Actually, I’ve been saying this for years. And I want bids on the stock of the first company allowed to try this.
Besides, Obama spent our allowance money already.
I would prefer that the government not be accumulating all of these trillions and trillions of debt, but if they are going to be spending these insane amounts of money, this is actually the sort of stuff I think they should be spending it on: energy resources and infrastructure.
Yeah, apparently, Ambrose does not realize 1) the cost of the Manhattan Project....in relative 1940’s monetary terms, and 2) does not realize that the US is broke... =.=
Will it strengthen the United States?
Will if weaken petrodollar fueled islamists?
The answers to those questions will tell you with 100% certainty where 0bama squats to pee on the issue.
He works for the Saudis along with McCain. They want us reliant on Saudi oil even though we have 3 to 4 time sthe saudis reserves in oil, nat gas, shale oil, methane hydrates, coal diesel,etc.
It is to funnel America's wealth to the Wahhabists in Saudi Arabia.
Thorium is a very promising source of energy.
Government can best help by getting all the red tape out of the way, not by paying for the development.
Wow. Let's do it. Shame on the left for not promoting this. Rightwing ho!
Is this one of those things that will crash an economy based on oil?
This article works from the false assumption that Obamao might want to improve the USA. He is here to kill us.
The reality is, this is all just a way to avoid doing anything that would even resemble a free-market solution and will only increase government control over more energy resources.
With 251 million cars/trucks/motorcycles, and who knows how many airplanes, jets helicopters (military and non-military), it’s gonnna take a dammed site more than 5 years before the majority of them were somehow converted to a non-has/diesel based fuel source. But, the sooner we start, the better.
For about US$100Bn upfront, the US could save $400Bn a decade in energy costs going forward , if you use estimates of oil/gas reserves reaching a pricing plateau due to diminishing returns on remaining reserves.
However, the usefulness of additional supply will probably be wasted, as China is effectively embargoing all the rare earth minerals needed to build electric car batteries.
Either way... money spent to build 25 pebble bed reactors in the US would have done massively more good for the country’s citizens than wasting it on Fannie Freddie, AIG etc.
Someone needs to give us the downside of thorium-based reactors. There have to be some. Possibly the liquid fuel cycle is too touchy or the lifetime of the reactors is too short. It certainly can be done but economic considerations must be holding it back.
Please, please let’s not have our Federal Government throw billions of dollars toward a hoped-for a thorium-power breakthrough. We have over 70 years of nuclear research behind us. If thorium-based power production was clearly superior to uranium, we’d be using thorium now.
Thorium cooks very similarly to U238. But it couldn’t fission like U235, IIRC.
The US wanted U235 and Plutonium, so Thorium research got pushed aside in favor of Uranium reactors.
That’s how I remember it anyway.
The guy that received the most from BP in the last twenty years, is not going to upset the apple cart.
Good article.
It’s nice to know we really have nothing to worry about in the long run.
Whenever we think we have a real, serious problem, we can use Thorium.
We don’t have an energy problem, really, I guess. Good stuff.