The Truth About Thorium and Nuclear Power

Popular Mechanics ^ | October 20, 2010 | Elizabeth Svoboda

[decimon]

Talk of a large-scale U.S. nuclear renaissance in the post-Three Mile Island era has long been stalled by the high cost of new nuclear power plants, the challenges of safeguarding weapons-grade nuclear material, and the radioactive lifespan of much nuclear waste, which can extend far beyond 10,000 years. But a growing contingent of scientists believe an alternative nuclear reactor fuel—the radioactive metal called thorium—could help address these problems, paving the way for cheaper, safer nuclear power generation.

Three to four times more plentiful than uranium, today's most common nuclear fuel, thorium packs a serious energetic punch: A single ton of it can generate as much energy as 200 tons of uranium, according to Nobel Prize-winning physicist Carlo Rubbia. In the mid-twentieth century, some U.S. physicists considered building the nuclear power landscape around thorium. But uranium-fueled reactors produced plutonium as a byproduct, a necessary ingredient for nuclear weapons production, and uranium ended up dominating through the Cold War and beyond.

[Bean Counter]

http://energyfromthorium.com/

[decimon]

Thanks.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks decimon.

EnergyFromThorium
http://energyfromthorium.com/

Thorium fuel cycle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium_fuel_cycle

[aruanan]

I first read about it in Before It's Too Late: A Scientist's Case FOR Nuclear Power by Bernard Cohen.

A link I found recently to reconfirm before posting what I remembered from Cohen's book is Coal Combustion: Nuclear Resource or Danger. It's interesting to see that there is about twice as much thorium in coal as uranium.

[aruanan]

On another note, since the radioactive elements are busy decaying away, they represent a truly non-renewable (apart from a breeder reactor system) resource that, if it is not used, will only be getting smaller. Not to use it to generate power is truly a waste of resources. In addition to burning coal for energy, it is also a valuable chemical feedstock. Using uranium and thorium for power generation frees coal for other uses. In the end there would be a greater number of cheaper resources. The tremendous cost of nuclear plants lies primarily in overengineering them due to environmentalist suits. In addition, the amount of high level nuclear wastes from one 1000 megawatt nuclear plant from one year of power generation would fit under a card table. Compare this with millions of tons of toxic ash from each coal-fired plant. And if we were able to reprocess spent fuel rods there would be even less waste sitting around and even cheaper fuel since only a very small percent of fissionable uranium in a fuel rod is used up per use. It's probably equivalent to buying a large pizza with everything on it, taking a single bite, throwing it away, and ordering another and so on until your hunger is satisfied.

There's also a good book called The War Against the Atom by Samuel McCracken. This was written back in the 1980s. Okay, just checked on Amazon. It was 1983. All the arguments presented are no less valid today.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Excellent pro-nuclear resources. Thank you so much!

[wendy1946]

The combination of thorium and super capacitors sounds like the best shot we have at getting out from under the power of oil companies and the slammite world.

[decimon]

...super capacitors...

The ability to better store electrical energy would be a game changer. Even solar and wind generators could find viable niches, i.e., without subsidy. Current fossil fuel generators could be more efficient for running at a constant rate, the excess production of some time periods stored for times of need.

[wendy1946]

The big question at present is what is going on at EESTOR? The EESTOR device sounds like a car which could go 200 - 300 miles at highway speeds and then take five minutes to recharge a device which would never wear out or die and it should have been out by now. Other similar devices are presently being used for buses in Hong Kong but I don’t think they have that much range and a bus wouldn’t need that much range.

[decimon]

The big question at present is what is going on at EESTOR?

I think EESTOR peaked a bit early on the hype. I've nothing against the company but it needs to produce a product.

[EternalVigilance]

Attributed to " Nobel pize winning physicist Carlo Rubbia." Sounds like a guy who might know what he's talking about.

Well, maybe. How believeable do you find "Nobel prize winning" alleged president Barack Hussein Obama to be?

[EternalVigilance]

Bump.

[Bean Counter]

Interesting that they are developing thorium-uranium fuel rods that will be backfitted into existing light water reactors. I wasn’t aware that the research had progressed to that point, and it’s great news that we’re on top of this technology.

This potentially solves the problems at Yucca Mountain if we can in fact find a way to reprocess and burn through some of the hottest nuclear waste.

[Captain Beyond]

bflr