Europe, having cut off a major natural gas supplier, resorted to burning coal. Guess who's their big coal supplier. Hint: it's Russia and they cut off their own coal supplies from there as well LOL

iamonlyoneman · 2022-08-02T19:10:15+00:00

People dying in the cold this winter just to own the russkies is a wierd flex but okay

FuckYourMom · 2022-08-01T16:44:19+00:00

That’s cool.

Drewski · 2022-07-30T17:41:22+00:00

archive.today mirror

iamonlyoneman · 2022-07-29T15:04:37+00:00

...after selling millions of barrels to a Chinese company linked to his son...

iamonlyoneman · 2022-07-24T00:19:40+00:00

He's trying to do the right thing. Just because he doesnt understand what's right doesn't make him bad. His idea of good involves things that sane people tend to think are crazy, but he's trying to do right. Maybe it causes short term pain for you but that's a sacrifice he's willing to make.

IkeConn · 2022-07-23T23:43:04+00:00

Why is this guy deliberately crippling the Democrats going into the 2022 mid term? That's stupid.

FuckYourMom · 2022-07-22T07:24:48+00:00

I disagree. You don’t gain reputation and credibility back with a pen.

IkeConn · 2022-07-19T19:52:59+00:00

Investment In Nuclear Fusion Is Exploding And It Always Will.

IkeConn · 2022-07-08T21:23:28+00:00

When she dies they will need to find another nigra warsh woman and train her up.

iamonlyoneman · 2022-07-08T20:39:48+00:00

If you just say "I'm a communist" people will know to ignore you more readily. This is the sort of thing that happens when energy is nationalized

raven9 · 2022-07-08T18:19:10+00:00

Nothing wrong with that. In fact that is how it should be. For example if the people jointly owned the country's oil production, gas could be charged to the consumer at a level where the profits would pay for maintaining the roads and other infrastructure which would be a fraction of the prices the current free market extortion racket forces us to pay.

Drewski · 2022-07-06T18:01:15+00:00

Good stuff as always Jason, thanks for sharing.

IkeConn · 2022-07-01T20:11:42+00:00

He's surrounded by tranny queer clowns that don't have the first clue how shit really works.

JasonCarswell · 2022-06-29T20:20:52+00:00

That's why his name seems familiar!

IkeConn · 2022-06-29T01:51:39+00:00

Wokies are always fucking themselves in the ass.

IkeConn · 2022-06-23T03:46:48+00:00

I saw this airhead talking about an electric car the other day. She had no clue the local grid was coal fired.

iamonlyoneman · 2022-06-22T23:43:53+00:00

The twist is the plan is to not allow more extraction of domestic 'fossil fuels' in Colombia. For the climate, you see. Nevermind that it always leads to suffering for the poor (which you would be excused for thinking communists care about) but we have to try to adjust the temperature on a planet with no thermostat!

FuckYourMom · 2022-06-20T03:24:39+00:00

Bob Lazar is a government plant. A honey pot. There are UFOs. They are not what we think they are. Bob Lazar was planted decades ago to make it seem like we have Alien tech.

JasonCarswell · 2022-06-19T14:38:05+00:00

He loves his military aid.

IkeConn · 2022-06-19T04:30:14+00:00

Joe can't dismount a bike without a major malfunction.

IkeConn · 2022-06-16T19:26:35+00:00

The lefties never deliver. They just control.

iamonlyoneman · 2022-06-15T17:01:17+00:00

They are having blackouts at the beginning of winter, because the national policy bans nuclear (which they have scads of uranium in Australia) and heavily frowns on coal (they have loads of coal) and natural gas (they have loads of natural gas too) generation. The nation smiles at wind and solar, which predictably are falling on their faces when pressed into the role of baseload power generation.

IkeConn · 2022-06-05T01:42:58+00:00

Throw a couple dozen CEO's in prison and watch prices stabilize overnight.

iamonlyoneman · 2022-06-03T15:01:45+00:00

which, if this were fairy-tale land, would work to reduce the price of oil and gas

as it's a capitalist world out there . . . inb4 shortages in countries that refuse to pay market rates

iamonlyoneman · 2022-05-30T01:38:10+00:00

...this, by the way, when Russia is shipping record amounts to China and India.

FuckYourMom · 2022-05-23T23:13:16+00:00

This is intentional. This is how they do it. Whether it’s was or purposeful starvation.

Their gonna be like, “beauracracy is what took down the US”.

