Watch This Video – It’s Long But Worth It

Japan’s ongoing nuclear reactor problems are clearly demonstrating that the risk from traditional nuclear reactor technology are unacceptable. Sure, it’s not highly probable that an accident or incident will happen, but when it does, the consequences are enormous. So, the question is what other technologies are available to generate nuclear power.

One point of view is that having large complexes with multiple large reactors is an insane approach, and that a much better alternative is many small reactors distributed over a wide area. One of the more interesting technologies that is just around the corner is the thorium reactor. Its advantages include

• No chance of meltdowns like Japan and Chernobyl.
• A small amount of radioactive waste materials.
• It can burn the waste materials from existing reactors.
• You can’t make nuclear weapons with it.
• There is a ton of thorium… enough to last for thousands of years.

Thorium reactors are relatively cheap to build and can be operated at a big profit. Plus, they eliminate the two biggest problems with current reactor technology, waste and containment.

The idea for thorium reactors has been around for some time. They were the product of early attempts to produce nuclear powered bombers. As you can imagine, to put a reactor in an airplane it must be relatively small and lightweight, and it must not expose the crew to dangerous radiation. Nuclear powered bombers were abandoned years ago, but the promise in thorium technology has lived on.

Today the Department of Energy’s SSTAR (Small Sealed Transportable Autonomous Reactor) program is entering the 4th generation of technology and practical thorium based reactors are expected to be online and capable of being produced inexpensively and in large quantities between 2020 and 2030.

Thorium reactors produce electrical power at about one tenth the cost of today’s commercial reactors based on uranium. That, plus the small size and improved safety make it practical for small cities and even individual industrial plants to have their own reactors.

For more information click here.

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