Comments on: Thorium: Wired Magazine Muddies the Water http://helian.net/blog/2010/01/07/worldview/thorium-wired-magazine-muddies-the-water/ The world as I see it Wed, 09 May 2012 10:55:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Helian http://helian.net/blog/2010/01/07/worldview/thorium-wired-magazine-muddies-the-water/comment-page-1/#comment-9777 Helian Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:05:10 +0000 http://helian.net/blog/?p=1046#comment-9777 I certainly don't have a problem with thorium reactors per se. Unfortunately, the popular science articles you generally find about them tend to be overhyped and under informed. Occasionally the nuclear engineering journals have good articles about them, and they're not all pitched at a level that intelligent lay people can't understand. See for example, an article entitled "Molten Salt Reactors: A New Beginning for an Old Idea" in the journal Nuclear Engineering and Design at, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0029549310000191 I realize you probably don't have an online subscription, but if there's a university near you with a decent library you can probably see the full text on their computers. Basically, thorium breeders can be very safe, because the neutron spectrum can be much cooler than in plutonium breeders, they offer an attractive way of dealing with long lived transuranic waste, and the proliferation issue with U233 can be managed by denaturing it with U238, etc. As far as molten salt reactors are concerned, there are some serious corrosion issues that remain to be solved, but none that appear to be show stoppers. I certainly don’t have a problem with thorium reactors per se. Unfortunately, the popular science articles you generally find about them tend to be overhyped and under informed. Occasionally the nuclear engineering journals have good articles about them, and they’re not all pitched at a level that intelligent lay people can’t understand. See for example, an article entitled “Molten Salt Reactors: A New Beginning for an Old Idea” in the journal Nuclear Engineering and Design at,
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0029549310000191
I realize you probably don’t have an online subscription, but if there’s a university near you with a decent library you can probably see the full text on their computers. Basically, thorium breeders can be very safe, because the neutron spectrum can be much cooler than in plutonium breeders, they offer an attractive way of dealing with long lived transuranic waste, and the proliferation issue with U233 can be managed by denaturing it with U238, etc. As far as molten salt reactors are concerned, there are some serious corrosion issues that remain to be solved, but none that appear to be show stoppers.

]]> By: Thorium: Wired Magazine Muddies the Water « Bill Totten's Weblog http://helian.net/blog/2010/01/07/worldview/thorium-wired-magazine-muddies-the-water/comment-page-1/#comment-9774 Thorium: Wired Magazine Muddies the Water « Bill Totten's Weblog Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:02:42 +0000 http://helian.net/blog/?p=1046#comment-9774 [...] http://helian.net/blog/2010/01/07/worldview/thorium-wired-magazine-muddies-the-water/ Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. Categories: Uncategorized Comments (0) Trackbacks (0) Leave a comment Trackback [...] [...] http://helian.net/blog/2010/01/07/worldview/thorium-wired-magazine-muddies-the-water/ Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. Categories: Uncategorized Comments (0) Trackbacks (0) Leave a comment Trackback [...]

]]> By: bill totten http://helian.net/blog/2010/01/07/worldview/thorium-wired-magazine-muddies-the-water/comment-page-1/#comment-9759 bill totten Wed, 25 Apr 2012 08:12:16 +0000 http://helian.net/blog/?p=1046#comment-9759 Dear Helion: Thanks for your comments on Richard Martin's Wired article, which I had just read. There are lots of articles about thorium on the internet, but I thought Martin's was good until I read your comments. Could you suggest a few for people like me, who are not scientists, to read? Thanks very much in advance, Bill Totten Dear Helion:

Thanks for your comments on Richard Martin’s Wired article, which I had just read. There are lots of articles about thorium on the internet, but I thought Martin’s was good until I read your comments. Could you suggest a few for people like me, who are not scientists, to read?

Thanks very much in advance,

Bill Totten

]]> By: P http://helian.net/blog/2010/01/07/worldview/thorium-wired-magazine-muddies-the-water/comment-page-1/#comment-5460 P Tue, 04 Jan 2011 00:11:33 +0000 http://helian.net/blog/?p=1046#comment-5460 "There are no lack of good articles about the subject on the Web within easy reach of anyone who can use Google." Like this one for instance... I was trying to find a video of a piece of thorium exploding and found something much more interesting “There are no lack of good articles about the subject on the Web within easy reach of anyone who can use Google.”
Like this one for instance…
I was trying to find a video of a piece of thorium exploding and found something much more interesting

]]> By: Mythulto http://helian.net/blog/2010/01/07/worldview/thorium-wired-magazine-muddies-the-water/comment-page-1/#comment-1368 Mythulto Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:37:50 +0000 http://helian.net/blog/?p=1046#comment-1368 Very interesting. Thank you for tempering the hype with real scientific thought. Very interesting. Thank you for tempering the hype with real scientific thought.

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