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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 (Steam Electric 250MW)... with prototype in two years....never needs refueled.

China has committed itself to establishing an entirely new nuclear energy programme using thorium as a fuel, within 20 years. The LFTR (Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor) is a 4G reactor that uses liquid salt as both fuel and coolant. China uses the more general term TMSR (Thorium Molten-Salt Reactor). The thorium fuel cycles produce almost no plutonium, and fewer higher-isotope nasties, the long-lived minor actinides. Thorium is much more abundant than uranium, and the reduced plutonium output eases proliferation concerns. The energy output per tonne is also attractive, even though thorium isn't itself a fissile material. Thorium reactors are also...

A main source of the 44 trillion watts of heat that flows from the interior of the Earth is the decay of radioactive isotopes in the mantle and crust. Scientists using the KamLAND neutrino detector in Japan have measured how much heat is generated this way by capturing geoneutrinos released during radioactive decay. The Earth has cooled since its formation, yet the decay of radiogenic isotopes, and in particular uranium, thorium and potassium, in the planet’s interior provides a continuing heat source. The current total heat flux from the Earth to space is 44.2±1.0 TW, but the relative contributions from residual...

While Matthew Nesbit opines on peak oil being a uniting cause, this short essay on thorium power is instructive and relevant. – Anthony Guest post by David ArchibaldEarly in June, I gave a lecture entitled “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” at the Institute for World Politics (a graduate school for the CIA and State Department) in Washington. From that lecture, following are a couple of slides pertaining to the advantage of thorium relative to uranium for nuclear power: To run a 1,000 MW reactor for a year requires one tonne of nuclear material to be fissioned. In the case of...

Posted on July 25, 2011 by News Staff Non-mare silicic volcanism on the lunar farside at Compton–Belkovich Bradley L. Jolliff,Sandra A. Wiseman,Samuel J. Lawrence,Thanh N. Tran,Mark S. Robinson,Hiroyuki Sato,B. Ray Hawke,Frank Scholten,Jürgen Oberst,Harald Hiesinger, Carolyn H. van der Bogert,Benjamin T. Greenhagen,Timothy D. Glotch& David A. Paige Nature Geoscience (2011) doi:10.1038/ngeo1212 Abstract Non-basaltic volcanism is rare on the Moon. The best known examples occur on the lunar nearside in the compositionally evolved Procellarum KREEP terrane. However, there is an isolated thorium-rich area—the Compton–Belkovich thorium anomaly—on the lunar farside for which the origin is enigmatic.

Nature of mysterious hot spot revealed by “photogeology” Analysis of new images of a curious “hot spot” on the far side of the Moon reveal it to be a small volcanic province created by the upwelling of silicic magma. The unusual location of the province and the surprising composition of the lava that formed it offer tantalizing clues to the Moon’s thermal history. The hot spot is a concentration of a radioactive element thorium sitting between the very large and ancient impact craters Compton and Belkovich that was first detected by Lunar Prospector’s gamma-ray spectrometer in 1998. The Compton-Belkovich Thorium...

The healthy growth of mankind depends on continuously decreasing the cost and increasing the availability of water and energy everywhere. Nice thought. Why mention it? Its a mission statement. For who? Microsoft founder Bill Gates and through him America's billionaires. Why Bill Gates? His passion; According to a recent interview Understanding science and pushing the boundaries of science is what makes me immensely satisfied. What I’m doing now involves understanding maths, risk-taking. The first half of my life was good preparation for the second half.’ Now in the context of the interview he was talking about the development of a...

Imagine a safe, clean nuclear reactor that used a fuel that was hugely abundant, produced only minute quantities of radioactive waste and was almost impossible to adapt to make weapons. It sounds too good to be true, but this isn’t science fiction. This is what lies in store if we harness the power of a silvery metal found in river sands, soil and granite rock the world over: thorium. One ton of thorium can produce as much energy as 200 tons of uranium, or 3.5 million tons of coal, and the thorium deposits that have already been identified would meet...

In the beginning, nuclear scientists identified two fuel sources for the atomic age: uranium and thorium. They went with uranium. Why? It wasn’t because uranium was the better fuel. Thorium is more abundant. It is simpler. It is safer. (Although slightly radioactive, it can’t sustain a chain reaction in a nuclear reactor and, hence, can’t “melt down.”) But thorium had one strategic disadvantage: You couldn’t make plutonium from it. You could make plutonium from uranium. And plutonium was super-energetic, super-destructive. Man-made, the deadliest source of radioactive nuclear energy, plutonium is essentially forever. In the Cold War, the science goal was...

Now, following the release of radioactive material at the Fukushima plant in Japan, activists around the world threaten to eliminate nuclear power as an acceptable energy source. However, before governments indulge that knee-jerk response, they should consider the tremendous benefits of TFR. The fuel is in the form of a fluoride salt with a melting temperature of approximately 600 degrees Fahrenheit. Because the system is not pressurized, any reactor breach leading to a release of fuel would be driven only by gravity. Thus, the fluoride salt, instead of being blown into the atmosphere, would cool and solidify. Hazardous radioactive material...

