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We may already have access to a bountiful, safe supply of clean energy
American Thinker ^ | 05/03/2026 | Jerold Levoritz

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 ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: cleanenergy; energy; herewegoagain; reprocessingcosts; thorium
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To: rlmorel

Again no need for new tech. The Russians have had a fast spectrum reactor running since the 1970s providing not only power but also desalination water on the Caspian Sea. It is a sodium cooled fast reactor they have two more larger ones based on the older proven tech.

We had a fully functional integral fast reactor that had all the reprocessing tech on-site and it did process fuel putting back in spent fuel plus additional U238 and only fission products came out as solid glass in steel tubes.

Proven tech we know it worked and worked well.

They tried to melt it down. They could not by any means they tried. They pulled the rods all out at full power , the negative Doppler coef shut it down on it’s own. They shut the coolant pumps off at full power , it is a pool reactor natural circulation took over and the pool mass plus the guard vessel air cooling didn’t even come close to boiling the liquid sodium again the Doppler effect shut it down. Then they did what would absolutely destroy a PWR they run it up to full power pulled the rods AND cut the pumps. This is deliberate sabotage level event as it could never happen in any foreseeable normal operating mode. Yup natural circulation took over and the Doppler effect shut it down. You simply cannot melt down a properly designed sodium pool reactor.

We had this tech and Clinton that traitor shut it down to save $37 million a year in finding. No it was killed because it worked too well. IFR is forever energy, it unlocks 83 terajoules per kg of uranium ALL uranium not just U235 in the 0.7% isotope vs U238.

The IFR is a energy conversion machine it converts mass into energy at the E=MC^2 level no other machine does this fusion that is still years away can it is the only other way.

1kg of U any Uranium is 83 TJ that’s equal too 14,300 barrels of oil we have hundreds of thousands of tonnes of uranium sitting 700,000+ tonnes every single KG has the energy of 14,000 bbl of oil.

You now see why the commies cannot allow the IFR tech to flourish.

Again Aalo in Austin is doing sodium cooled reactors, they are end running by using solid moderator and enriched U235 but make no mistake the fires , pumps and control rods are designed to take the solid moderator pins out and put Pu239 pins in with U238 blanket pins. It is a fast spectrum core from day one hiding in plain sight as a thermal spectrum sodium cooled snickers ha reactor.


61 posted on 05/04/2026 8:38:44 AM PDT by GenXPolymath
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To: The Great RJ

Nah China has batteries today that can do days worth of discharge.

20ft iso container holds 14.5 megawatt hours worth of energy storage, that powers a typical office building for days. 500kw is normal load for a 10 story office building. A Costco uses a megawatt when open and half that when closed.

The LCOS round trip for this megapack is $1.4 per megawatt hours worth of energy storage. That’s 1.4 cents per kWh round trip. Texas has negative $3 wholesale power from 0800 till 1600 yesterday because we had 87% of the grid power was solar wind and nukes. I posted the real time data and the wholesale prices yesterday look at my post history it’s in there.

If you owned a office building or condo complex you could’ve been paid to charge your BYD megapack $3 per megawatt hour and it would have cost you $1.4 to store it and pull it back out for a net profit to you. Yeah this tech already exists tariffs keep it from being available here.

https://interestingengineering.com/energy/china-byd-dc-battery-block

14.5 MWh is enough for 10 homes using 50kWh per day a typical summer’s day in Texas in a 3000sq ft home , 14500kWh is 29 days worth for those ten homes this is from a box 20 feet long, 8 feet wide and 8.5 feet tall half a 40 ft shipping container size.

For $1.4 per megawatt hours stored I would gladly go in with ten of my neighbors and house that small of a box in the back 2 acres it’s only 160 square feet of area for crying out loud.

Welcome to the 21st century my guy.

Oh and 100+ hour iron batteries are in production .

https://formenergy.com/technology/battery-technology/

We are not ever going to be short on iron or oxygen. And it’s like $6 kWh in materials cost using Fe as your triple valence state metal.

https://imgur.com/PYwFtRd


62 posted on 05/04/2026 8:55:21 AM PDT by GenXPolymath
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To: rlmorel
As a former reactor operator this is the most promising and amazing technology I've read about. It is the Chinese who are actually building a test reactor with it:

Accelerator-driven sub-critical reactors (ADSR) or systems (ADS) combine a particle accelerator with a sub-critical nuclear core, using external neutrons to sustain fission rather than a self-sustaining chain reaction. This hybrid design offers high safety against runaways and efficiently burns radioactive waste (transmutation), transforming it into shorter-lived isotopes.

