Greentec Award reinstated to Molten Salt Thorium reactor design

nextbigfuture ^ | 08/03/2013 | Brian Wang

[Kolath]

The Dual-Fluid Reactor, a MSR (Molten Salt Reactor) was entered into the Greentec contest by Berlin’s Institute for Solid-State Nuclear Physics. MSRs and other advanced nuclear designs auger a CO2-free energy future and represent clear improvements in nuclear safety, efficiency, and waste management when compared to conventional nuclear. The Dual-Fluid Reactor (DFR) can also be used as a source of industrial process heat to make hydrogen and synthetic fuels.

[Tonytitan]

You mean that there's a CO2-free way of powering society? We can't have that! Without CO2 the carbon credit extortion racket crumbles.

It's like a racism-free society leaving Jackson and Sharpton (The Justice Bruthiz) without jobs.

[shove_it]

And FDR signed the NLRA which also was used as a source of industrial process heat.

(sorry for hijacking your thread but I just couldn't help myself)

[SgtBilko]

The germans are flooding the eu market with their solar and wind energy. Stock energy prices therefore have droped tremendous. Conventional nuclear technology in germany is dead for a reason: The taxpayer had to pay the bill for nuclear waste disposal and the uninsured risks. Not so on this new kind of reactor. It seems quite safe and “burns” the nuclear waste from conventional nuclear powerplants. That could be an option, even in germany i think.

[ckilmer]

The Chinese are big players in lftr reactors. The US currently has 4 companies working on lftr designs —including bill gates — and the canadians have one company working on this. The entry of the Germans should be followed by the Japanese the Russians and the Indians into LFTR designs. Thorium is already being experimented with as a fuel in traditional reactors in Norway.

In the next year this space is going to get a lot more attention worldwide because the promise of LFTR designs is just staggering. To catch the pure vision embodied by lftr designs check out http://www.amazon.com/kindle-store/dp/B0089Z7V6Y.

[Tailback]

If greenies really wanted to eradicate pollution, greenhouse gases, etc... they would be cheering on advances in safe new nuclear power generation. Imagine LA getting cheap fresh water from de-salinated saltwater thus freeing up the Owens Valley water for agricultural uses. Same for Sacramento valley, if cheap desalination became feasible, agriculture could still hum along without threatening Delta smelt.

Cheap electricity could also bring back various metal industries. Oregon used to be a big leader in aluminum and exotic alloys until the formerly cheap hydroelectric power became too expensive. Now thousand of jobs that paid VERY well are gone.

With cheap electricity thermal depolymerization of landfills becomes possible. Mine old landfills for metals and then depolymerize the rest to create synthetic oil. Not only do we get rid of old landfills, we get energy and recyclable materials out of the deal.

[ckilmer]

agree’

Thermal depolymerization was an interesting idea that didn’t work out for various reasons. I’m not sure that one of the reported reasons was the electricity costs. but judging by the designs I recall—electricity would have played a big role in costs.anyhow it was a idea that got batted around 5-6 years ago and yielded a demo plant in philadelphia and a turkey evisceration plant somewhere out in the midwest.

Seems to me they caught a couple of bad breaks.

[SuziQ]

Our 23 yr old son is very interested in this Dual Fuel design!

[GeronL]

sponsored by Morten's?

Look for it on the aisle next to your Thorium Reactor supplies.

[Kolath]

for your son’s viewing pleasure....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK367T7h6ZY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLGpgbg_AXY

http://www.thoriumenergyalliance.com/

[Tailback]

My County has been conducting an experimental landfill “mining” process that has actually been profitable. The County has been running a “waste to energy” trash burning plant for decades (never made money) and then trucking the ashes to a county owned landfill. Recently they began “Mining” the old landfill ash pits for metals and they’ve been making profits even considering the initial costs in startup equipment. Two positives from this are landfill longevity and lowering tipping fees to garbage companies which means a lower garbage bill to the end consumer.

[ckilmer]

This same idea is writ large as the feds look for rare earth metals in the tailings of old gold mines.

http://bit.ly/1bdIEo4