Thorium

[DonkeyApple]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/7970619...

This seems a little too good to be true.

What do people know about this concept?

[Justayellowbadge]

I'd never heard of it.

Astonishing if true.

[bob1179]

Very interesting article.

However, if it is true, it is typical of the British government to brush off the idea of a Thorium based reactor.

We could lead the world in the design and construction of these power generation systems making money from licensing and the patents. It's nice to see we are as short sighted as ever.

[spikeyhead]

Whilst there's some chance of it being useful, if it were that easy then it would have already been done. It's a bit like all the claims surrounding fusion made back in the 70s as being clean and almost free.

[ShadownINja]

Don't think my Golf will run on it. Will check the owner's manual later.

[Hedders]

spikeyhead said:

Whilst there's some chance of it being useful, if it were that easy then it would have already been done. It's a bit like all the claims surrounding fusion made back in the 70s as being clean and almost free.

A quick read of the article suggests that it would have been done in the 50's but the US wanted the nasty stuff, for weapons.

[otolith]

That article has the whiff of non-mainstream opinion about it.

The opposing view from the swivelly-eyed anti-nuclear faction is here:

http://www.ieer.org/fctsheet/thorium2009factsheet....

I suspect the truth is somewhere between the two.

[Tsippy]

Hedders said:

spikeyhead said:

Whilst there's some chance of it being useful, if it were that easy then it would have already been done. It's a bit like all the claims surrounding fusion made back in the 70s as being clean and almost free.

A quick read of the article suggests that it would have been done in the 50's but the US wanted the nasty stuff, for weapons.

And I guess a lot depends on who has invested money in what, if government and their friends have invested a lot in nuclear then of course they will discourage other forms of energy.

[s2art]

Tsippy said:

Hedders said:

spikeyhead said:

Whilst there's some chance of it being useful, if it were that easy then it would have already been done. It's a bit like all the claims surrounding fusion made back in the 70s as being clean and almost free.

A quick read of the article suggests that it would have been done in the 50's but the US wanted the nasty stuff, for weapons.

And I guess a lot depends on who has invested money in what, if government and their friends have invested a lot in nuclear then of course they will discourage other forms of energy.

India is sinking large amounts of money into Thorium reactors.


'In 2002 the regulatory authority issued approval to start construction of a 500 MWe prototype fast breeder reactor at Kalpakkam and this is now under construction by BHAVINI. The unit is expected to be operating in 2011, fuelled with uranium-plutonium oxide (the reactor-grade Pu being from its existing PHWRs). It will have a blanket with thorium and uranium to breed fissile U-233 and plutonium respectively. This will take India's ambitious thorium program to stage 2, and set the scene for eventual full utilisation of the country's abundant thorium to fuel reactors. Six more such 500 MWe fast reactors have been announced for construction, four of them by 2020.'

Edited by s2art on Tuesday 31st August 15:51

[Hedders]

Tsippy said:

Hedders said:

spikeyhead said:

Whilst there's some chance of it being useful, if it were that easy then it would have already been done. It's a bit like all the claims surrounding fusion made back in the 70s as being clean and almost free.

A quick read of the article suggests that it would have been done in the 50's but the US wanted the nasty stuff, for weapons.

And I guess a lot depends on who has invested money in what, if government and their friends have invested a lot in nuclear then of course they will discourage other forms of energy.

Yup,or maybe they are just figuring out how they are going to justify the extra taxes that will come alongside this cheap new form of energy.

[MKnight702]

s2art said:

'In 2002 the regulatory authority issued approval to start construction of a 500 MWe prototype fast breeder reactor at Kablam and this is now under construction by BHAVINI.

EFA

[odyssey2200]

I bet all the thorium in the World is burried under the biggest bunch of nutter on the planet.

I bet North Korea has the most!

[freecar]

glazbagun said:

This is absoloute madness! Cobalt thorium G has a radioactive halflife of ninety three years!!

It does?!?!?

Madness I tell ya!

Errrr, what does that mean? I appreciate that the (layman alert) radioactivity effectively halves every 93 years, is that good or bad for disposal of the waste? Is it an improvement on the status quo?

