Posted on 02/20/2011 1:02:34 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
An abundant metal with vast energy potential could quickly wean the world off oil, if only Western political leaders would muster the will to do it, a UK newspaper says today. The Telegraph makes the case for thorium reactors as the key to a fossil-fuel-free world within five years, and puts the ball firmly in President Barack Obama's court.
Thorium, named for the Norse god of thunder, is much more abundant than uranium and has 200 times that metal's energy potential. Thorium is also a more efficient fuel source -- unlike natural uranium, which must be highly refined before it can be used in nuclear reactors, all thorium is potentially usable as fuel.
The Telegraph says thorium could be used as an energy amplifier in next-generation nuclear power plants, an idea conceived by Nobel laureate Carlo Rubbia, former director of CERN.
Known as an accelerator-driven system, it would use a particle accelerator to produce a proton beam and aim it at lump of heavy metal, producing excess neutrons. Thorium is a good choice because it has a high neutron yield per neutron absorbed.
Thorium nuclei would absorb the excess neutrons, resulting in uranium-233, a fissile isotope that is not found in nature. Moderated neutrons would produce fissioned U-233, which releases enough energy to power the particle accelerator, plus an excess that can drive a power plant. Rubbia says a fistful of thorium could light up London for a week.
The idea needs refining, but is so promising that at least one private firm is getting involved. The Norwegian firm Aker Solutions bought Rubbia's patent for this thorium fuel cycle, and is working on his design for a proton accelerator.
The Telegraph says this $1.8 billion (£1.2 billion) project could lead to a network of tiny underground nuclear reactors, producing about 600 MW each. Their wee size would negate the enormous security apparatus required of full-size nuclear power plants.
After a three-decade lull, nuclear power is enjoying a slow renaissance in the U.S. The 2005 energy bill included $2 billion for six new nuclear power plants, and this past February, Obama announced $8.3 billion in loan guarantees for new nuclear plants.
But nuclear plants need fuel, which means building controversial uranium mines. Thorium, on the other hand, is so abundant that it's almost an annoyance. It's considered a waste product when mining for rare-earth metals.
Thorium also solves the non-proliferation problem. Nuclear non-proliferation treaties (NPT) prohibit processes that can yield atomic bomb ingredients, making it difficult to refine highly radioactive isotopes. But thorium-based accelerator-driven plants only produce a small amount of plutonium, which could allow the U.S. and other nations to skirt NPT.
The Telegraph says Obama needs a Roosevelt moment, recalling the famous breakfast meeting when Albert Einstein convinced the president to start the Manhattan Project. A thorium stimulus could be just what the lagging economy needs.
Democrats will fight it.
The problem isn’t that they are against oil and coal, or even nuclear power.
The problem is that they are against abundant affordable energy from any source.
They can’t stand to see America strong, self reliant and independant. And they can’t stand to see other Americans prosperous, happy, well fed, free to live where and how we want. And they know that affordable energy makes that all possible.
They want others (except themselves and other good party members) to lower our standard of living, live with less, eat what they prescribe, reside in government approved housing in cities where we will use mass transit and where the government can monitor our every move.
In the democrat utopian world America would be just another socialist workers paradise. No one (other than them) whould have more than anyone else, most especially freedom of choice, action and movement. And they know it is affordable energy from any source that gives us the prosperity and freedom they despise.
If electricity were cheap and plentiful then there would be more practicval electric vehicles- and less oil(gasoline) needed
I think this is what the article means
“Western Leaders” will never give give up that much power.
We the People will need to run with this.....
Cap’n, the thorium reactors are overloaded!
I’ve been reading a lot about LFTR reactors, and there’s even a great Google Seminar on YouTube about them.
If they’re so great, and the fuel so abundant, and they’re so safe, why haven’t they been produced yet?
There has to be some tiny little ‘gotcha’ somewhere that is keeping this from becoming commercially viable.
You need to add the sac, to that lie!!!
Why, exactly, do we want to “wean the world off oil”?
Here’s the money quote FTA -
“The idea needs refining ...”
While we continue to poison our world with fossil-fuel derived energy while awaiting the development of truly sustainable (and enormous) baseload power requirements via renewable options, this ecological paradox begs us to question why! Apparently, this tragic situation still exists primarily because since the “Atomic Age” the Public has been collectively coerced by the historical circumstances around nuclear power, our fears of unknown “nuke” threats, and our general ignorance that surrounds the deep complexities and risks of nuclear energy production. These powerful factors in forming public opinion have certainly also been advantaged to serve the agendas of special interest groups, and possibly even the powerfully subtle PR machines of fossil fuel interests – in order to blindly associate ANY atomic power with the risks of weaponization, and toxic nuclear waste.
The credibility of the author becomes an open and shut case after reading this paragraph, and renders questionable the remainder of the article.
It’s Nooker!!
IT’S N o o k e r!!!
Can’t do it. Can’t Do it!!CAN’T DO IT!!!
They’ll never get past the licensing and legal challenges.
If we have a fossil fuel-free environment how will planes fly? I wonder if one of these wee thorium reactors will fit in a Boeing 757. Hmmm. If the thorium reactor won’t fit maybe we could cover the top and wings of the plane with solar panels. But then what happens at night or in cloudy weather. I’ve got it! Windmills. Maybe we could mount windmills on the wings and top or maybe have the windmills on the ground with long wires to the airplanes. Think of all the people we will be able to employ in these green jobs.
If it uses a proton accelerator to go, it’s not going to be particularly small, cheap OR easy to maintain. I work at a place that happens to own a proton accelerator for treating cancers. It requires its own building for shielding, power and cooling. Even the typical linac for electron acceleration isn’t small or light, and they are launching particles roughly 2000 times less massive than a proton.
This thing sounds like it’s still going to be a fairly substantial commercial power-station sized deal, even for a small one.
Electric heat could replace oil heat, if it was cheap enough. OK, I'd be shocked (pardon the pun) if became cheap enough.
A couple of my former inlaws were really anti-nuke, to the extent
that besides occasional protest, they took advantage of a law
that got them a loaner radiation detector/alarm for their house
from the "local" n-plant.
I do remember them saying it was calibrated using a Coleman
Lantern mantle. They were not happy campers after
observing that...
The reason I bring it up is that the mantles used thorium at the
time. Thorium has a half life of about 14B years.
So perhaps you're on to something, but about thorium proliferation
and misuse as a dusty bomb, the particles lodging in the lungs
taking years off lives from constant low-level decay.
BTW, Coleman no longer uses thorium, but yttrium. Probably not
so for other manufacturers.
Not just us but the developing world.
the overlords want the people to stay in their huts and be the subject of national geographic covers and a curiosity for the politburo members on va-ca.
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