And then with china in 70 years, “it was the lack of bureaucracy”.

Meanwhile, corruption, double speak, purposeful steps taken by the ruling class are ALL ignored.

And it’s the same thing every time. And the ruling class is excluded from the impact every time.

They got them during the French Revolution. Gulitoned the fuck out of them. And they made the French pay for hundreds of years.

MuhUkraine · 2022-05-23T01:24:25+00:00

The NRC is a huge fucking boondoggle. The industry should be much more self-regulating.

ShekelPa · 2022-05-22T20:33:13+00:00

Because it threatens virtually every other industry. Can't solve problems without risk of being assassinated.

IkeConn · 2022-05-22T17:57:04+00:00

Because clean endless fusion power is only 5 years away...and it always will be.

Drewski · 2022-05-04T00:39:23+00:00

It's not though.

If you read the safety section even in the event of a total power loss the freeze plug melts, draining the core salt into a tank where nuclear fission and meltdown are impossible.

Thorium reactors are far safer and more efficient than previous nuclear reactors, produce less waste, and are the only real sustainable power source since solar and wind are unable to meet the demands of the modern power grid.

chadwickofwv · 2022-05-03T20:45:16+00:00

It is a nuclear meltdown waiting to happen.

JasonCarswell · 2022-04-23T22:34:50+00:00

/u/beingPoisoned

IkeConn · 2022-04-17T01:26:10+00:00

So the Canadian entrepreneur is Captain Hook?

IkeConn · 2022-03-08T18:27:10+00:00

Dirty corporatioons have us by the balls and can do anything they like.

Jackalope · 2022-03-08T01:12:53+00:00

Lol, independence in a globalized economy, don't make me laugh politicians

IkeConn · 2021-12-29T19:25:04+00:00

Slot cars use rails for power. Open up Charging Lanes with power pickup "rails" of some type in the road and make the electric car drivers pay for using it.

IkeConn · 2021-10-07T02:30:33+00:00

We have TVA and a shitload of rivers. California may be fucked but we aren't.

JasonCarswell · 2021-08-10T13:35:25+00:00

Just to play devil's advocate, that would look ugly. Also not sure if slowing the river down will have an impact.

It could look ugly or they could do something about it, from creating aesthetically pleasing industrial designs to covering them up to hiding them inside other things to changing the axis to redirecting some of the river's current to any number of things.

Yes, like wind turbines, for maximum effectiveness you'd want to space them out accordingly.

AmericanMuskrat · 2021-08-10T08:46:33+00:00

lined with these devices

Just to play devil's advocate, that would look ugly. Also not sure if slowing the river down will have an impact.

JasonCarswell · 2021-08-10T06:43:31+00:00

Mass produced, prefab, DIY, or janky rigged - I agree 10,000%.

IkeConn · 2021-08-10T04:00:50+00:00

These should be all over the place in my area. We have really big creeks and a shitload of rivers. We also have really cheap TVA power.

JasonCarswell · 2021-08-09T22:40:50+00:00

Thank you! Fantastic site.

la_cues · 2021-08-09T22:05:04+00:00

Ahah I love how they are getting torn apart in the replies. Fuck modern "technology".

Http://lowtechmagazine.com

I'll shill this site until the day I die.

JasonCarswell · 2021-08-09T19:41:16+00:00

If everyone can own a personal vehicle then there's absolutely no reason why the shores of any other riverfront cannot be lined with these devices - and have them on anchored barges too. The potential of Windsor/Detroit is astounding, sharing the same water flow as Niagara Falls, but without the maximum centralized control of that maximum power.

IkeConn · 2021-08-03T02:33:26+00:00

I hope they have better luck than the Russians.

Touchngo · 2021-05-27T17:44:51+00:00

All these BS shortages are manufactured!

nelsoncarter · 2021-04-16T09:37:48+00:00

Tadalista professional 20 is a men's wellbeing medicine that dynamic contains Tadalafil used to treat erectile dysfunction issues. This medication is known for its fast activity system and exceptional sublingual type of tablet. This medication works in boosting up the blood flow and relaxing blood vessel blockages in the male erectile organ.

JasonCarswell · 2021-02-19T18:34:03+00:00

I've been saying some of this for ages, including on SaidIt. I'll say it again.

Decentralize electricity production!

