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U.S. Researcher Preparing Prototype Cars Powered by Heavy-Metal Thorium
WardsAuto.com ^ | Aug 11, 2011 | Keith Nuthall

Posted on 08/13/2011 7:13:31 PM PDT by Oiao

A U.S. company says it is getting closer to putting prototype electric cars on the road that will be powered by the heavy-metal thorium (Steam Electric 250MW)... with prototype in two years....never needs refueled.

(Excerpt) Read more at wardsauto.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Miscellaneous; Technical
KEYWORDS: electriccars; energy; energyindependence; mrfusion; oil; thorium
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A U.S. company says it is getting closer to putting prototype electric cars on the road that will be powered by the heavy-metal thorium... with prototype in two years.

Because thorium is so dense, similar to uranium, it stores considerable potential energy: 1 gm of thorium equals the energy of 7,500 gallons (28,391 L) of gasoline Stevens says. So, using just 8 gm of thorium in a car should mean it would never need refueling.

Hedrick, the industrial minerals expert, says 7,500 gallons is “way more gasoline than an average person uses in a year. Switching to thorium-driven cars would make the U.S. energy self-sufficient, and carbon emissions would plummet.

1 posted on 08/13/2011 7:13:42 PM PDT by Oiao
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To: Oiao

250MW ?

What are they driving, a supertanker?


2 posted on 08/13/2011 7:17:38 PM PDT by HangnJudge
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To: Oiao

I used to have a bumper sticker that said “This truck powered by Metallica”.


3 posted on 08/13/2011 7:17:55 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin)
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To: Oiao
And clean the air so much it'd bring on the long overdue NEXT ICE AGE.

Best build the heating plants first!

4 posted on 08/13/2011 7:18:28 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: Oiao
"Today, thorium is relatively expensive - about $5,000 per kilogram."

8 gm --> $40.

Maybe not so expensive?

5 posted on 08/13/2011 7:18:47 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: HangnJudge

Thorium is what’s going to get astronauts to Mars and beyond.


6 posted on 08/13/2011 7:20:13 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: Oiao

I wonder how well these nuclear power plants mounted in automobiles will hold together during a collision? The envirowennies will scream about the release of radiation ...


7 posted on 08/13/2011 7:20:33 PM PDT by Ken522
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To: buccaneer81

“Thorium is what’s going to get astronauts to Mars and beyond.”

I believe you are confusing it with Dilitium Crystals...


8 posted on 08/13/2011 7:23:57 PM PDT by jessduntno (Obama shanks. America tanks.)
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To: Oiao

The car is nice but I want one in my house. The US should pioneer widespread self generation of electricity. No grid means stable and uninterruptable power. No grid means no transmission loss. The really game changing aspects are that the electric utility monopolies are gone. A retired couple could save up in their working years for a nice 30 year reactor and retire with no electric bill the rest of their lives.


9 posted on 08/13/2011 7:26:37 PM PDT by azcap (Who is John Galt ? www.conservativeshirts.com)
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To: Oiao

Cool.

10 posted on 08/13/2011 7:27:10 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: Oiao
This is pie in the sky. Maybe someday.

If magically, we wake up tomorrow and very automobile plant in the world is magically making Thorium powered cars, and they cost the same as today's gasoline powered cars, then in 10 years, half the cars on the road will still be burning gasoline. That's the way the real world works. The median age of our vehicles is over 10 years today.

Now, let's inject reality and show why even half of the vehicles won't be thorium powered 10 years from today. Here are the reasons:


11 posted on 08/13/2011 7:27:23 PM PDT by cc2k ( If having an "R" makes you conservative, does walking into a barn make you a horse's (_*_)?)
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To: Oiao

There is a vast cottage industry built around over-regulation and envirowhakoism. Anything that negates their existence is doomed to failure.


12 posted on 08/13/2011 7:27:28 PM PDT by umgud
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To: HangnJudge
You have a good point:

"Three megawatt hours of electricity would be required for an electric car to travel 12,000 miles a year."

NYT Article

13 posted on 08/13/2011 7:28:03 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: azcap

Me too! I’m still waiting for the home nuke plant the size of a cooler we were all sposed to have in our basements by now, generating free electricity.

But if they need to test drive this thing, I suggest they go run Algore down with it.


14 posted on 08/13/2011 7:28:26 PM PDT by bigbob
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To: Oiao

Heard some interesting stuff on a company touting thorium electrical generating plants the other day. Seems the research was done at Oak Ridge, but was written off because you couldn’t build nuclear weapons from it. Sounded promising


15 posted on 08/13/2011 7:28:39 PM PDT by Figment ("A communist is someone who reads Marx.An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx" R Reagan)
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To: Oiao

I want one for my home too.


16 posted on 08/13/2011 7:30:09 PM PDT by microgood
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To: jessduntno

No, you’re the confused one. Dilithium Crystals are what make Folgers’ such good coffee (grin)


17 posted on 08/13/2011 7:31:16 PM PDT by Salgak (Acme Lasers presents: The Energizer Border: I dare you to try and cross it. . .)
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To: Oiao

Caddy Thorium Concept

18 posted on 08/13/2011 7:31:57 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: jessduntno
I believe you are confusing it with Dilitium Crystals...

Thorium doesn't need to be mixed by hand in an emergency...

19 posted on 08/13/2011 7:33:00 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: HangnJudge; buccaneer81; Oiao

They must mean KW, in which case it would correspond 1.34x250= 335 HP.


20 posted on 08/13/2011 7:34:27 PM PDT by aquila48
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