Cool. Thanks for the link. It sounds very promising and if produced on mass scale (per city, per town, per neighborhood, per building), the cost per plant could come way down.
Also, if broadly accepted, it could replace the electric power grid, natural gas, green energy, and petroleum-based industries. I can't imagine why we haven't adopted this technology sooner.
Are you aware of any working Thorium-based plants?
Oak Ridge had a working MSR (molten salt reactor) running for something on the order of several months in the 1960s, but that was on the Uranium fuel cycle. The reactor in Shippingport, PA ran a Thorium fuel cycle in the late 70s/early 80s, but it was in a LWR configuration. The point there is we have DONE this. The Thorium cycle can work, and molten salts can work.
As for currently working, no I'm not aware of any. There are several small startups that are working towards a goal of launching more advanced reactor designs, but investment is thin because of the immense regulatory burden to penetrate the market. It's worth noting both India and China have active research programs into Thorium MSRs. In fact, China basically visited Oak Ridge and asked to see what worked they'd done there and the people working there were just like, "yeah, here ya go" and handed over tons of research. The original scientists were long-retired, and the people at Oak Ridge had absolutely no idea the gold mine they'd been sitting on. The story gets more and more frustrating the deeper you dig.
Cool. Thanks for the link. It sounds very promising and if produced on mass scale (per city, per town, per neighborhood, per building), the cost per plant could come way down.
Also, if broadly accepted, it could replace the electric power grid, natural gas, green energy, and petroleum-based industries. I can't imagine why we haven't adopted this technology sooner.
Are you aware of any working Thorium-based plants?
Oak Ridge had a working MSR (molten salt reactor) running for something on the order of several months in the 1960s, but that was on the Uranium fuel cycle. The reactor in Shippingport, PA ran a Thorium fuel cycle in the late 70s/early 80s, but it was in a LWR configuration. The point there is we have DONE this. The Thorium cycle can work, and molten salts can work.
As for currently working, no I'm not aware of any. There are several small startups that are working towards a goal of launching more advanced reactor designs, but investment is thin because of the immense regulatory burden to penetrate the market. It's worth noting both India and China have active research programs into Thorium MSRs. In fact, China basically visited Oak Ridge and asked to see what worked they'd done there and the people working there were just like, "yeah, here ya go" and handed over tons of research. The original scientists were long-retired, and the people at Oak Ridge had absolutely no idea the gold mine they'd been sitting on. The story gets more and more frustrating the deeper you dig.