I live by the Detroit River, where the exact same water flows over Niagara Falls. Sure the falls have fast kinetic energy, but that same flow travels consistently for miles here with a serious width. Just as almost every house has a car, there's no reason it can't have a generator in the river, whether larger for many houses or small for a single home, whether floating at the surface, mid-level chained on a buoy, or carpeting much of the floor of the river. The Great Lakes is a great waterway, but it could be done to smaller scales for any stream or river.

I made another post in /s/Energy a while back describing how they could easily run a dedicated pipe/channel electric generator system across Essex County here where I live, as a shortcut avoiding the Detroit River between Lake St.Clair and Lake Erie. Sure it would require a huge initial expense but it would be a perpetual energy source. A pipe would work but a channel would obviously move much more water and generate much more electricity. The elevation difference is not tremendous, but the water force is, made even greater the wider channel is. The width of a road? The width of a football field? Plus - potential for more fish, wildlife, and other things, perhaps even more boating.

IMO, just as every home and workplace should have an indie-server, so too, we should all be generating our own power.

Additionally, thorium molten salt reactors should be commonplace too. The powers that be deny us liberty and independence.

astronautrob · 2021-02-14T16:20:56+00:00

That thing is dope if we could all come to turns with our sexuality

jykylsin2034 · 2021-02-14T02:04:22+00:00

Yeah no thanks I don't want big metal boners in my yard

Earl_Harbinger · 2021-01-25T17:30:09+00:00

Yes, if we shift the real cost away via subsidies and additional output balancers, it becomes much cheaper.

JasonCarswell · 2020-10-24T20:46:43+00:00

I would love to see them build a huge system of these turbines (as seen in the thumbnail image) along the southeast shore of Essex county where it would enter Lake Erie, after crossing at the shortest distance from Lake St. Clair (the Great Lake in the middle) across Tilbury and Essex County, Ontario, Canada in a man-made channel/canal/pipe with a drop of only 2 metres or 6 feet. This Essex County elevation map illustrates how the county is almost completely flat. There are already man-made ditches all over Essex county, so it's not an impossible task, but the only questions are financing and political will power. The financing should take care of itself soon enough via generated electricity, assuming they make the channel big enough to carry enough water for enough turbines. While it's obviously not the height of Niagara Falls, it is the same waterway. A bonus feature is that there is a robust electricity grid with the Detriot nuclear generating station and countless wind turbines were erected across Essex County - and driving along the 401 at night is spooky with their red aircraft warning lights pulsing like the heartbeat of the farming region.

JasonCarswell · 2020-09-24T16:36:06+00:00

I'd like to see more small modular water turbines. ALL of the water that flows over Niagara Falls also flows down the Detroit River. They could install THOUSANDS of small modular water turbines along the many miles of concentrated river. Sink them to the bottom, anchor them midway, and/or float them.

They could tie into the Windsor and/or Detroit power grids and right there along is also a the way is the Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station which already has some infrastructure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Fermi_Nuclear_Generating_Station

That's small stuff compared to building giant water turbines to harness the perpetual ocean currents off the coasts. Scottland is making progress with this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_current

And then of course, if they can make small modular nuclear reactors then they can surely make modular thorium molten salt reactors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten_salt_reactor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_fluoride_thorium_reactor

hennaojichan · 2020-09-24T16:04:04+00:00

Whatever anyone thinks of nuclear electric generation, it seems the best alternative for the near future at least.

mantra · 2020-08-02T21:24:47+00:00

No such thing. Energy is always conserved so it has to come from somewhere. Presumably the energy is actually from the solar cells. Based on the description it's super vague. The only point of legitimacy is that's Toyota parts are involved but it's not clear how much involvement they actually have.

Going to hydrogen is NOT going to be more energy efficient that simply saving power in lithium batteries.

JasonCarswell · 2020-05-28T11:09:56+00:00

Mirror post:
/s/Energy/comments/4k2b/microhydropower_ultrasmall_water_power_generators/
/s/Solutions/comments/4k29/microhydropower_ultrasmall_water_power_generators/
/s/Sustainability/comments/4k2a/microhydropower_ultrasmall_water_power_generators/

Nalukai · 2020-05-06T11:04:50+00:00

have those human sized Piranha popped out yet?

JasonCarswell · 2020-05-04T05:43:06+00:00

I don't buy into the climate change hysteria to manifest a global carbon tax scam, not unlike our current corona scam.

However I do agree that Big Oil needs to be decentralized.

