This Radioactive Element Could Power the Planet http://mashable.com/2013/11/07/thorium-power-everything/ If your car was powered by thorium, you would never need to refuel it. The vehicle would burn out long before the chemical did. The thorium would last so long, in fact, it would probably outlive you. That's why a company called Laser Power Systems has created a concept for a thorium-powered car engine. The element is radioactive, and the team uses bits of it to build a laserbeam that heats water, produces steam, and powers an energy-producing turbine. Thorium is one of the most dense materials on the planet. A small sample of it packs 20 million times more energy than a similarly-sized sample of coal, making it an ideal energy source. See also: Scientists Use Lego Technology to Make More Efficient Solar Panels The thing is, Dr. Charles Stevens, the CEO of Laser Power Systems, told Mashable that thorium engines won't be in cars anytime soon. "Cars are not our primary interest," Stevens said. "The automakers don't want to buy them." He said too much of the automobile industry is focused on making money off of gas engines, and it will take at least a couple decades for thorium technology to be used enough in other industries that vehicle manufacturers will begin to consider revamping the way they think about engines. "We're building this to power the rest of the world," Stevens said. He believes a thorium turbine about the size of an air conditioning unit could more provide cheap power for whole restaurants, hotels, office buildings, even small towns in areas of the world without electricity. At some point, thorium could power individual homes. Stevens understands that people may be wary of Thorium because it is radioactive — but any such worry would be unfounded. "The radiation that we develop off of one of these things can be shielded by a single sheet off of aluminum foil," Stevens said." "You will get more radiation from one of those dental X-rays than this."
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Great thread Brian. Let me bump it up. LFTR Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors are probably the best solution to mankind's energy needs. If you don't know what these are, you should. It's a proven technology that few people know about, and has all kinds of advantages over current nuclear reactors, except one, it doesn't produce weapons grade plutonium like the current breeder reactors do. (if you can call that an advantage ) Lots of info on youtube about LFTRs and their advantages over regular nuclear reactors. A couple links ,,,, A short version -- A long Version BTW I don't think you'll be seeing them in cars any time soon.
I've been keeping my eye on the thorium reactor concept for years. I remember reading an article about a planned unit by Mitsubishi that would be cooled by liquid sodium and buried 60 feet underground, not needing any routine maintenance, and capable of powering a decent sized town. They were planning it for some remote town in Alaska but I don't know if they ever actually put one into production. Update: It was Toshiba, it would be buried 100' under and the town was Galena Alaska: http://www.theoildrum.com/node/4971
I wonder how long Thorium takes to season? For fear of Scotty's war hammer, I take caution not to get political, but stuff like this makes me wonder how the whole world is not behind this cause. Anyway, I hope the right people do get behind and figure it out take it to the masses. I think you fail to realize the fall-out (pun intended) from such an energy source: We'll all be running electric chainsaws...the old two-smoke engine will be a thing of the past....no more muffler mods, tuning videos, Mastermind will go out of business... We'll all be relegated to limb cleanup and the occasional firepit fire. Bad, Thorium....BAD! Go away...you're not welcome here.
Imagine a thorium powered chain saw? I read that the idea of using thorium goes back to the earliest years of nuclear energy but it was set aside specifically because it could not be used for nuclear weapons proliferation. Now that that mindset is at least in part a thing of the past maybe government and industry will put the money and research into thorium based technology.
Speaking of nuclear weapons, I recently saw, and thought I'd share, this chronological time lapse video of nuclear detonations between 1945 and 1998. Very melodic, but kind of scary. A lot of BTUs burned up there. Pay particular attention to the location of #2 and #3.
