When I start thinking I'm really smart, I learn about something new that makes me realize just how much I do not know. I pride myself on staying up on science, but I guess I haven't been doing a good job, because I was clueless about the energy possibilities with thorium nuclear (or "nookular" if you're GWB or me) reactors. I am going to further research the science, but it appears that these thorium reactors can be used to eliminate most nuclear waste while creating a much lesser nuclear waste footprint.Let's review some of the key benefits of thorium. It's abundant (because we've never used any of it); it doesn't require the costly and time-intensive refining process important for uranium, and the waste it produces becomes inert in one hundred years as opposed to hundreds of thousands of years. It's nearly impossible for terrorists to manipulate for weapons production. There's more: the annual fuel cost for a one gigawatt thorium reactor is approximately six hundred times lower than that of a uranium reactor, which requires 250 times more of the raw element.
This article further says that this country did not pursue thorium power, because it did not have an associated military use.
Locked in a struggle with a nuclear- armed Soviet Union, the US government in the ’60s chose to build uranium-fueled reactors — in part because they produce plutonium that can be refined into weapons-grade material.
India is moving forward and even China has plans to build many reactors for its energy needs. The U.S. is late to this energy game, but appears to be arriving as a bill has been introduced in the Senate by Orrin Hatch and Harry Reid. This country needs to proceed if the science is true, because a "clean" nuclear energy would end most of the world's energy wars and usher in a new era in history.
Source: Wired ; Change.org
Image Source: GregRobson
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