[eharding]

glazbagun said:

This is absoloute madness! Cobalt thorium G has a radioactive halflife of ninety three years!!

Well, as long as you don't get any of it on you, you'll be fine.

If you do, as I understand it, we can stick you in a Thorium reactor, and you'll be slow rendered down to Iron, as you provide electrical power to a town the size of Swindon for an entire month.

I fail to see any drawbacks with the whole proposition.

[glazbagun]

freecar said:

glazbagun said:

This is absoloute madness! Cobalt thorium G has a radioactive halflife of ninety three years!!

It does?!?!?

Madness I tell ya!

Errrr, what does that mean? I appreciate that the (layman alert) radioactivity effectively halves every 93 years, is that good or bad for disposal of the waste? Is it an improvement on the status quo?

Sorry, I don't know. It's a Dr Strangelove quote.

[DonkeyApple]

eharding said:

glazbagun said:

This is absoloute madness! Cobalt thorium G has a radioactive halflife of ninety three years!!

Well, as long as you don't get any of it on you, you'll be fine.

If you do, as I understand it, we can stick you in a Thorium reactor, and you'll be slow rendered down to Iron, as you provide electrical power to a town the size of Swindon for an entire month.

I fail to see any drawbacks with the whole proposition.

It solves the benefit and prison problems as well as energy crisis? This really is a miracle.

Edited by DonkeyApple on Tuesday 31st August 22:49

[grumbledoak]

glazbagun said:

This is absoloute madness! Cobalt thorium G has a radioactive halflife of ninety three years!!

I didn't check, but assuming you are right...

That may not give us long as a fuel, but it does solve some of the more serious long term waste problems we currently have with nuclear power. Specifically, that some of the waste remains very dangerous for far longer than any civilisation we have ever had. We cannot currently even envisage a warning sign that would still be comprehensible to future people for long enough...

ETA- I have checked, and you are probably talking boswellox: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium

Edited by grumbledoak on Tuesday 31st August 22:55

[glazbagun]

grumbledoak said:

glazbagun said:

This is absoloute madness! Cobalt thorium G has a radioactive halflife of ninety three years!!

I didn't check, but assuming you are right...

That may not give us long as a fuel, but it does solve some of the more serious long term waste problems we currently have with nuclear power. Specifically, that some of the waste remains very dangerous for far longer than any civilisation we have ever had. We cannot currently even envisage a warning sign that would still be comprehensible to future people for long enough...

ETA- I have checked, and you are probably talking boswellox: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium

Edited by grumbledoak on Tuesday 31st August 22:55

DeSadeski said:

You've obviously never heard of cobalt thorium G.

Turgidson:

No, what about it?

DeSadeski:

Cobalt thorium G has a radioactive halflife of ninety three years. If you take, say, fifty H-bombs in the hundred megaton range and jacket them with cobalt thorium G, when they are exploded they will produce a doomsday shroud. A lethal cloud of radioactivity which will encircle the earth for ninety three years!

Turgidson:

Ah, what a load of commie bull. I mean, afterall...

Muffley:

I'm afraid I don't understand something, Alexiy. Is the Premier threatening to explode this if our planes carry out their attack?

DeSadeski:

No sir. It is not a thing a sane man would do. The doomsday machine is designed to to trigger itself automatically.

Muffley:

But surely you can disarm it somehow.

DeSadeski:

No. It is designed to explode if any attempt is ever made to untrigger it.

Muffley:

Automatically?

Turgidson:

Ahh.. it's an obvious commie trick, Mr. President. We're wasting valuable time. Look at the big board! They're getting ready to clobber us!

Was the first thing I thought of when I saw the thread title!

Edited by glazbagun on Tuesday 31st August 23:06

[eldar]

glazbagun said:

This is absoloute madness! Cobalt thorium G has a radioactive half life of ninety three years!!

Plutonium half life is between 90 and 370,000 years, depending on isotope.

[glazbagun]

OK, OK, I get it. I've deleted my OP and solemnly vow never to inject a movie reference into a science thread again.

Edited by glazbagun on Tuesday 31st August 23:29