Imagine if a tiny design tweak could prevent some of the worst nuclear accidents imaginable while simultaneously making clean nuclear energy more efficient and affordable.
It sounds too good to be true, right? But that's exactly what a team of researchers may have just accomplished, according to Interesting Engineering.
What they found is that carefully crafting the surface of materials used in nuclear reactors can actually change when and how liquids boil — a discovery with massive implications for reactor safety and performance. When water touches an extremely hot surface, it floats on a layer of its own vapor in what's known as the "Leidenfrost effect."
It was long thought this could only happen above 446 degrees. But by etching a special pattern of microscopic pillars onto the surface, a research team at Virginia Tech demonstrated this effect can start at just 266 degrees. READ MORE...