Also, if you haven't watch Josh Fox's classic A+++ documentary Gas Land and it's sequel(s?).

kokolokoNightcrawler · 2020-04-25T13:38:51+00:00

Just the thing I was looking for

JasonCarswell · 2020-04-24T18:38:36+00:00

See also:

The Nuclear Scare Scam | Galen Winsor ~ LibertyInOurTime, 2012-06-27 /s/Radiation/comments/qpm/the_nuclear_scare_scam_galen_winsor/

A Free Nuclear Economy | Galen Winsor [1985] ~ LibertyInOurTime, 2012-06-27 /s/Energy/comments/qq0/a_free_nuclear_economy_galen_winsor_1985/

JasonCarswell · 2019-05-30T06:51:57+00:00

Nonsense.

This video was good but they didn't even delve into waste management - and the lack of any responsible political efforts to be wiser.

Though, thorium seems like it should be embraced. There are plenty of other alternatives "they" never want us to consider. These alternatives are decentralized and passive and all around us - currents.

Whether someone builds some giant ocean things to harness the perpetual ocean currents, whether we anchor barges with long turbines can be submerged and raised at will, or whether our rivers are lined with paddlewheels - there is an abundance of kinetic power out there that does not need to be centralized and controlled by "powers that be".

That's only on one front.

Power corrupts absolutely, so power is centralized absolutely.

If they were smart they'd embrace more alternatives and /s/hydrogen as a portable fuel instead.

sawboss · 2019-05-30T04:24:59+00:00

nuclear is the only feasible solution for the future unless we just decide to kill a few billion people

JasonCarswell · 2019-05-30T00:32:49+00:00

Show notes:

Guest: Michael Shellenberger, nuclear power expert, environmentalist

France: 75% nuclear powered, less pollution created, lower costs

Germany: No nuclear, 50% higher energy costs, more pollution

Sunless, windless days make those alternative possibilities unreliable

Both require batteries, lots and lots of batteries
Environmental cost of batteries
Unreliable producers of energy

Michael Shellenberger: We should stick with and develop light water cooled nuclear solutions, not Gen IV

Bill Gates has embraced Gen IV research and development

12 startups are pursuing Gen IV technology

Nuclear energy is promoted as safer, cleaner than coal

Congressional support for development is bipartisan

Climate change people fear that more than nuclear concerns

If you’re pro-science, nuclear power is the best known answer
Solar and wind will NEVER provide world’s power needs

JasonCarswell · 2019-05-30T00:28:14+00:00

Great post!

I'm sorry I missed this when you posted it.

JasonCarswell · 2019-05-29T16:51:13+00:00

Thanks.

They're all here: https://infogalactic.com/info/SaidIt_banner_gallery

I'm a few behind and hope to do some for future subs too.

Didn't see this post before. I don't get notified on posts.

hennaojisan · 2019-05-21T10:00:15+00:00

Just when I tricked myself into thinking things could not get any weirder and now this. Sheesh.

JasonCarswell · 2019-05-10T23:39:22+00:00

Reposted: /s/Water/comments/n47/molten_salt_reactors_and_thermal_desalination_to/

Tom_Bombadil · 2019-04-21T02:12:43+00:00

I doubt that this is accurate.

Abiotic oil has likely refilled the American sources. Strategic reserves.

Tom_Bombadil · 2019-04-21T02:10:18+00:00

Conditions similar to these exist beneath the crust of the Earth.

Hmmmmm....

I wonder... .

JasonCarswell · 2019-04-20T20:47:19+00:00

Show notes:

http://patreon.com/thorium Thorium is plentiful & can be used to generate energy without creating transuranic wastes. Thorium's capacity as nuclear fuel was discovered during WW II, but ignored because it was unsuitable for making bombs. A liquid-fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) is the optimal approach for harvesting energy from Thorium, and has the potential to solve today's energy/climate crisis. LFTR is a type of Thorium Molten Salt Reactor (Th-MSR). This video summarizes over 6 hours worth of thorium talks given by Kirk Sorensen and other thorium technologists.

THORIUM REMIX 2011 starts with a 5 minute TL;WL summary, to hold you over until you find your Ritalin. YouTube Closed Captioning is available in English, and many other languages.

To learn more about the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor visit: http://energyfromthorium.com/

See http://THORIUMREMIX.com/ for full list of multimedia source material.

