Dirty energy threatens health of 2 billion The health of about 2 billion of the world’s poor is being damaged because they lack access to clean energy, like electricity, and face exposure to smoke from open fires, scientists said on Thursday. Dangerous levels of indoor air pollutants from badly ventilated cooking fires are a common […]
Dr. John Gofman has passed away at the age of 88 of heart failure. Dr. Gofman is of special interest to those of us fascinated by energy from thorium since he (under the guidance of Dr. Glenn Seaborg) discovered uranium-233 and its fissionability. I remember reading somewhere (but I’ve not been able to find the […]
Dr. David LeBlancPhysics DepartmentCarleton UniversityOttawa, Canada In this presentaion I will attempt to explain a completely new concept for a Liquid Fluoride or Molten Salt Breeder Reactor. The basic idea may seem almost trivial in nature, given its simplicity, but I hope its importance will be evident once all aspects of the design are examined. […]
The terrible story of six trapped miners in the Crandall Canyon mine in Utah appears to have come to a painful and drawn-out conclusion. The mine owner, Robert Murray, told the families of the trapped miners that their loved-ones are most likely dead, and that further rescue attempts will not be made since there is […]
A ternary mixture is a three-part mixture of some substance. Ternary mixtures are especially important in fluoride reactors because there are some three-part mixtures that have very attractive properties. A three-part mixture of lithium, beryllium, and uranium fluorides can be used as a fuel in a fluoride reactor.The lithium and beryllium fluorides are mixed together […]
Every morning I read the online editions of the two main papers in Salt Lake City, because I was born and raised in Utah and want to keep up with what’s going on in my boyhood home. This morning there was a very interesting article: Deseret News: Utah nuclear plant construction a step closer I […]
On my previous post, I received an excellent comment from Alex Brown, that I would like to try to answer in a full post. Alex said: While the enthusiasm is a good thing there are several reason why this is more or less impossible for TVA to achieve. First off is the fact that TVA […]
Finding the right salt combination for a fluoride reactor isn’t too difficult. If you want a salt that has a relatively low melting temperature, low neutron absorption, and good temperature performance then you use lithium-fluoride/beryllium-fluoride, being careful to use the lithium-7 isotope instead of just the natural stuff. But when looking for a moderator, things […]
Here’s a question I have often wondered, as I’ve tried to understand the point of view of those who oppose nuclear power–how much of their opposition is driven by the longevity of nuclear waste? If long-lived nuclear wastes are the main issue they have against nuclear power, then thorium could go a long way towards […]
I’ve taken a little time to do another comparison slide between the waste generated in a typical light-water reactor compared to a liquid-fluoride thorium reactor. For the light-water reactor waste calculations, I used the WISE Uranium Nuclear Fuel Energy Balance Calculator and used a baseline value of 1 GW*yr of electricity production. I accepted all […]