Thorium reactor talk at TED

[DocM]

TED = the internatiinal Technology Entertainment and Design conferences.

Former NASA scientist Kirk Sorensen recently gave a talk on thorium liquid salt reactors at TED. In this he discusses their potential uses on Earth and in lunar colonies and their inherent safety features.

[Reacon]

Why don't we use Thorium? It is in so much abundance, that we throw it away and miners treat it as a nuisance. It's more reactive and efficient than Uranium, too!

[Lant]

Why don't we use Thorium?

I think its mostly due to the following:

In a non-proliferation sense, there are also good reasons to prefer a sub-critical thorium reactor, as it is impossible to make weapons-grade materials from thorium.

Source: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/features/print/348/new-age-nuclear?page=0%2C3

I've been following Thorium news for a while now and would love to see a reactor actually built

[DocM]

Yup, the ONLY reason uranium was chosen over thorium for powerplants was that the former produced enough plutonium to mass produce nuclear weapons.

For power thorium is far superior; cheaper, more efficient, and much safer. In liquid salt reactors the vapor pressure is very low, it's already liquid so "meltdown"' is a non-issue, and with no water it's not possible to produce hydrogen explosions.

[acnpt]

Aren't they already making Thorium reactors in China?

[DocM]

They're just ramping up, and so is India. Many other nations are preping to build test reactors, but here we're still at home, washing our tights :p

[Singh400]

Aren't they already making Thorium reactors in China?

Yup they are leading the way:- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/8393984/Safe-nuclear-does-exist-and-China-is-leading-the-way-with-thorium.html

It's a shame because I believe that US the pioneered the technology, but they didn't pursue it!

[spudtrooper]

Yup they are leading the way:- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/8393984/Safe-nuclear-does-exist-and-China-is-leading-the-way-with-thorium.html

It's a shame because I believe that US the pioneered the technology, but they didn't pursue it!

I don't think any country is building a thorium reactor yet. Wikipedia link talks about reasons for not pursuing it and mentions 2025 is a potential first design. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten_salt_reactor

For one thing, they're so damn expensive per capita..

The "Salt" storage technology is nice though, thats what the big solar plant out in Nevada does to be able to generate electricity at night as well.. i'm pretty sure that solar/salt plant was MUCH cheaper than the 10+ billion to build a new reactor on an untested commerical design :)

[cybertimber2008]

I'm also one who's been following Thorium reactors and wondering why we aren't persuing it.

[DocM]

The US actually built thorium test reactors from 1958 to ~1973, but put its resources into uranium to maximize plutonium production for warheads during the cold war.

China started its LFTR (liquid flouride salt thorium reactor) in 2010 on an accelerated schedule. The US, Japan & Russia are trying to catch up to prevent China from tying up the intellectual property rights, but much if this development is not open lest it be "appropriated." India is taking the heavy water-thorium approach.

[spudtrooper]

I'm also one who's been following Thorium reactors and wondering why we aren't persuing it.

They're expensive, no one has built one to scale beyond laboratory testing and there are still issues with disposal costs. Energy prices have to increase more than current rates to make them financially viable.

i say let other countries try and do it first.. if we see them become viable then we could fast track a few facilities, but if we see them as a headache, at least they're not our headache :)

[guru]

The US actually built thorium test reactors from 1958 to ~1973, but put its resources into uranium to maximize plutonium production for warheads during the cold war.

i say let other countries try and do it first.. if we see them become viable then we could fast track a few facilities, but if we see them as a headache, at least they're not our headache :)

not to go off on an tangent... but for some reason , those statements reminds me of Microsoft lol