Key YouTube video components:

Kirk Sorensen @ TEDxYYC - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2vzotsvvkw

Kirk Sorensen @ Protospace - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVSmf_qmkbg

_Kirk Sorensen @ MRU -_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3rL08J7fDA

Kirk Sorensen @ TEAC3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-uxvSVIGtU

Kirk Sorensen @ Dr. Kiki Science Hour #84 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEpnpyd-jbw

After Fukushima: The Fear Factor - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVQ0NvEcyqw

Robert Hargraves @ TEAC3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOoBTufkEog

Alexander Cannara @ TEAC3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUVq81kBKyk

James Kennedy @ TEAC3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrDeB86YpV4

Q: What is thorium and what makes it special?

A: Thorium is a naturally-occuring mineral that holds large amounts of releasable nuclear energy, similar to uranium. This nuclear energy can be released in a special nuclear reactor designed to use thorium. Thorium is special because it is easier to extract this energy completely than uranium due to some of the chemical and nuclear properties of thorium.

Q: What is a liquid-fluoride reactor?

A: A liquid-fluoride nuclear reactor is different than conventional nuclear reactors that use solid fuel elements. A liquid-fluoride reactor uses a solution of several fluoride salts, typically lithium fluoride, beryllium fluoride, and uranium tetrafluoride, as its basic nuclear fuel. The fluoride salts have a number of advantages over solid fuels. They are impervious to radiation damage, they can be chemically processed in the form that they are in, and they have a high capacity to hold thermal energy (heat). Additional nuclear fuel can be added or withdrawn from the salt solution during normal operation.

Q: Are the salts safe?

A: Very safe. Unlike other coolants considered for high-performance reactors (like liquid sodium) the salts will not react dangerously with air or water. This is because they are already in their most stable chemical form. Their properties do not change even under intense radiation, unlike all solid forms of nuclear fuel.

Q: What is nuclear waste and how does a liquid-fluoride reactor address this issue?

A: So-called "nuclear waste" or spent-nuclear fuel is produced in conventional (solid-core) nuclear reactors because they are unable to extract all of the nuclear energy from their fuel before they have to shutdown. LFTR addresses this issue by using a form of nuclear fuel (liquid-fluoride salts of thorium) that allow complete extraction of nuclear energy from the fuel.

"Fluid Fuel Reactors", James A. Lane, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, 1958. http://moltensalt.org/references/static/downloads/pdf/

JasonCarswell · 2019-04-20T20:35:02+00:00

See also:

IMSR and Hybrid Nuclear/Renewable Energy Systems - John Kutsch at Naval Postgraduate School ~ Gordon McDowell, 2019-03-29 /s/Energy/comments/kpt/imsr_and_hybrid_nuclearrenewable_energy_systems/

JasonCarswell · 2019-04-20T20:30:48+00:00

Show notes:

Coupling Integral Molten Salt Reactor Technology with Hybrid Nuclear/Renewable Energy Systems by John Kutsch for https://www.terrestrialenergy.com/

Presented at Naval Postgraduate School, Energy Academic Group, NPS Defense Energy Seminar. https://my.nps.edu/web/eag/2018-seminar-2

Terrestrial Energy USA is now working with Idaho National Laboratory to couple the IMSR to advanced industrial systems. Several systems have been designed and proposed. These can serve energy-intensive industries with stable heat and power for clean H2, O2 production, and by extension ammonia and methanol production. Desalination is also a very significant market sector for the IMSR heat and power.

IMSR has the potential to be a truly transformative energy technology, and when coupled to advanced industrial systems, IMSR enables new, truly transformative clean industries. The IMSR demonstrates that power generation systems designed explicitly for electricity generation are no longer a necessary constraint. Nuclear energy can provide new opportunities for variable renewable energy systems by allowing them to contribute to a common reservoir of thermal battery storage without stressing the grid system. The IMSR enables the idealized deep decarbonization desperately sought after by climate-conscious industrialists, such as Google-org.

In the Google.org experiment, the conclusion was finally drawn that carbon-free electricity was an exceedingly small fraction, compared to the behemoth fossil fuel power for transportation and industrial processes. The IMSR provides a new deployable system for low-cost carbon-free process heat energy, which can be used to produce a broad array of energy services, including electric power; hydrogen as an input for industrial chemicals production; steel, cement, and other primary materials; or synthetic fuels for the transportation sector. All of this can be achieved cost-competitively with fossil fuels, and at the lowest life cycle emissions rating of any power source.

