Who Killed the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR)?

[PamW]

42. I watch the video - I wonder if you did...

Fast reactor funding dropped dramatically after TMI
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You need to go back and look at the video again!!!

The graph shows the increased funding on the LMFBR up until about 1977 at which it hits a peak. Then there is a sudden drop off due to the opposition to the LMFBR instituted by newly elected President Carter, as the speaker explained.

However, if you look at the graph post 1979 and TMI; you will see that the spending on LMFBR was modestly INCREASING not decreasing. The graph then shows another drop off in 1984, which is due to the cancellation of the Clinch River Breeder reactor project.

However, the graph presented by the speaker ends at about 1984.

The graph didn't show the years 1984 to 1994 in which LMFBR research recovered, and those were the years that Argonne developed the Integral Fast Reactor (IFR). There was a drop in LMFBR research in 1994 when the Clinton Administration cancelled the IFR as Dr. Till explained.

BTW, I also noted in the talk that just prior to the 24 minute mark, the speaker makes a point that I have made many times here. There is a difference between "weapons grade" plutonium, and "reactor grade" plutonium, and the speaker makes the point that reactor grade plutonium is not suitable for making nuclear weapons.

PamW