This a ploy to force the wider adoption of both solar and wind power generation - both of which are notoriously unreliable and often must be located far from the actual point of use. What happens, for every kW of expected power supply from these sources, an equal or greater supply has to come from “back-up” or “auxiliary” power generation from natural gas-fired power plants, whether a conventional steam-generated system that drives the dynamos, or a gas turbine that turns the dynamos directly.
While the steam plant can provide a baseline power supply, the gas turbine plants can spool up within a very short time as power demands increase beyond the baseline, or when the alternative energy sources fail, as must happen at night, or when the wind stops blowing.
We have the technology to introduce Thorium-fueled Molten Salt reactors as the primary and base-line power sources, and without the long-term spent fuel storage problems of Uranium-fueled Light Water reactors, which also have radiation leakage and “China syndrome” as additional engineering problems.
We can do this, but at the moment there is no will nor economic incentive to do so. Can’t make plutonium bombs out of the spent fuel from a thorium plant.
These thorium plants have the added advantage of being able to use the “spent” fuel rods now in long-term storage as the seeding necessary to initiate the reaction within the thorium pile. This way, these “spent” rods are used up centuries before they finish up their remaining half-life of radioactive decay, making it unnecessary to maintain a safe storage for some 25,000 years.
I see a LOT of “win-win” here.
Concur. EE here.
I explored the feasibility of standing up a thorium salt reactor with some of my co-workers. My co-workers are nuclear physicists with a PhD in the field. Many years working in nuclear weapons as well as reactors. The Thorium units still require some feed of U-238 to keep them running. Not nearly as much as conventional boiling water plants with fuel rods, but not a zero amount either. Some of the staff have been working on the pebble designs as well.
We have a huge liability with the existing Fukushima style units in operation. An EMP that takes the grid down will turn all of them into Fukushima level events in about 3 weeks. Commercial power is required to keep the cooling equipment running. Onsite backup generators carry 3 days to 3 weeks of fuel. Even after a shutdown, the spent fuel rods need to be cooled. Unlike France, we haven't embarked on a fuel reprocessing to reconstitute "spent" rods. That almost happened near Idaho Falls. I was even considering signing up to work there. The finances fell apart. The site sits fallow today.