Just as China, Japan, India, Russia, Norway, and the US Academy of Sciences hone in on the tantalising prospect of safe, clean, and ultimately cheap energy from thorium nuclear reactors, the Europeans seem to be going in the opposite direction. I return to the thorium theme so soon after my...
Last chance to protest before the EU snuffs out thorium energy in Europe
Posted by: iraszl on January 09, 2013
China lead in thorium research may bag it prize for clean, cheap, safe nuclear power
Posted by: iraszl on January 07, 2013
Princeling Jiang Mianheng, son of former leader Jiang Zemin, is spearheading a project with a start-up budget of $350m. He has already recruited 140 PhD scientists, working full-time on thorium power at the Shanghai Institute of Nuclear and Applied Physics. The aim is to break free of the archaic...
Peggy Conte on Thorium Reactors
Posted by: iraszl on January 04, 2013
The latest nuclear power industry proposals focus on smaller reactors and the possibility of thorium fueled reactors. As the nuclear industry explores other fission products, Fairewinds Energy Education has been peppered with hundreds of questions regarding the feasibility and safety of thorium...
There's one big obstacle to US development of Thorium: Fracking
Posted by: iraszl on December 19, 2012
Last week Norway joined India, China, and others in testing thorium, regarded by some as the energy source of the future. Gary Krellenstein is one of those people. This former JP Morgan Energy and Environment Director penned a report calling thorium “The Best, Most Overlooked Solution to Global...
Why Thorium Is Much Better Than Uranium?
Posted by: iraszl on December 19, 2012
Uranium is what has been used in power plants since the 1950’s, not long after Albert Einstein formulated E=mc^2, which proved the tremendous power and potential in harnessing nuclear energy. Since then, nuclear energy has been used for both peaceful and as nuclear bombs in war – the last one...
Is safe, green thorium power finally ready for prime time?
Posted by: iraszl on December 18, 2012
If you’ve not been tracking the thorium hype, you might be interested to learn that the benefits liquid fluoride thorium reactors (LFTRs) have over light water uranium reactors (LWRs) are compelling. Alvin Weinberg, who invented both, favored the LFTR for civilian power since its failures (when...
Thorium, another alternative energy choice
Posted by: iraszl on December 17, 2012
Thorium has always been an alternative to uranium for fueling nuclear reactors, but it hasn’t gotten much play. That may soon change. According to a report by Doug L. Hoffman at Resilient Earth, the Norwegian government and Westinghouse are beginning a five-year experiment to test thorium as a...
First Monthly EFTF Science On-Air Hangout! With Robert Hargraves PhD
Posted by: iraszl on December 09, 2012
Thorium Australia is pleased to advertise a new initiative from the Energy From Thorium Foundation (EFTF). They will host a monthly On-Air Hangout with Scientists in the community. Robert Hargraves the author of ‘Thorium: Energy Cheaper Than Coal’ will be the esteemed guest for the first one on...
Thorium: Proliferation warnings on nuclear 'wonder-fuel'
Posted by: iraszl on December 06, 2012
Thorium is being touted as an ideal fuel for a new generation of nuclear power plants, but in a piece in this week's Nature, researchers suggest it may not be as benign as portrayed. The element thorium, which many regard as a potential nuclear "wonder-fuel", could be a greater proliferation...
Nuclear energy: Radical reactors
Posted by: iraszl on December 05, 2012
Back in 2000, when Kirk Sorensen was a NASA engineer looking at nuclear-power options for future colonies on the Moon, he came across a book that described the molten-salt reactor: an energy source in which the nuclear fuel was liquid. It sounded bizarre, says Sorensen. Every reactor he had ever...