Europe begins experiment with Thorium reactors.

[Scout26]

http://newatlas.com/thorium-salt-reactor-experiment/51051/

It would be nice to have a clean(er) method of producing electricity.   And yes, I know there are hurdles to overcome.

[just Warren]

Instead of Thor they should name it after Odin's wife.

That way we could get loads of Friggan energy. There's no Friggan energy crisis! All the Friggan power you could ever want!

[Pb]

I really hope this pans out.  We need to be researching this instead of wasting our money on windmills and solar.

[Firethorn]

I really hope this pans out.  We need to be researching this instead of wasting our money on windmills and solar.

We almost had it back in the '60s, but the director canceled it to throw the money at fast breeders, which was already getting an order of magnitude more funds - with less real progress.

[zahc]

China is investing heavily in Thorium both with solid and liquid fuel designs. There are many new nuclear start-ups and all of them are doing their work overseas or in Canada where it's legal. It makes me sick that we went from the nation that invented everything to the nation that gave it all away and made it illegal in one generation.

[230RN]

China is investing heavily in Thorium both with solid and liquid fuel designs. There are many new nuclear start-ups and all of them are doing their work overseas or in Canada where it's legal. It makes me sick that we went from the nation that invented everything to the nation that gave it all away and made it illegal in one generation.

Me too.  Not more I can say without waxing apoplectic.

But, you know, "progress" toward an enlightened and more peaceful and civil society... and a more insect-like existence.

Yep.  Way to go, progressives.

[RevDisk]

http://newatlas.com/thorium-salt-reactor-experiment/51051/

It would be nice to have a clean(er) method of producing electricity.   And yes, I know there are hurdles to overcome.

The world currently uses 16.5 trillion KWh per year. If you used thorium for that, you'd need roughly 1.5 kilotons (metric) per year. The US govt buried twice that in Nevada because it was deemed 'worthless'. It's four times more abundant than uranium, and uranium isn't that rare. Three times more abundant than tin, about as common as lead. ie, not cheap but not expensive. World reserves are 1,913 kilotons. If we tripled the world's current electrical usage to 4.5kt per year, we'd have a 425 year supply. This excludes ocean or lunar mining, of course. And we're not going to triple our current power generation for a very very long time.

 If done properly, less waste, no weapons-grade fissible by-products, can be used to consume legacy plutonium stockpiles, are meltdown-proof. Assuming we can get the engineering right. With liquid salt, it bloody tricky. Getting it commercially viable is tricky. NIMBY and other concerns are even more problematic.

That said, we have enough uranium and thorium to power the Earth for centuries. With current technology and engineering, we have enough to last ourselves maybe a thousand years. If we can't figure out fusion with that timeframe, we don't deserve to continue.

[Firethorn]

The world currently uses 16.5 trillion KWh per year. If you used thorium for that, you'd need roughly 1.5 kilotons (metric) per year. The US govt buried twice that in Nevada because it was deemed 'worthless'. It's four times more abundant than uranium, and uranium isn't that rare. Three times more abundant than tin, about as common as lead. ie, not cheap but not expensive. World reserves are 1,913 kilotons. If we tripled the world's current electrical usage to 4.5kt per year, we'd have a 425 year supply. This excludes ocean or lunar mining, of course. And we're not going to triple our current power generation for a very very long time.

Don't forget that current reserves would be like with oil and uranium - an under-estimate, at a specific recovery cost estimate.

As the price goes up, reserves increase.  Indeed, as demand and price go up, we'd actually start looking for the stuff.

Hell there are good rare earth deposits we're currently ignoring because there's too much thorium in there - disposing of it would be too much of a hassle.  If you have a bunch of LTFRs wanting the stuff...

[AJ Dual]

The dearth of nuclear power is essentially the same root cause that the nominal Right/Libertarian/Capitalist axis on the political map always has. The Left/Authoritarian/Collectivist axis, by definition lives for political agitation and advocacy, things that are made easier by collective action. Our side has a natural handicap in that, the individualist, leave me alone, just living my life-factor cripples us.

If only the Right could somehow make the Greenpeace and NIMBY-type concerns irrelevant, and told to just FOAD.

I wish we could fight as well and as hard as we have on the issue of guns. But the threat of individual loss of our guns and 2A rights motivates us. Harder to do that with an electric bill. 

[RevDisk]

I wish we could fight as well and as hard as we have on the issue of guns. But the threat of individual loss of our guns and 2A rights motivates us. Harder to do that with an electric bill. 

If or when the power bill substantially spikes, we will. Until then we'll grumble and shake our heads, but nothing else.

Realistically, we have a LOT of coal. 246,643 metric megatons. Not kilotons, megatons. We use roughly 720 metric megatons of coal per year. That's 342 years worth of proved recoverable coal usage. It's dirty and highly radioactive, but that's what the duck squeezers have us still using.

There's also natural gas. 187,300,000,000,000 cubic meters of it. Proven reserves, mind you. We use 63,000,000,000 cubic meters per year. If my math is correct, that's 2973 years worth of natural gas. Though it is projected to vastly increase while coal has decreased by 10% over the last 15 years, due to carbon concerns.

We're good on power, despite what idiots say. Granted, we're going after cheaper stuff first. As time goes on, things will get more expensive. But then we develop technology to make it cheaper. See fracking. Which is (now) very safe, cheap and clean.