By George Kennedy 5 hours ago
Posted on 03/14/2014 12:42:38 PM PDT by ckilmer
A car that could run for 100 years on one tank of fuel? It sounds like a far-fetched idea, but it is just what a company is apparently claiming possible with the use of an atomic fuel that was abandoned during the Nixon administration. We’re talking about the sounds-too-good-to-be-true substance called “Thorium.”
Thorium is a naturally occurring radioactive element. It was discovered in 1828 by a Norwegian mineralogist and identified by a Swedish chemist, who then named it after the Norse god, Thor.
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According to this video from The Young Turks (which is informative, if a little low-rent at times), if put to use properly, would be low pressure and have lower chances of danger to the environment and humans than a uranium-based reactor. The thorium reactors can be much smaller too. Like a conventional reactor, the heat produced would create steam that would power a turbine:
The report claims that small amount of the dense thorium could produce tremendous amounts of heat. A company called Laser Power Systems is attempting to employ this power source in a vehicle. The company claims that: “1 gram [of thorium] yields more energy than 7,396 gallons of gas.” By their math, 8 grams of the substance could power a thorium turbine car for a century. This is not the first time this fuel has been suggested for cars. The concept of an automobile use was brought up in the 2011 documentary “The Thorium Dream”:
RELATED: See Photos of the 1963 Chrysler Turbine
It has also been envisioned as a power source futuristic-looking designs like the Cadillac World Thorium Fuel Concept, shown here.
PHOTOS: See More of the 2009 Cadillac World Thorium Fuel Concept
Could this be a viable fuel for car? The testing in the 1960s found that the Thorium tetrafluoride used in a molten salt reactor was easier to process and quicker to stop a chain reaction, but light water reactors are far more common. In the LWR, thorium produces the same levels of toxic waste as our good ole’ uranium reactor. So there still may be a long way to go before we’re driving atomic cars.
Heh, “sounds too good to be true”. Got any soylent ambrosia for sale?
Does Dr Strangelove work for these guys?
Not if GM made it.
Hmmm, maybe we could use this for power plants and save the natural gas and other fuels to power transportation.
The car looks more like a stylized old Chevy truck.
Paging Steven Hyde...
And that's all I have to say about that!
You could plug it into the wall to power your house at night...
I used Thorium as fuel for a while, back in the ‘70s, but I don’t think I properly shielded the container I used.
The last thing I remember before passing out is running around wearing a horned helmet and carrying a hammer.
After I got out of the ‘hospital’, I went back to regular gas.
OK, and how much does 8 grams of Thorium cost?
Bump
There have been some prototype thorium reactors. But, they were built 40 years ago.
You could hear those turbines whine all the way around the track.
If you could build a reactor small enough for a car, seems it would make more sense to build one that was house-sized.
Then you could maybe sink it into the ground in the back yard for easy shielding, and you wouldn’t need to worry about crashes.
If we all had small power plants in our homes, then electric cars might not be so impractical.
So I guess that means I better get the undercarriage coating.
Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) have powered all of our interplanetary fly-bys and other fancy space stuff for years. When do we get ours?
My first visit to IMS was for practice in 1967. The Offenhausers would roar by, and then came Parnelli Jones and “whoooosh.” He was so much faster it was like pitting an F-16 against Me-109s.
Yeah, the Chinese and Indians are all over it...
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