Empowered by the "God of Thunder"! What about Thorium Reactors?
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Empowered by the "God of Thunder"! What about Thorium Reactors?
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Two links:
From Dr. Kiki's Science Hour netcast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEpnpyd- ... r_embedded And a Telegraph article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comm ... orium.html Have you guys heard about this? --Chris 
yup, but sadly I am pessimistic about the masses in the states caring about the difference between thorium and uranium or plutonium.
Most people are just going to say "nuclear! oh noes!" without ever looking any deeper at the issue. -Terry ----- "so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today" TF2: Spy 
The biggest difference between thorium reactors and uranium reactors, besides the fuel, is that the byproducts of only one of those can be turned into weapons...
-- Rob Kelk "Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of the same sovereign, servants of the same law." - Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012 robkelk Wrote:The biggest difference between thorium reactors and uranium reactors, besides the fuel, is that the byproducts of only one of those can be turned into weapons... Which is pretty much why the US didn't fund it, they needed raw material for their nukes. E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?" B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell." 
Of course, now that we're trying to get rid of our nukes, Thorium is a much more attractive alternative.
This still leaves us with all the other junk we have stored up, though. Perhaps the CANDU may be a solution for that. - Grumpy Uncle Gearhead
I've been digesting some of the material some more. It seems that pumping around molten salt is the big issue. As the substance is described as a viscous 1600 C liquid, I'm envisioning pumping lava. Smooth, regular lava.
Hrmm, maybe China will figure it out and patent it... 
Maybe I am conflating the too because of name similarity, but are "Thorium Salt" reactors also cooled with molten sodium?
The army was leery of them not only because it didnt provide weapons grade fuel, but also because they are relatively vulnerable to battle damage. The Navy in particular was asked why they werent pursuing sodium cooling more in their reactors and had to explain to a congressman about sodiums reaction with water.
That's okay. I hear good things about lead-cooled thorium reactors.
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