63 posted on 05/04/2026 8:56:03 AM PDT by Nateman (Democrats did not strive for fraud friendly voting merely to continue honest elections.)
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To: GenXPolymath
..stop being ninnies about plutonium..

The problem with PU is that fast neutrons make it split. With reactors that use thermal /or slow neutrons you have more control. If the substance slowing down the neutrons gets hot , less slow neutrons get made so the reactor is self adjusting that way. PU is great for bombs because the fast neutrons continue the reaction quickly so it all gets used up fast. Perfect for bombs!

64 posted on 05/04/2026 9:21:19 AM PDT by Nateman (Democrats did not strive for fraud friendly voting merely to continue honest elections.)
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To: Nateman

Fast reactors are also required to have a negative temperature coefficient.


65 posted on 05/04/2026 9:33:23 AM PDT by TexasGator (T11..)
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To: Nateman

Bruh did you even read about the IFR? It’s 1970s tech a pool sodium reactor has be design a negative Doppler coefficient heating it up automatically due to the base laws of the universe slows the critical reaction rate down.

They pulled the rods out at full power trying to spike it they could not the negative Doppler coefficient kicks in immediately.

Pool cooled sodium reactor are an order of magnitude safer than BWR or PWR for that matter both can melt down a pool sodium reactor simply cannot. It’s thermal mass and secondary guard vessel air cooling by convection keeps the sodium below the boiling point under any conditions.

You can pull the rods AND kill the pumps it will shut down and convention decay heat cool indefinitely.

Literally walk away safe. The humans could be dead and it will just sit there cooling down. Eventually The sodium will freeze and seal it up for good. In a true end of the world scenario. The double top cover and argon cover gas should last thousands if not tens of thousands of years this doesn’t include the impact rated concrete building around all of that.


66 posted on 05/04/2026 9:42:30 AM PDT by GenXPolymath
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To: SeekAndFind
I often wonder why someone like Elon Musk doesn't turn his attention and evident genius to developing solutions to energy production and infrastructure. Mars isn't going anywhere. And he seems to be hugely underestimating (understating) the actual difficulties and dangers in sending humans (radiation and temperature sensitive air, water, and food dependent bags of meat and feces) there and back alive.

Maybe we can practice for Mars by first colonizing Antarctica or the Continental Shelf. Sort out dealing with Martian like temperatures/lack of breathable air first. And work on safe, economical, and relatively clean nuclear energy as an existential priority.

67 posted on 05/04/2026 9:44:16 AM PDT by katana
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To: GenXPolymath
...Bruh did you even read about the IFR?

I can guarantee that they were never even mentioned in Naval nuclear power schools in 1982. I noticed in reading about it tests were conducted by the Department of Energy in 1984. The concept sounds brilliant. The results even better . Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

68 posted on 05/04/2026 11:13:50 AM PDT by Nateman (Democrats did not strive for fraud friendly voting merely to continue honest elections.)
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To: SeekAndFind

You have never dealt with a treehugger, have you? Not only are they more stupid than a turnip, they just refuse to listen. No better than the hired thugs rioting in the street against ICE.

Simple Uranium will supply us for thousands of years, but no treehugger will let that happen.


69 posted on 05/04/2026 11:27:03 AM PDT by bobbo666
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To: Nateman

This is the way....

Based on studies of the Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) concept developed at Argonne National Laboratory, here are the estimated figures for a scaled-up, 1 GWe (1,000 megawatt-electric) plant:

Initial Fuel Mass (Total): Approximately 90 tonnes (including core and blankets).Plutonium (Pu) in Initial Core: Roughly 10–15 tonnes of plutonium (or other transuranics) are required in the core for a 1 GWe metal-fuelled fast reactor to achieve criticality and operate.

Fission Products Produced Per Year: Approximately 1 tonne of fission product waste per year of operation.

Key Considerations:

Fission Product Waste: While a 1 GWe light-water reactor (LWR) produces ~22 tons of spent fuel (including uranium), the 1 GWe IFR produces ~1 ton of actual fission products (high-level waste) per year because it recycles its unused fuel.

Fuel Cycle: The IFR utilizes pyroprocessing to recycle actinide fuel on-site, meaning only fission products and a tiny amount of transuranic waste are removed from the cycle.

