China Is Using US Research to Take the Lead on Thorium Reactor Development

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 so tantalizing: an alternative fuel cycle for nuclear reactors that produces little to no waste, has very low proliferation risks, and has extremely low risks of meltdowns–and in some cases, none at all. Thorium is a very abundant resource, and, as proponents like to say, converting the world to thorium power would provide thousands of years of carbon-free, clean energy.

But the nuclear dream in the United States stalled in the 70s and 80s. Promising research into thorium-powered reactors that reaches as far back as the 60s was shelved because, at the height of the Cold War, we needed uranium reactors, which produce plutonium for bombs. And in any case, large energy corporations had already invested heavily in pressurized water reactors, and thorium represented a fresh start on a whole new avenue.

While the US has only paid lip service to thorium in recent decades, China is joining the likes of India, Japan, and Norway in a quest to develop a working, commercially-viable thorium reactor. And because China is in the midst of a huge nuclear push, it's likely to end up selling any successful designs it's able to develop. Princeling Jiang Mianheng

In other words, China has taken a pair of massive problems–increasing energy demand, pollution, and its reliance on coal–and is trying to make money off the research it will take to solve them. Compare that to the US, where research funding into alternative energy has turned into an ever-shrinking, Solyndra-branded political football, and you wonder who's going to be powering our future.

It gets even more frustrating, at least if you're American. According to the Telegraph, a Chinese thorium research lab, led by Jiang Mianheng, already has 140 Ph.Ds, and will have a staff of 750 by 2015. All of those folks are working on research that's based on an American body of work that was just lying around:

Sorensen, you may remember, was the main subject of Motherboard's documentary about thorium in the US, and has long struggled to build support for molten salt reactors, which don't get hot enough for a meltdown, and which have a built-in failsafe design. That means that those cooling towers of Simpsons lore would no longer be necessary. Instead, we could have small, plug-and-play nuclear reactors that could help power the future distributed grid.

The Department of Energy has made funding available to develop small modular reactors, but there's not been a huge amount of push behind them, especially when we're in the middle of such an incredible natural gas boom. China, which has more pressing energy growth concerns, and hopes to get a working reactor fired up in the next couple decades.

At least there's one dimly bright spot: While China races forward into a nuclear renaissance, there's hope that the US will be able to collaborate on research. Yet when energy is such a godawfully important resource, it's rather frustrating to see China take the lead using research the US pioneered.

we either turn things around, or accept that we’re becoming less than an also ran nation
...........
things are not that dire.

Right now the USA is in the midst of the biggest oil/natural gas build out in history. By the time its done it will bigger than any other country bar none including saudi arabia and russia.

Its so big it will finance everyone social security for the next generation or two.

Its so big Obama’s budget will balance in a couple years.

Its so big its killing and I mean killing the price of gold

Its so big the dollar is going to start going up.

That’s big.

however, non of what’s happening in the oil patch is happening because of the Obama admin. Its happening despite them.

Same goes for thorium. I’ve seen the momentum pick up big time for thorium in the last year or two.

There are a couple american companies working in this space. I don’t think they’re getting big funding yet. But they will shortly imho. When they do —they’ll go much faster than the Chinese.

You can’t read about it unless I give it to you. It is just my mindless vision of what I would do if I could. If we could do this and a few other things it would not only give us purpose and vision but I believe we would be the light of the world for at least another century.

The three main planks (immigration is not included since we just need to enforce the law) are:

1. A real national energy plan for the next century with Thorium as the foundation for fixed power generation. Fossil fuels will remain for transportation and chemicals.
2. Tort reform
3. Throw away the tax code and have a flat tax and no matter who he is or how much he works EVERYBODY pays tax at the same rate. Make our corporate tax structure competitive on a world wide basis as well

The other drivel I wrote (in no particular order but just a brain dump while I was on a roll) in the fall of 2011 was:

1. NO lobbyists, you get a vote and one vote per person
2. Campaign reform, campaigns costs too much and there is too much room for mischief
3. Regulations overhaul, sunset and eliminate most of them, there are too many and too many overlaps. We live in a nation where we are all probably law breakers of some sort. It has become the land of “Show me the man and I’ll find the crime.”
4. Tort reform, loser pays and so does the loser’s attorney. Loser pays 40% and atty who talked them into suing pays 60%. Pay defendant costs plus a fixed damage amount for pain and suffering (e.g. $250,000 rising with inflation) plus 25% of last years taxable income. You can still sue but you better have a good reason to put yourself at risk. Oh, and require a bond to sue... the plaintiff’s atty can post it.
5. Cut spending, no new federal hires, none, make it hurt and make any “required” new hires be fully justified, eliminate whole agencies, you know the ones, Education, HUD, HHS, EPA, Homeland Security. Get back to the original agencies prior to WWII. No business or nation can survive with 25% non-productive overhead.
6. Phase out Social Security. People in, stay in. People not yet getting paid phase out on a linear scale from 65 to 15, 2% reduction in benefits per year, pay similarly
7. Restructure 401K and allow more flexibility of product offerings, make pension provision competitive not the profiteering free-for-all that Wall Street and Financial Planners now enjoy where they make money if you win or lose.
8. A national energy plan with fossil fuels for the transition to nuclear for base load electricity (Thorium Reactors) and for future transportation fuels still being hydrocarbons. Sponsor reactor research to commercialize Thorium in 10 years with a transition to nearly 100% of base load electric power in 50 years.
9. Restructure medical insurance and Medicare / Medicade, this may be the toughest of them all. At least allow portability across state lines and a national based commercial provision of health care. Structure it so the commercial providers have incentives to save costs and save quality of life. Toughest of them all. People need to have a real stake in health care costs, not just to be users. They need to pay something substantial for going to the doctor as an elective event. Medical care can’t be done for nothing but there has to be a limit for what can be spent since we are all going to end up dead anyway one way or another.
10. Taxes, put the IRS out of business. Flat tax and EVERYBODY pays something and they have to do it by writing a check ever quarter. 18% of GDP sounds like about enough to run the government with a goal of 15% in 20 years. Everybody pays proportionately to their income.
11. S-can government guaranteed loans. Anybody stupid enough to loan or guarantee a loan for someone to pay $200k for a degree in just about any Liberal Arts degree or just about any other degree that can’t earn enough to pay it back. Anybody who promotes such a loan should be shot for being the PIMP that they are. Same goes for housing loans. Anybody stupid enough to take a loan like that and not know that Theater Arts majors don’t make that kind of money for the most part isn’t responsible to get a loan for that much money.
12. Military, get out of anyplace we don’t have a vital national interest. Get some new damn airplanes, ours are worn out! Lockheed is not a good place to get them. They don’t know what on time on budget mean. Best equipped, best trained military in the world but not in numbers. Not possible. Quantity has a quality all its own and with programs like the F-22 we are kidding ourselves. Oh, and spec ops are much more efficient than huge armies for local problems. Use them when you need them and keep your mouth shut. It has been done in the past and needs to be done now. If the lord’s liberation army (Central Africa) needs to be taken out hunt down the leaders, kill them, hang around long enough to find the successors, kill them and leave. If it happens again wash, rise and repeat at will.
13. Foreign aid, same as military. Kick the UN out of the US and cut off our money to them. The UN is nothing but trouble to U.S. from where I sit. Some argue that a place at the table is better than on the outside looking in but most of what gets done worth a damn is by bonafide State Department diplomacy.
14. Abortion, it is the law of the land to make it available. It is a personal decision and a personal cost, you can’t stop it. It has been done for eons. Illegal or not it will be done. At least if it is legal we won’t have untrained butchers doing it. You can’t legislate morality or religion so stop trying. Murder is against the law but it still happens doesn’t it? Give this one up as a favorite campaign issue. We have other more pressing things to deal with we may be able to do something about.
15. This is the United States we speak English here and that is all we need to print or conduct business or anything else in.
16. Illegals. Seal the border, dig them out, provide work visas, track them (the Feds sure have no trouble tracking us), enforce the laws we have and continue to have the same path to citizenship we have had for ever. Anchor babies.. NO, not anymore. Press the Supreme Court to rule or repeal the 14th Amendment. It is insane and so is United States vs. Wong Kim Ark of 1898. Just stupid, this is one Amendment that is surely now arcane.
17. Repeal the 17th Amendment and replace it with term limits. Being a politician is not meant to be a career.

There is a bunch of other stuff but it won’t ever be done either like things that should really be core curriculum for our kids. We can’t legislate morality, principles, honor, religion, character, integrity and so forth. I think our only hope there is by leaders with those qualities who will encourage them by example. Not everybody though will be perfect. We have lost the visions of self-reliance, hard work, ambition and the will to be a great nation again. We have become a polarized nation of takers and workers and the workers are losing, if they have not lost already. We now have at least three generations who are not much more than dangerous pets and they just aren’t that cute and loving or loyal anymore to their care takers. Other than that they are mostly just useless.

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Thorium

China Is Using US Research to Take the Lead on Thorium Reactor Development

A CAD render of an old Oak Ridge molten salt reactor design, via Flibe Energy