Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Environment & Energy
In reply to the discussion: Who Killed the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR)? [View all]Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)143. This is really untrue.
We can build LFTRs, and we can build them relatively rapidly, and there is plenty of thorium around.
This is not at all pie-in-the-sky stuff, and since it looks like electric and electric hybrid vehicles are here to stay, we need a way to generate enough electricity to run them.
Because of the on-grid difficulties with wind, and the high cost of wind when combined with the necessary storage, it's clear that we will have to add something else to the mix in electricity generation in the next ten years, or go back to coal.
China, India and Japan are all heavily into thorium technology now - there is no stopping this one.
Edit history
Please sign in to view edit histories.
Recommendations
0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):
149 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
RecommendedHighlight replies with 5 or more recommendations
Yes, I'm not looking at economics, I'm looking at environmental considerations.
joshcryer
Dec 2011
#28
700+ environmental organizations think that we should sit on nuclear waste...
joshcryer
Dec 2011
#32
The DOD wanted all reactors to be dual purpose -- provide plutonium for weapons, as well as power.
eppur_se_muova
Dec 2011
#2
Did it ever occur to you that the US commercial nuclear fuel cycle was developed to produce bombs
jpak
Dec 2011
#91
North Korea's plutonium production reactor had an electrical generating capacity of 5 MWe
jpak
Dec 2011
#98
Barry Brook is the Director of Climate Science at the University of Adelaide.
joshcryer
Dec 2011
#21
He might as well be drawing a paycheck directly from the uranium mining industry.
kristopher
Dec 2011
#37
Nice find. Brook's environmental record remains untarnished by anonymous detractors.
joshcryer
Dec 2011
#90
The damage comes from both the use of the energy and the waste products of its production.
GliderGuider
Dec 2011
#52
OK - why is human impact 6x what it should be to guarantee long-term sustainability?
wtmusic
Dec 2011
#83
I base my opinion on the situation around the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
GliderGuider
Dec 2011
#84
There is no plan. The required change is too large to be anything except involuntary.
GliderGuider
Dec 2011
#64
The "required change" I talk about has little to do with immediate human welfare.
GliderGuider
Dec 2011
#66
I thought I was clear. I don't "propose" any mechanism, I think all we have to do is wait.
GliderGuider
Dec 2011
#70
According to WHO, "only" 150,000 annual deaths are directly attributable to global warming
wtmusic
Dec 2011
#80