specialized reactors, most of which are overdue to be decommissioned. |
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The difficulty of acquiring radioisotopes for nuclear medicine has meant that some hospitals have installed cyclotrons on-site, so in some sense your idea is already baked. However, they don't produce power. |
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Fair points, although very little redesign would be needed to a commercial reactor to add the necessary ports and handling facilities; plus cyclotrons are very energetically-inefficient, particularly as neutron sources. |
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A facility designed from the outset to incorporate irradiation facilities would cost very little more than a regular one, you just need the ability to insert and remove the target materials while the unit remains online. It's not rocket science. |
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Research/production reactors produce relatively modest flux, and a proportionately small amount of heat (which is in fact an inconvenient waste product) but they can be run up and down again very quickly. There's very little burnup, so they can run for decades on their original charge. |
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//cynical, exploitative and highly unethical
proposal//... Thanks [8th], i’m flattered! |
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I think this idea is actually a really good one, and
probably achievable with existing Small Modular
Reactor designs. Perhaps some adjustment for the
radioisotopes. |
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I was intrigued, looking at hospital development
options for NW London, to see an item listed
“relocate linear accelerator” (from one hospital to
another). |
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Hmm. That gives me another idea... |
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The idea of a multidisciplinary nuclear plant is worth the
bun |
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Maybe warring parties will be less likely to drop bombs on these types of hospitals, no? |
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Read the works of Sun Tzu; then you'll understand why. |
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//Read the works of Sun Tzu// |
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I read The Art of War. At no point does it warn about
Mongols, or having soft soldiers who sit about reading
books that advise against attacking an enemy in good
order, feigning retreat, or in fortifications. So the
Mongols attacked a well prepared enemy in good order
behind fortificaitons and slaughtered the lot of them. |
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There's also lots of softy stuff about always leaving a line
of retreat. Sun Tzu was all about sitting in a nice white
tent on top of the hill sipping sancere, directing the
battle. No use in a proper punch up, basically Rimmer. |
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On the other hand, his son ShiTzu is known as a ferocious
animal. |
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Incidentally, how about "Combined Heat and Porridge"? It
would do wonders for public relations if nuclear powerplants
could deliver - via a suitable system of pipes - porridge that
was Just Right to nearby households. |
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