Once the Obozo-ites are removed, root and branch, from Gummint, we may see this over here.
Imagine a safe, clean nuclear reactor that used a fuel that was hugely abundant, produced only minute quantities of radioactive waste and was almost impossible to adapt to make weapons. It sounds too good to be true, but this isn’t science fiction. This is what lies in store if we harness the power of a silvery metal found in river sands, soil and granite rock the world over: thorium.
One ton of thorium can produce as much energy as 200 tons of uranium, or 3.5 million tons of coal, and the thorium deposits that have already been identified would meet the entire world’s energy needs for at least 10,000 years. Unlike uranium, it’s easy and cheap to refine, and it’s far less toxic. Happily, it produces energy without producing any carbon dioxide: so an economy that ran on thorium power would have virtually no carbon footprint.
Better still, a thorium reactor would be incapable of having a meltdown, and would generate only 0.6 per cent of the radioactive waste of a conventional nuclear plant.
They're working on this in England (!) It's near fail-safe:
...left to its own devices, nothing would happen spontaneously in a thorium reactor at all. Thorium atoms only start to undergo fissile nuclear reactions and thus to release their energy when they’re bombarded with neutrons, and these would have to be supplied by an external source – ultimately, an accelerator.
Since it has all those advantages and will NOT bankrupt the US, you can rest assured that the Obozo Regime has no interest whatsoever.
HT: RenMan
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15 comments:
You'll blame anything on Obama, won't you? The world has been tinkering with thorium reactors for decades. Don't expect a press release to contain all the facts.
Obama appointed an anti-nuke guy to head up the NRC for the sole purpose of shutting down Yucca and hamstringing any further development in the industry.
Mission accomplished...
btw - there are also small sodium-cooled reactors that could use the spent fuel rods laying around all over the globe as fuel. What is left over from that is a lot less toxic.
"Obama appointed an anti-nuke guy to head up the NRC for the sole purpose of shutting down Yucca and hamstringing any further development in the industry.
Mission accomplished..."
How much nuc-ular development occurred under GWB? And what was the nefarious reason behind that?
Ah, the obligatory "Stupid Bush" inference. Nicely done. Dickhead.
Actually, Combined License and continued development of Yucca was under Bush. Also, multiple "inherently safe" designs were approved under the Bush NRC.
And I'll add that if this President and his administration are so f-ing smart, why is everyone (except his pals) so royally screwed in nearly everything. They're the gang who couldn't shoot straight. Show me something that gives me evidence they are any smarter than Bush.
"Show me something that gives me evidence they are any smarter than Bush."
As if you would believe it anyways, right? You shill.
That's ok...I'll wait. And I understand since this is the most opaque administration in my lifetime, I can see why it would be hard for you to find evidence. Any.
There is no evidence that Obozo is smarter. No college transcripts, no BAR applications, no notes from his days in the IL State Legislature. Certainly not from his record as candidate or President - economic disaster, foreign relations faux pas, apology tours. Nope, 2008 was smoke and mirrors.
It will be far more difficult this go-round.
Hi Dad,
This is a great post.
Fascinating subject and I totally agree that the Obama Administration would not be interested in it as it would leave less for them to exploit and they simply lack the intelligence and faith necessary worship the lord of life .
Good Shot -Bulls Eye!
( This is why John Faust is whining so much! Truth hurts )
I took the liberty of asking Iioannis at Commentarius de Prognosticis blog his take on you posting.
He knows alot about Nuclear Energy and it will be interesting to see his take on it.
If one searches his web site under the search term
"Nuclear Energy" it is fascinating to read his discussion on the nuclear disaster in
Japan, the churches position on Nuclear Energy and I
absolutely loved his condemnation of Gneral Electric Nuclear reactor design at Fukushima Daiichi site......
It takes a while to read everything he posts, but well worth it. Here is the Link:
http://commentarius-ioannis.blogspot.com/search/label/nuclear%20energy
It's Dad29 who is making the assertion that somehow the Obama administration is suppressing this technology. I'll leave it to him to show the evidence for this. Until he does, can we agree that it was simply his prejudice and paranoia that caused him to suggest that Obama-ites were the obstacle keeping him from electricity "too cheap to meter"?
Please forgive any typos.
Dad is essentially correct about thorium reactors. Technically, Th-232 is fertile material that on absorption of a thermal neutron become Th-233 which immediately decays to Pa-233 which after a 26 day half life undergoes beta minus decay to become U-233 which is fissile. There are problems with Pa-233 and conversion efficiency, but these are abrogated in molten salt reactors which use continuous Pa-233 removal to prevent it from absorbing a neutron which makes it become Pa-234 which in turn beta minus decays to U-234 which is non-fissile. Molten salt reactors were experimented on in the 60s and early 70s for application in aircraft engines (yup, that's right - aircraft). The idea was abandoned because of the plentifulness of uranium at the time and the inexperience of commercial reactors in using thorium. As I recall, however, Indian Point unit 2 was fueled with a blanket of Th-232 during its early days and the experiment was successful. However, it was still cheaper to enrich uranium.