That single metric tonne must be replaced with uranium it doesn’t matter if it’s U238 or natural uranium with 0.7% U235 it’s all fertile and fissile in the fast spectrum every single gram at the E=MC^2 level this is humanities greatest achievement. A machine that unlocks E=MC^2 AND makes more fuel in the process at a ratio of 30-40% in excess of what was converted to high energy photons and particles.

Each IFR every 18months outputs 30% MORE Pu then went in the first place in 4 fuel cycles you have now a second IFR worth and four more cycles you have 2+2 worth. 1 becomes 2 becomes 4,becomes 8 THIS IS HOW YOU SCALE TO species level 5000 Exajoules.

We have 700,000+ tonnes of depleted U238 sitting waiting to be turned into energy and 80,000 tonnes of spent fuel that holds 700 tonnes of Pu enough for 70 gigawatt scale IFRs which will span 140 more, then 280 in the first 12 fuel cycles.

Based on total U.S. light-duty vehicle miles and Tesla Model 3 efficiency, powering all light vehicle travel with Tesla Model 3s would require approximately 100 to 150 1-GWe (Gigawatt-electric) nuclear power plants.

The BreakdownTotal Light Vehicle Miles: As of early 2026, Americans drive over 3.2 trillion miles annually.

Model 3 Efficiency: Real-world usage indicates an average efficiency of roughly 4 miles per kWh (or 250 Wh/mile).Total

Electricity Needed: 3.2 trillion miles \ 4 miles/kWh = 800 billion kWh (or 800 TWh) per year.

Nuclear Plant Output: A typical 1-GWe nuclear plant running at 90% capacity produces roughly 7.88 billion kWh

The first spawn of the IFR daughter reactors covers all light vehicle miles in the USA. Even using Cyber trucks it’s 320 wh / mile and the total inefficient truck bro grocery getter that never does truck things Ford F-150 Lightning typically consumes between 400 and 600 watt-hours per mile (Wh/mi), or roughly 1.8 to 3.4 miles per kWh (mi/kWh).

The F ing Tesla Semi at 82,000lbs only needs 1.7kWh per mile.

Yeah

Based on recent data, replacing all US combination truck (tractor-trailer) shipping with Tesla Semis at 1.7 kWh per mile would require approximately 43 to 45 1-Gigawatt electric (GWe) nuclear reactors to power the entire fleet, assuming they operate continuously.

1. Total Annual Mileage (Combination Trucks)Total Miles: Combination trucks (the “shipping” fleet) traveled approximately 195.76 billion miles in 2023.

Total Annual Energy: (195.76 \ billion miles x 1.7 kWh/mile = 332.79billion kWh) (or 332.79 Terawatt-hours/TWh) per year.

But but long haul semi bros and charges times. Irrelevant look at the real world data.

It’s in their minds less than 7% of all freight moves more than 1000 miles. 87% is under 250 and the Tesla Semi does that with ease today.

How long to charge....

“The Tesla Semi Megacharger charges the Tesla Semi at a rate of 1.2 megawatts (1,200 kW), enabling the truck to replenish up to 60–70% of its battery range in just 30 minutes. This allows for roughly 300 miles of added range in half an hour, primarily using the Megawatt Charging System (MCS) standard”

Most states mandatory rest breaks are longer than this.

The vast majority of trucking by tonnage moved is regional and under 500 miles per day.

Yeah the numbers.

Breakdown of Truck Tonnage by Distance (2024–2025)
Recent data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) and the Department of Energy highlights a strong concentration of freight in short-distance brackets:

Under 100 miles: Approximately 44% of total truck tonnage.

100 to 249 miles: Approximately 43% of total truck tonnage.

Total Regional (Under 250 miles): Roughly 87% of all U.S. truck freight tonnage moves within this range.

Long-Haul (1,000+ miles): Only about 6.4% of total freight weight travels 1,000 miles or more


70 posted on 05/04/2026 12:13:00 PM PDT by GenXPolymath
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To: Nateman
I am just gonna leave this here for discussion since the Tesla Semi has documented 500 mile range with 45,000lb net loads and has done 800+ miles in a day with team drivers since no state anywhere will let a single person drive 11+ hours let alone 8 w/o a 30 min stop those are Federal level laws the states can be more strict.





