Japanese nuke reactor blows up

[villain_the_foe]

A possible replacement for Uranium/Plutonium?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/8393984/Safe-nuclear-does-exist-and-China-is-leading-the-way-with-thorium.html

http://in.ibtimes.com/articles/123268/20110316/thorium-rare-earth-liability-or-asset.htm

[#27TheDominator]

A possible replacement for Uranium/Plutonium?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/8393984/Safe-nuclear-does-exist-and-China-is-leading-the-way-with-thorium.html

http://in.ibtimes.com/articles/123268/20110316/thorium-rare-earth-liability-or-asset.htm

I'm no expert, but we have a lot of U.S. nuclear proponents coming through as Italy considers building plants. The Japanese disaster has caused numerous problems on that front. Here is a kind of "anti" piece to thorium. Thorium?

I have no idea if that is just something put together by open minded scientists or funded by opponents, but they won the Nobel Peace prize for other (presumably anti-nuke) work. Take it for what you will. My understanding is that thorium isn't a replacement for uranium, but after a reaction is started by uranium, thorium will "convert" to fissable uranium rather easily. I don't think it will be viable until they can reprocess the spent fuel which has been a problem. The by-products will still include uranium, so while the thorium itself is much safer there are questions about safety after the reaction.

The U.S. apparently has fairly vast stores of it. Allegedly enough to last 1,000 years. It would require a uranium reaction to kick start, but then thorium reactors could start other thorium reactors. Interesting.

[villain_the_foe]

I'm no expert, but we have a lot of U.S. nuclear proponents coming through as Italy considers building plants. The Japanese disaster has caused numerous problems on that front. Here is a kind of "anti" piece to thorium. Thorium?

I have no idea if that is just something put together by open minded scientists or funded by opponents, but they won the Nobel Peace prize for other (presumably anti-nuke) work. Take it for what you will. My understanding is that thorium isn't a replacement for uranium, but after a reaction is started by uranium, thorium will "convert" to fissable uranium rather easily. I don't think it will be viable until they can reprocess the spent fuel which has been a problem. The by-products will still include uranium, so while the thorium itself is much safer there are questions about safety after the reaction.

The U.S. apparently has fairly vast stores of it. Allegedly enough to last 1,000 years. It would require a uranium reaction to kick start, but then thorium reactors could start other thorium reactors. Interesting.

You could have a point. I'll have to read the article. I never heard of thorium until I came across these articles yesterday night and found the info pretty interesting. But I cant say I know much about it. Given China's low regulations, I think if Thorium does work it'll be shown to work from the far east. They have the manufacturing structure to attempt it.

As for the scientist, they have a better chance standing on their own merit than the fact of winning the nobel peace prize in my eyes. Kissinger, Gore and Obama all won the Nobel peace prize so you know that I obviously look at the Nobel as a joke. To be fair though, that doesnt take away from the merits of legit people who won it. Its the nobel itself that I find to be a joke at times.

[war ensemble]

You could have a point. I'll have to read the article. I never heard of thorium until I came across these articles yesterday night and found the info pretty interesting. But I cant say I know much about it. Given China's low regulations, I think if Thorium does work it'll be shown to work from the far east. They have the manufacturing structure to attempt it.

As for the scientist, they have a better chance standing on their own merit than the fact of winning the nobel peace prize in my eyes. Kissinger, Gore and Obama all won the Nobel peace prize so you know that I obviously look at the Nobel as a joke. To be fair though, that doesnt take away from the merits of legit people who won it. Its the nobel itself that I find to be a joke at times.

The Nobel Prize for Physics is the most legit one. Chemistry is a branch of physics so it shouldn't have its own category.