Thorium molten salt reactors – the silver bullet
They say there’s no such thing as a silver bullet when it comes to environment and energy. However, the LIquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor – LIFTeR – comes pretty close.
Peaking petroleum and a tight uranium equation have promped a surge in interest for new sources of energy. 9-11 has resulted in additional safeguards being placed on the nuclear business-as-ususal, meaning gallopping costs and hesitant investors. All of the northern hemisphere was exposed to the cold snap, a result of a quiet sun and a Pacific Decadal Oscillation taking on a cold phase.
Is there really such a nuclear system that 1) eats way the longlived waste, 2) has built-in-stability against runaway, 3) is cheap and massproducable and 4) is unattractive for military purposes ? Well, fortunately yes.
The LIFTeR is only a few years of relevant test runs away, building on the immense experience gathered at Oak Ridge National Labs in the late 60s. It will provide affordable, depoyable, abundant, practical, easy and versatile power to industrialised and developing nations alike. The Usamas of this world will not be tempted since the hurdles to illicit bombmaking are many and fundamental.
Read more on http://www.torium.se/