China shows a world lead in clean nuclear energy Friday, 29 April 2011 By Gerry Grove-White Earlier this year the Chinese Academy of Science announced plans to finance the development of a programme to develop Thorium Fuelled Molten Salt Reactors (TFMSR). This is the first of four “strategic leader in science and technology projects” that the Chinese Academy of Science will be supporting. The Head of the Chinese TFMSR programme is Dr Jiang Mianheng, Graduate of Drexel University, with a PhD in electrical engineering. His father Jiang Zemin, was the former President of the People's Republic of China from 1993...

ThoriumEnergyInstitute The Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor The modern concept of the Liquid-Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) uses uranium and thorium dissolved in fluoride salts of lithium and beryllium. These salts are chemically stable, impervious to radiation damage, and non-corrosive to the vessels that contain them. Because of their ability to tolerate heavy radiation, excellent temperature properties, minimal fuel loading requirements (i.e., easy of continual refueling) and other inherent factors, LFTR cores can be made much smaller than a typical light water reactor (LWR). In fact, liquid salt reactors, and LFTRs specifically, are listed as an unfunded part of the U.S. Department...

« Renewing the Great Recession Radiation Exposure Graphic » Five Years of Energy from Thorium Published in Blog-Related by Kirk Sorensen on April 26th, 2011 Last Friday this blog quietly celebrated its fifth anniversary. Very quietly in fact because I was busy getting the family to the in-laws to celebrate Easter and I imagine many other people were busy too. But even though it’s a few days late, permit me to tell the story of this blog. Like many other things in my life, this blog was born of frustration. In 2002, Bruce Patton (now of ORNL, then of NASA)...

The Molten Salt Reactor Family: One Fluid Reactors Tags: David LeBlancmolten salt reactor (msr)Nuclear Powernuclear technology One of the fundamental ways to classify Molten Salt Reactors is the concept of one and two fluid reactors. A one fluid reactor is homogeneous, or as David LeBlanc explains, both the fertile and fissile material is within the same carrier salt. It might be added that moderators and fission products can also be carried in the single fluid carrier salt. Everything goes into a single pot. Both Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs) were single fluid reactors. There are both...

Why is nobody talking about safe nuclear power? By Julian Cribb - posted Wednesday, 4 May 2011 Sign Up for free e-mail updates! In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the most extraordinary thing is the lack of public discussion and the disturbing policy silence – here and worldwide – over safe nuclear energy. Yes, it does exist. There is a type of nuclear reactor which cannot melt down or blow up, and does not produce intractable waste, or supply the nuclear weapons cycle. It's called a thorium reactor or sometimes, a molten salt reactor – and it is...

The recent accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan has caused many observers to question the use of uranium as a fuel to create nuclear energy, and perhaps cast doubts on clean energy alternatives in general. This may be a premature conclusion as there are other elements that can be used in the nuclear cycle to create power, as well as other non-nuclear alternative sources of fuel and power that are safer and much less harmful to the environment. (For related reading, also take a look at The Future Of Green Technology Investing.) READ MORE: The Economic Reasons Behind...

The thorium curve ball Thursday, 12 May 2011 THE anti-uranium mob can’t believe their luck. But a much neglected fuel source may save the day for miners. The Outcrop by Robin Bromby “Nuclear power: if Germany and Japan don’t need it, why does anyone?” was the headline on the blog. It was published – and here’s a surprise – on the website of the London newspaper, The Guardian, one of the keepers of the left wing, Greenie flame. The blogger was rejoicing at the news that Japan’s prime minister, Naoto Kan – he of the frighteningly jet black hair –...

Nobel physicist Carlo Rubbia says a ton of thorium produces energy like as 200 tons of uranium, or 3.5 million tons of coal.

Back in the 1950´s RC Briant, a scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, worked to develop a long range nuclear powered plane to carry atomic bombs and first proposed reactor fuel be dissolved in liquid fluoride salts. A test reactor proved Briant´s idea both feasible and advantageous. Later Alvin Weinberg, Director of Oak Ridge saw that molten fluoride salt could harness thorium-an abundant if slightly radioactive substance-and a 2nd reactor -the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment was built and operated for several years. It proved control rods were unnecessary and a liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) could be safe and serve...

A few weeks before the tsunami struck Fukushima’s uranium reactors and shattered public faith in nuclear power, China revealed that it was launching a rival technology to build a safer, cleaner, and ultimately cheaper network of reactors based on thorium. This passed unnoticed –except by a small of band of thorium enthusiasts – but it may mark the passage of strategic leadership in energy policy from an inert and status-quo West to a rising technological power willing to break the mould. If China’s dash for thorium power succeeds, it will vastly alter the global energy landscape and may avert a...