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Baroness Worthington Promotes Thorium to the House of Lords

I had the privilege of meeting Bryony Worthington, founder of Sandbag.org, in July 2009 when she was a member of the panel that would deliver the Manchester Report, which was a part of the Manchester International Festival sponsored by the Guardian newspaper. Sandbag works to purchase and “retire” carbon credits, thus reducing the amount of CO2 emitted to the atmosphere under European carbon trading regulations.

She was a delight to meet in person, and we have kept in touch since then about her fight against climate change and my efforts to promote thorium as a clean energy source.

Recently, Bryony became a “life peer” and a member of the House of Lords, and became Baroness Worthington. Her ascension to the House of Lords has met with a great deal of interest from the media since she doesn’t ascend alone but takes her beautiful little boy Rohan Chennu with her. She tells me that he has been a real hit amongst the Lords who never miss an opportunity to smile or wave to him in an attempt to catch his attention.

Baroness Worthington gave her “maiden speech” before House of Lords on March 31, 2011 and she emphasized her work in fighting climate change and gave particular attention to the role thorium might play in our future use of nuclear energy. I greatly appreciate that in such a brief and notable speech she took the time to highlight the value of thorium, and so greatly appreciate her desire to be a leader on this issue. She will be in the House of Lords for the rest of her life, if she so desires, and so she will be able to continue her efforts for many years to come.


Baroness Worthington’s House of Lords maiden speech from Sandbag Climate Campaign on Vimeo.

She also writes regularly for the Guardian

Please follow her efforts on Twitter!

Thank you Baroness Worthington!

9 thoughts on “Baroness Worthington Promotes Thorium to the House of Lords

  1. I really wish I could agree with Robert Hargraves – the inertia here is awful they keep on saying "yeah well thirty years maybe..>"
    Our National Nuclear Lab put out a thorium paper last year saying it has no place in our thinking – it failed even to mention LFTR or MSRs!
    I have some time but not a lot of money but I am trying to get through to government – I do need contacts though.

  2. James Birkin – don't be discouraged just yet- change takes time, and most do not even know what LFTR is, in our out of the government- but this is one more person to give voice to it- progress is being made.

    I am curious, Kirk- especially given the lack of knowledge about LFTRs, have you considered, along with enlisting, hopefully, the Army, partnering with a University? Seems like this could kill a few birds with one stone- extra research, extra research grants, extra brains applied to the problem- and preparing the next generation of nuclear engineers with LFTR training. This might also be a way to more quickly bring 'respectability' to the LFTR design/option for a nuclear power plant.

  3. Hi Paul, yes we are very interested in working with universities. So far we've had some good interactions with UC Berkeley (where Per Peterson is a professor, doing molten-salt work), UT-Knoxville (where I am a grad student), Tennessee Tech (where I taught nuclear engineering last year), and Georgia Tech (where I am an alumnus). Additional funding will make it possible to reach out to more places and enlist further support.

  4. Today, I was very pleased to learn I am in print, over here in the UK, in the House of Lords document: "SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SELECT COMMITTEE
    Nuclear Research and Development Capabilities
    Written Evidence"

    My piece features on Pages 153 and 154, under the heading: "Memorandum by Mr. Colin Megson (NRD 46)", where I propose LFTRs as the solution to the 7 problems laid out in the "Call for evidence" document.

    Don't know what happens from now on, but I can always live in hope.

    The link is: http://www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-committe… if anyone is interested.

  5. Colin, that's outstanding. I think your comment was the only mention of thorium AND fluoride reactors in the whole document.

  6. House of Lords for Life?
    Maybe, but it is on the cards to replace House of Lords with it's appointed life peers with an elected chamber with fixed terms.
    The House of Lords is not where it is at for a change of direction of energy policy in UK, certainly not to take it in new directions.
    In fact the while nuclear will I think see a revival in the UK, it will be to follow established PWR technologies and only move where others lead in he world.

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