Posted on 05/03/2026 9:20:35 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Here is the unvarnished truth that has been kept secret by the choices of important people. At present population levels, there may be more than enough energy in the world for the next 100,000 years (maybe for millions of years) that is relatively easy to obtain, clean, and safe, and that would be productive of peace among men, because there would be fewer fights over resources.
The fuel of the future is thorium, and it is being withheld from the world because too few people know about it to demand it—and there’s no reason for this ignorance. Why the secrecy?
While positive for ordinary folks, thorium could ruin everything for important people who make their living from dealing with the consequences of conflict based on energy resources. What, then, would the bureaucrats, the military, and academics do to put bread on their tables?
With the implementation of a thorium-based economy, people and energy-hungry AI utilities would coexist without competing for limited electrical power. In a sense, we could have our cake and eat it too. And, as a bonus, we could stop consuming some of the rare resources of our only planet.
For all the foregoing reasons and hopes, I would like to suggest to decision-makers in Washington that they seek out and support the work of Kirk Sorensen, a nuclear engineer who has been doggedly pushing liquid-fluoride-thorium reactors for more than fifteen years. The technology that he touts has been understood since the mid-1940s and was demonstrated in a working model in the mid-1950s and again in the 1960s before the government shut down the thorium project.
There are still unresolved scientific issues blocking our access, but most require engineering tweaks rather than entirely new science.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
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Then you are actually far more knowledgeable than I am in this area and I just misunderstood you.
I had no idea that SMR development and installations were being worked on in Idaho. But it makes sense that one of the most conservative states would be a leader in this.
True but my issue isn’t with you. It’s with the political bs we deal with. Here in Idaho we farm. Farmers use migrant workers. Are they here legally ? Wellll? Let’s change the subject. Crap like that pisses me off. Oh look a meat packing plant employs 700 local migrants, let’s do it. Packing plants use tons of water. Water is a big deal here in Idaho. A couple plants start up. The water table goes down, my well pump needs dropped. Big money locals don’t care. Power is the same. Get ChatGBT, Grok, etc sure build here we got all you need. Mean time water goes away and your power bill goes up. There ain’t no free lunch. Regards
I hope you live that long too. My problem is I retired from there it 2016. I started out there in 1971. Nothing moves fast and we bounced whichever way the politicians wanted and it changed every 4 years. It is what it is but we need SMR now and I’m sure I won’t be here if it ever happens. Be safe
Written in the same style as someone saying they invented cars that get 1000 miles per liter of water. But BIG OIL is holding them back.
Sure thorium reactors may work. But in the mean time we have plenty of cheap coal and gas.
Government red tape kills a lot more projects than nuclear power. It has been a long time since a refinery has been built and California has chased out a bunch. A lot of nuclear plants are built near the sea so sea water can be the heat sink.Our Navy has lots of nuclear powered ships.
True story but we’re letting idiot greenies shut our coal and electric plants down. Jim Bridger in Wyoming, Tri-States, in Colorado, etc. you can not run the USA on wind and solar today. Maybe in 3026 but not in 2026. Until people (young people get their heads out of their ass) we won’t change. It sucks but it is true . Stupid is killing the US.
Pard Ive drove a submarine. I know exactly where heat transfer takes place. A reactor, or a coal plant, or the pot on your stove Is a heat source. You get a result but there is a cost in everything. It’s like risk in scuba diving, sky diving, poker playing, stock trading, how the hell much of your ass are you willing to lay out there. Balls and no brains gets you killed. Study the situation and decide can I do it. What the eff ever it is. Remember, ain’t no one getting out of here alive but you don’t get to bet me in that gamble if I don’t agree.
I was a reactor operator on a submarine. Trained on the A1W in Idaho, operated an S5W in the fleet. Even cleaned the main sea water heat exchanger with Teflon rods to remove the barnacles inside.
Well then you know where waste heat goes. There’s nothing free. We trade power for fuel or something. The old S5G plant was interesting but the most fun I ever had was operating a hydro plant. Quiet, clean, and easy to take care of. Nice. Think about all the water vapor we sent into the air when we were hot. The aquifer isn’t endless and droughts take a toll. Bears watching what rich people think they don’t care about. IMO
Heck. The Norwegian television series OCCUPIED is based on thorium and disruption of the energy markets.
One has to search for OCCUPIED under Scandinavian series. On Netflix... I saw it there perhaps 5 years ago.
It’s just making hot water. Turning that into electricity is another process. Then making that turn your lights on is a chore. The guys climbing the transmission polls are who you should kiss ass to. They get the electricity to you. Hot water don’t keep the lights on.by its self. Thank God for the middle men.
and the cooling water for the condensers?
I certainly understand the concepts. Perhaps you meant this for someone else?
I will yield on the technical issues to the freepers with serious chops in the field. But you are right about the politics.
As a political matter, I will be confident that thorium reactors are getting close to commercial viability when the left starts making them the subject of two minute hates at three minute intervals.
The left's goal is control. Managed scarcity and relentless downward levelling are tools to that end. Anything that opens a door to an abundance and opportunity society will be opposed in principle.
thorium
make skynet possible
That’s like asking wat good the stokers were on a steam-powered locomotive. Neat thing about steam power is that it has maximum torque even at 0 rpms...means you don’t need high speed movement to produce power.
They don’t want clean energy. They want rationed energy.
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