World's first thorium reactor ready to be built

[Marlin]

A hundred year run time would be a big improvement.

World's first thorium reactor ready to be built for cheaper, safer nuclear energy

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/129913-world-s-first-thorium-reactor-ready-to-be-built-for-cheaper-safer-nuclear-energy

[Bonds 25]

So that's why we have almost 200 Security Officers. To keep Terrorists from acquiring the Plutonium (although mostly the wrong isotope) in our fuel.....

Also, I understand the theory, but I have never liked the "safer than light water Uranium reactors" phrase......it makes it sound like our current Nuclear Power fleet isn't already the safest method for producing massive amounts of energy.

I'm Pro-Nuclear, so I support all types.

[storm13]

Since thorium reactors are far safer than current nuclear reactors there has been talk of minaturising them so a $1000 unit could power a ten house street for a lifetime. While that sounds exciting the reality is still a long way off.

$1,000 for electricity for a lifetime for 10 houses?  I spend that in 3-4 months.

[GLW]

it is never too cheap to meter,....

although it is sometimes portrayed that way,...

besides, the thousand does not include taxes or transmission maintenance costs,...

a thousand per year would still be a significant improvement,...

[Marlin]

$1,000 for electricity for a lifetime for 10 houses?  I spend that in 3-4 months.

   Japan was developing a small portable reactor some time ago but I have not heard much about it recently. It would seem that the characteristics of a thorium reactor may be better suited to that kind of application. I believe that one of the locations proposed for the reactor was Alaska, isolated populations would benefit from these reactors due to the high cost of fueland distribution in those areas.

[SloGlo]

  Japan was developing a small portable reactor some time ago but I have not heard much about it recently. It would seem that the characteristics of a thorium reactor may be better suited to that kind of application. I believe that one of the locations proposed for the reactor was Alaska, isolated populations would benefit from these reactors due to the high cost of fueland distribution in those areas.

aye think bill gates and the traveling wave reactor shelved the project bee four it went vary far.

http://www.chugachelectric.com/pdfs/agenda/wsagenda_090308_1-4.pdf

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galena_Nuclear_Power_Plant

[Marlin]

aye think bill gates and the traveling wave reactor shelved the project bee four it went vary far.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galena_Nuclear_Power_Plant

No he is just looking to go overseas with it. This article is a bit dated but I have heard that it is still in the works.

China Isn't Building a Traveling Wave Nuclear Plant (Yet)

"We are sharing information on the [traveling wave reactor] with a variety of research, supply and manufacturing organizations, but there are no deals to speak to at this time," John Gilleland, TerraPower's C.E.O. said in a statement today.

According to The Guardian Bill Gates says "TerraPower is having very good discussions" with the China National Nuclear Corporation, but that those discussions are at an early stage. The company has been in these sorts of discussions for a couple of years now.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/426300/china-isnt-building-a-traveling-wave-nuclear-plant-yet/

[SloGlo]

 April 2008, Marvin Yoder, a consultant on the reactor, said that Toshiba was planning to make the application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2009, and that if approval had been given in 2010 or 2011, the reactor could have been operational by 2012 or 2013. The company was also developing a 50 megawatt (electric) version of the reactor.[1]

The plan had been to build a 10-megawatt reactor that would have been buried underground, and fuel would have powered the reactor for 30 years. According to Dennis Witmer, an energy consultant with the UA Alaska Center for Energy and Power, the project was "effectively stalled." Toshiba never began the expensive process for approval that is required by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.[2]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galena_Nuclear_Power_Plant



On November 6, 2009, TerraPower executives and major investor Bill Gates visited Toshiba's Yokohama and Keihin Factories in Japan, and concluded a non-disclosure agreement with them on December 1.[10][11][12][12] Toshiba had already developed an ultracompact reactor, the 4S, that can operate continuously for 30 years without fuel handling and generates 10 megawatts.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TerraPower

gist saying...

[GLW]

Trying to educate the American public to a notion of "clean" nuclear is akin to the same effort for "clean" coal,....

It is a non starter,...