Liquid sodium has to be kept above the boiling point of water. I've studied the fast breeder reactor enough to not be so afraid of sodium fires (pool fires at least aren't very threatening, though spray fires are) but...
If airlines wanted to use a fuel that had to be heated or cooled they could use alcohol fuels (need just a little heat to not freeze high up in the sky) or liquid methane, both of which are much easier to synthesize than the Fischer-Tropsch Kerosine that sustainable aviation fuels are stuck on now.
Meanwhile this thing basically sprays lye out the back of the plane the same way a bird sprays urea, I'd hate to be past the runway when these are taking off.
Liquid sodium has to be kept above the boiling point of water. I've studied the fast breeder reactor enough to not be so afraid of sodium fires (pool fires at least aren't very threatening, though spray fires are) but...
If airlines wanted to use a fuel that had to be heated or cooled they could use alcohol fuels (need just a little heat to not freeze high up in the sky) or liquid methane, both of which are much easier to synthesize than the Fischer-Tropsch Kerosine that sustainable aviation fuels are stuck on now.
Meanwhile this thing basically sprays lye out the back of the plane the same way a bird sprays urea, I'd hate to be past the runway when these are taking off.
Discussion (17 points, 7 days ago, 10 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44156592