The last few days I have been working on a new Java tool to help visualize fission product decay chains. Specifically, I want to help people learn quickly how many fission product decay chains decay to stable isotopes in very short order, so you can see that fission product waste isn’t radioactive forever. OK, I […]
I’ve often found myself trying to find a good source of microscopic cross-sections for nuclear isotopes, and today I found a nice source: Nuclear Information Service On here, I found the thermal cross-sections I’ve been looking for that would allow me to compare the behavior of protactinium and uranium in the blanket salts to thorium. […]
Some people have asked about the issues and potential dangers of thorium, especially relative to uranium. I have extracted this section from an AEC book published on thorium in the late 1950s. To sum it up, thorium, like other heavy metals, is toxic in the body. It is radioactive but with an exceptionally long half-life […]
Here is a recent article I found that talks about the disposition of 3200 tonnes of thorium that was in the US stockpile. The thorium from Curtis Bay alone (2700 tonnes) would produce all the electricity the US needs for eight years, if used in a liquid-fluoride reactor. My own comments are in paretheses and […]
As we approach the fourth of July and reflect on the declaration of America’s independence 230 years ago, it is not hard to see the shackles of dependence in many parts of our country. We are addicted to foreign oil, Chinese consumer goods, Japanese cars (which I love!), inexpensive Mexican labor, and foreign investors who […]
Energy Crisis Is America’s Opportunity The U.S. could consolidate its superpower status with a Global Nuclear Energy Supply System, which, in time, would not only solve the world’s energy problems but would also generate unimaginably vast export earnings, thereby providing a permanent solution to America’s balance-of-payments deficit.–Paul Johnson, Forbes Magazine, July 3, 2006 Wasn’t this […]
I recently found a very interesting and useful feature on a somewhat-anti-nuclear website: Nuclear Fuel Energy Balance Calculator This nifty little site lets you type in the quantity of interest to you (such as the amount of electricity you want to generate) and then it will quantify most of the other aspects of the fuel […]
Another attempt at a comparison between today’s typical solid-core, uranium-fueled reactors and what a thorium-fueled, liquid-fluoride reactor could do.
This week I picked up my copy of TIME magazine, with a cover story on the blistering growth of the Indian economy. They contrasted the rise of the Indian “elephant” and the Chinese “dragon” with our own rather steady growth. One of the persistent problems highlighted is the trade imbalance between the US and these […]
I read a report today about the plants in the country that have the greatest emissions of carbon dioxide. Unsurpisingly, they were coal plants. To my disappointment, many of them were in the South. I’ve often been caught at a railroad crossing as I watch the coal trains pass by–car after car–and I think how […]