JasonCarswell · 2019-04-20T20:25:37+00:00

Show notes:

There's a power revolution heading for our homes – a device that allows you to take power into your own hands. Its batteries, home batteries, and they've been called the holy grail of renewables – the key to the transition away from fossil fuels.

Catalyst is Australia's flagship science documentary program, showcasing Australian and international stories that impact us all.

Near the end: Batteries in your walls and structurally part of high-rises and sky-scrapers! OMG!

JasonCarswell · 2019-04-20T20:15:33+00:00

Show Notes:

http://ThoriumRemix.com/ is a doc created (in part) from this footage. Watch "LFTR in 5 Minutes - THORIUM REMIX 2011" at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9M__yYbsZ4

When arriving in Calgary to present at TEDxYYC, Kirk Sorensen was immediately raced from his late arrival flight to MRU for a talk... and then straight to his second talk at PROTOSPACE!

http://protospace.ca

At PROTOSPACE, Kirk reviewed his interest in space, his work for NASA and his introduction to liquid fueled reactors. The talk itself ends with a long Q&A period, then a casual conversation about how reactor development could be crowdsourced.

This video is released by Gordon McDowell under a Creative Commons Share-Alike License.

If you are interested in LFTR, consider joining Facebook's https://www.facebook.com/EnergyFromThorium , if you are CANADIAN and interested in promoting this technology, also email me at gordonmcdowell@gmail.com

If you remix on YouTube, aside from a description hyperlink, please add an annotation hyperlink when PROTOSPACE footage is first cited.

JasonCarswell · 2019-04-20T20:10:13+00:00

Show notes:

WATCH FULL SCREEN: Richard Martin's book, "Thorium • Superfuel" was a harbinger of the 'nuclear renaissance' by bringing to the public the subject of thorium and molten salt reactor technology.

Thorium Community has added text and images to amplify the author's 2012 Googletalk presentation that covers many points from his study: nuclear power's decline today, due to lack of innovation, the rise of cheap fossil fuel, and the several nuclear accidents, the aftereffects of which paled in comparison with those of oil, coal and gas-related disasters.

Martin also offers a look at Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) technology, and the missed opportunity to develop MSRs over conventional reactors since their introduction in the 1960s.

Plus: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's short, "The Molten Salt Reactor Revival". PNNL, is a U.S. Department of Energy research facility in Washington state.

JasonCarswell · 2019-04-20T12:58:20+00:00

Article: /s/Energy/comments/knn/mapped_every_power_plant_in_the_united_states/

Image: /s/Infographics/comments/knm/mapped_every_power_plant_in_the_united_states/

JasonCarswell · 2019-04-20T12:57:42+00:00

Article: /s/Energy/comments/kno/map_the_countries_with_the_most_oil_reserves/

Image: /s/Infographics/comments/knl/map_the_countries_with_the_most_oil_reserves/

JasonCarswell · 2019-04-20T12:55:59+00:00

Article: /s/Energy/comments/kni/visualizing_the_worlds_deepest_oil_well/

Image: /s/Infographics/comments/knk/visualizing_the_worlds_deepest_oil_well/

JasonCarswell · 2019-04-20T06:10:14+00:00

Show notes:

Uranium-233 is a fissile isotope of uranium that is bred from thorium-232 as part of the thorium fuel cycle. Uranium-233 was investigated for use in nuclear weapons. Uranium-233 is produced by the neutron irradiation of thorium-232. Thorium-232 absorbs a neutron, becomes thorium-233, then quickly decays into protactinium-233. Protactinium-233 has a half-life of 27 days and before decaying into uranium-233.

This protactinium has a large cross-section and can absorb neutrons needed to sustain fission. Because uranium-233 releases so few neutrons in thermal-spectrum, and because 2 neutrons are needed to sustain a chain reaction, existence of protactinium would stop fission.

Protactinium-233 is a challenge unique to thorium reactors.

Low breeding ratio is a challenge unique to breeder reactors fueled by thorium, which operate in thermal-spectrum.

The 5,000 tpy figure of Thorium assumes a 50,000 tpy Rare Earths facility that primarily utilizes monazite as its feed-stock.

Thorium is a companion element to Monazite. Monazite runs at +50% REE and about 7% Th. So if you processed 50,000 tons of monazite you would get about 3,500 tpy of Th. However, monazite would not be the only feed-stock. You would use many other mineralizations. like apatite running at 3% REE and .002% Th (but with lots of heavy REE). So it would be a mix and tend toward the 5,000 tpy range.

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