71 posted on 05/04/2026 12:33:06 PM PDT by GenXPolymath
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To: Nateman

Fun fact is a 1GWe reactor needs 1.5-2 billion cubic meters of seawater for condenser cooling while rejecting 2000 megawatt hours of waste heat per hour of operation.

This is enough heat to desal 130,000,000 gallons per day using rapid spray evaporation desalination.

2*10^9(m^3) of seawater holds 6,600kg of uranium in it.

The Chinese have a electrode that grabbed 100% from the south China Sea in testing and the cost was $83 / kg for the yellow cake you could see it in the carbon fiber membrane it was so caked pun intended up.

6,600kg of uranium in a fast IFR type reactor is 541,200terajoules worth of energy.

At 33% thermal to electricity it’s 49,500,000 kWh or 5.56 gigawatt years electric.

In other words the seawater coolant is carrying 5.56 times the electrical output in uranium mass flows. You can fuel 5 GWe of reactors of a single GWe coolant flows.

This only holds for fast spectrum reactors if you can only use the 0.7% U235 isotope then you need 150 plus tonnes per year of uranium so you can strip out that tiny fraction and enrich it to 4.5% U235 it’s criminal to do this when we have fast reactor tech ready to use.


72 posted on 05/04/2026 1:16:11 PM PDT by GenXPolymath
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To: GenXPolymath
"rejecting 2000 megawatt hours of waste heat per hour of operation."
73 posted on 05/04/2026 1:24:26 PM PDT by TexasGator (T11..)
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To: GenXPolymath

Late in uranium thermal reactor cycles, Pu is producing about 40% of the heat.


74 posted on 05/04/2026 1:50:12 PM PDT by TexasGator (T11..)
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To: rlmorel

tl;dr


75 posted on 05/04/2026 2:16:37 PM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: GenXPolymath

Red China says they have lots of things, via unverifiable claims.


76 posted on 05/04/2026 2:18:54 PM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: GenXPolymath
...We have 700,000+ tonnes of depleted U238 sitting waiting to be turned into energy ...

You've hit on a pet peave of mine. All that potential energy wasted into ordinance for the Army. It is like fighting a war with golden bullets. I can see how the Clinton Regime passed over this kind of reactor due to proliferation concerns. Or was he taking orders from China to do so? Lots of proof he sold them nuclear secrets. Nothing was too low for that scumbag. Getting blowjobs in the Oval Office is exactly what I would expect from the likes of him.

77 posted on 05/04/2026 2:59:05 PM PDT by Nateman (Democrats did not strive for fraud friendly voting merely to continue honest elections.)
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To: GenXPolymath
...At 33% thermal to electricity...

Your guess was too high. More like 25%. Did you know the U-235 fissile loses 10% of its energy in the form of neutrinos ? If you had some method of detecting those ghostly particles our submarines would shine like mega spotlights.

78 posted on 05/04/2026 3:05:27 PM PDT by Nateman (Democrats did not strive for fraud friendly voting merely to continue honest elections.)
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To: TexasGator

“rejecting 2000 megawatt hours of waste heat per hour of operation.””

No the proper units are MWh per hour

A 1 gigawatt nuclear reactor electric is rejecting 2/3s of its 3 gigawatt thermal output. Every second it is producing 3000 megawatts of heat 2/3 of that end up as 40C condenser water.

2000 megawatts per second over an hour period is 2000megawatt hours of heat. So yes what I said is accurate 2000MWh per hour or 48,000 megawatt hours worth of heat per day. MWh is a unit of energy not power.

2000MWh is also 7200 gigajoules which is what the amount of waste heat that would be produced in a single hour of operation of a typical 1GWe reactor.

48GWh per day is another way to say it.


79 posted on 05/04/2026 3:12:42 PM PDT by GenXPolymath
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To: Nateman

Modern PWR do routinely hit 34-36% even CANDU can hit 30% with feed water reheat.

https://world-nuclear.org/our-association/publications/technical-positions/cooling-of-power-plants

“Nuclear plants currently being built have about 34-36% thermal efficiency, while one of the new reactor designs boasts 39%.”

Sodium fast reactors operate much hotter than PWR in the 500C range they are approaching 44% typical 40-43% running at 500-550C much hotter than the 330C of a PWR.

Supercritical CO2 turbines at 550C cross 50% gross efficiency it’s why SCO2 was developed in the first place for advanced high temp reactors the gas cooled kind first then sodium metal cooled.


80 posted on 05/04/2026 3:19:14 PM PDT by GenXPolymath
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