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There seems to be a similarity between international trade disputes and Texas Hold’em. There is always a certain amount of bluff that is part of the negotiations. The question is, how much is a bluff and how much is not. The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) has just revealed that they are going to use their stake in rare earth minerals production as their show card. Make no mistake -- the communist government is not bluffing. However, one good card does not make a winning hand. To understand the problem, we first must understand where rare earth mineral deposits are...

Thorium is an abundant material currently disposed of as waste. It is found in coal ash piles and mine tailings. A single Rare Earths mine could produce enough Thorium byproduct to power the entire planet. To do so requires a very different nuclear reactor than the kinds we use today. Not one that uses solid fuel rods, but a reactor in which the fuel is kept in a liquid state. Not one that uses pressurized water as a coolant, but a reactor that uses extremely stable molten salts.

Molten Salt Reactors enjoy 15 minutes of fame 11 June 2014   Print Email   A next-generation fast breeder reactor design is gaining popularity in research circles.On 6 June, UK researchers Jasper Tomlinson and Trevor Griffiths won £75,000 in Technology Strategy Board funding (including £20,000 of contributions-in-kind) to carry out an eight-month feasibility study.The project, which will be managed by mechanical engineer Rory O'Sullivan, aims to develop a ranking of alternatives and configurations of a liquid-fuelled molten-salt reactor, including costs, regulatory, public acceptance and site issues for building and licensing a pilot-scale demonstration reactor in the UK. It would...

Today, the United States Department of Energy announced that its Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee is partnering with Canadian nuclear company Terrestrial Energy Inc. (TEI) to assist with TEI’s new Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR). The engineering blueprint stage for this GenIV reactor should be reached in two years. The reactor should come online in less than ten.

Home Podcast   concept w/Shutterstock iTunes | Download | Report Problem Kirk Sorensen: An Update On The Thorium Story China sprints while the West slumbers by Adam Taggart Sunday, August 31, 2014, 11:54 AM   Two years ago, we interviewed Kirk Sorensen about the potential for thorium to offer humanity a safe, cheap and abundant source of energy.He is an active advocate for developing liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) technology, the details of which were covered in our earlier podcast: A Detailed Exploration of Thorium's Potential As An Energy Source. That interview concluded with Kirk's observation that the West...

UVU develops innovative nuclear technology 10 comments, Tuesday, February 4th, 2014, by KresLynn Knouse, in News UVU’s office of Technology Commercialization is currently in the process of developing a unique model of a nuclear reactor known as the molten salt reactor, or MSR. MSRs have the ability to recycle the 270,000 metric tons of toxic waste generated from traditional light water reactors into a substantial power supply.MSR development has received increased attention from countries such as China, India, Australia, and Japan due to the efficiency, safety and ‘eco-friendly’ features of the system.MSR design innovators have boasted the potential to boost...

Scientists in Shanghai are attempting a breakthrough in nuclear energy: reactors powered by thorium, an alternative to uranium.

Thorium China Is Using US Research to Take the Lead on Thorium Reactor Development   By Derek MeadA CAD render of an old Oak Ridge molten salt reactor design, via Flibe Energy In the fracking-dominated and carbon-obsessed United States, we often forget that carbon-neutral energy doesn't have to simply be solar and wind. There's also nuclear power, of which alternative, safe power cycles exist, ones that were first developed by American researchers. But after years of sitting around, that research is finally being put to use–by China.We've long discussed the thorium dream in depth here at Motherboard, largely because it's oh...

The Dual-Fluid Reactor, a MSR (Molten Salt Reactor) was entered into the Greentec contest by Berlin’s Institute for Solid-State Nuclear Physics. MSRs and other advanced nuclear designs auger a CO2-free energy future and represent clear improvements in nuclear safety, efficiency, and waste management when compared to conventional nuclear. The Dual-Fluid Reactor (DFR) can also be used as a source of industrial process heat to make hydrogen and synthetic fuels.

Taylor Wilson built a fusion reactor at age 14 and remains interested in nuclear technology. So, at 19, he has presented his idea for a small reactor concept that uses molten salt to make the smaller reactor both more powerful and more efficient than their cousins. Wilson's fission reactor operates at 600 to 700 degrees Celsius. And because the laws of thermodynamics say that high temperatures lead to high efficiencies, this reactor is 45 to 50 percent efficient. Traditional steam turbine systems are only 30 to 35 percent efficient because their reactors run at low temperatures of about 200 to...

My last article about thorium as an alternative nuclear reactor fuel drew way more readers than I expected. I intentionally glossed over the complexities of specific reactor designs for the sake of simplicity, but in this article I want to go deeper. This article explains some of the differences between traditional uranium reactors and molten salt thorium reactors (MSRs).

Learn more about Thorium reactors and the potential. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK367T7h6ZY (5 minute overview) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbyr7jZOllI (36 minutes...more "techie") http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZR0UKxNPh8 (about 1 hour....symposium like discussion)

Have noticed this topic mentioned previously ( http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2793363/posts ) and was hoping to engage people to determine HOW MUCH of a role thorium regulation plays in China's manufacturing advantage over USA (and Canada). I've heard conflicting opinions on this, and am looking for more to help clarify. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkC8kItzdZI I am new here. Ain't right wing. Am Canadian. Am curious if folks on the American right are familiar with Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR), and the energy/security implications stemming from thorium regulation? Because I don't believe it is common knowledge on American left. And it is not common knowledge in Canada....

Back in the 1950´s RC Briant, a scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, worked to develop a long range nuclear powered plane to carry atomic bombs and first proposed reactor fuel be dissolved in liquid fluoride salts. A test reactor proved Briant´s idea both feasible and advantageous. Later Alvin Weinberg, Director of Oak Ridge saw that molten fluoride salt could harness thorium-an abundant if slightly radioactive substance-and a 2nd reactor -the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment was built and operated for several years. It proved control rods were unnecessary and a liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) could be safe and serve...

China has committed itself to establishing an entirely new nuclear energy programme using thorium as a fuel, within 20 years. The LFTR (Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor) is a 4G reactor that uses liquid salt as both fuel and coolant. China uses the more general term TMSR (Thorium Molten-Salt Reactor). The thorium fuel cycles produce almost no plutonium, and fewer higher-isotope nasties, the long-lived minor actinides. Thorium is much more abundant than uranium, and the reduced plutonium output eases proliferation concerns. The energy output per tonne is also attractive, even though thorium isn't itself a fissile material. Thorium reactors are also...

If Barack Obama were to marshal America’s vast scientific and strategic resources behind a new Manhattan Project, he might reasonably hope to reinvent the global energy landscape and sketch an end to our dependence on fossil fuels within three to five years