BTW, other than U-233, there are only two other isotopes that are fissile with thermal neutrons: U-235 (used in most commercial reactors) and Pu-239 (generated by neutron capture in U-238 which goes to Np-239 which decays to Pu-239.
Because U-235 is only 0.7% of all naturally occurring uranium, and because fission can't be achieved with such a low percentage when using light water as a moderator, it has to be enriched. Most commercial reactors use up to 5% enrichment. The Canadians get around this by using heavy water (deuterium), so they don't have to use enrichment. The thorium cycle gets around both problems, but involves handling radioactive fuel to extract the U-233.
Using thorium technology gets us away from plutonium problems. And thorium is 30 times more plentiful than uranium.
Obama is opposed to nuclear energy regardless of what liberals who call themselves pro-nuclear say. Bush started the Global Nuclear Energy Program and NSSS companies like GE-Hitachi, Westinghouse, Areva, etc. were hiring like mad. Now they are locked in stand still and there have been layoffs.
NRC Chairman Jackzo was appointed as Commissioner by Bush back in 2007 or so in a deal with Harry Reid to get John Roberts in SCOTUS. Reid wouldn't allow Roberts to go to the Senate floor for a vote without a recess appointment of Jackzo who was Reid's hit man agains the Yucca Mountain used fuel repository. BTW, Jackzo work for Massachusetts Rep Ed Markey against the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant before working for Reid. The Nuclear Enewrgy Institute pitched a fit about Jackzo' appointment and insisted on balance with Senator Pete Domenici's man, Peter Lyons. So both went to the Commission. Then that godless man of sin, the Obamanation of Desolation, got elected. He demoted pro-nuclear Dale Klein as chairman and put Jackzo in his place. Then he let Peter Lyons and Dale Klein go at the end of their terms. Then Jackzo killed the Yucca Mountain project in the NRC.
Yes, there are some self-described nuclear experts who proudly wave the Demokratik Party flag. But in the meantime, due to Demokrat Andy Cuomo (NY State's governor) the Indian Point Energy Center might get shut down. Anmd due to the dope smoking hippie Demokrats in Vermont, the Demokratrik Vermont legislature voted to shut Vermont Yankee down in 2012.
Here are the three dirtiest words in the English language: liberal, progressive democrat. These people murder unborn babies and sanctify the filth of homosexual sodomy. Is it any wonder that they oppose clean, safe nuclear energy (except for a few nit wits who still believe in murdering babies but claim to support nuclear energy).
I have worked in the nuclear industry for 30+ years. I was there when that adulterer Clinton appoint Shirley Ann Jackson as Chairman of the NRC. What a freaking idiot from Academia! And I saw how Bush kept Nils Diaz from the Innovative Nuclear Space Propulsion Institute as Chairman and how nuclear power plant capacity factors rose into the +90% range with him in charge. And I saw how NSSS companies began hiring to build new reactors when Diaz rited and Bush put in Dale Klein from the Navy. Then that idolatrous baby murderer Obamessiah puts in Jackzo and the industry does a nose dive. I am so disgusted with this whole mess that I rarely talk about nuclear on my blogsite. I purposefully distance myself from liberals who call themselves pro-nuclear simply because I shall NOT cooperate with the forces of evil no matter what the purpose.
Now here is my prediction. Unless this nation repents of baby murdering and homosexual filth, no amount of nuclear energy can save us. God allowed King Manasseh of Judah to be carried away into captivity because of the kinds of crimes that Obama now commits. 2nd Chronicles 7:14 says, "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
To all you godless liberals, I don't care what you think. You repent now or you burn for an eternity. The same is true of me. God makes no exceptions. I am done dialoguing with you. Nuclear energy can't save you. Only repentance before the Throne of Grace can.
and sanctify the filth of homosexual sodomy...
You need to check some of the comments Dad29 condones regarding this "sin", loannes.
So far, everything he's said is true.
YOU might not agree, but that's YOUR problem, not mine, and not his.
Yes, Shirley Ann Jackson was a complete moron, waiving security checks on various foreign "visitors" to sensitive nuke installations...
And executing Clinton's order to shut down a nuke which produced a VERY valuable medical isotope--the only such nuke in the world.
But the folks who died as a result of Clinton's stupidity haven't complained, have they?
This is worth a look
http://commentarius-ioannis.blogspot.com/2011/07/archbishop-chullikatts-address-on.html
Umnnhhhh.....
Does the Archbishop also condemn coal due to the number of fatal and life-impairing injuries sustained in the coal mines?
Yes, the Japanese situation is grave. But like all other developments, there is a learning curve.
Or we could go back to whale-oil.
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