+Jared Zambrana I caught wind of the pro-thorium cult and was taken in for a while. It's reliant on mining and externalising of wastes. There was a reason ancient cultures worshipped the sun, and it wasn't because they were backwards or primitive. They understood that everything comes from the sun, so, we ought to re-orient our civilisation around capturing TODAY'S sunlight, not digging in the ground in some futile attempt to use OLD sunlight. Yes it will require resources to capture & store sunlight but solar towers have proven to be viable. Morocco is finally building a solar trough array. Cover the equator in mirrors focusing on turning steam turbines then use the electricity to desalinate salty sea water and irrigate the desert once again. With the remaining electricity electrolyse water into hydrogen + oxygen for gas related products and pipe those everywhere.
+Mark Smed i think this idea of one single source of energy is the problem. i believe the energy crisis problem is solved by a combination of solutions so that each can respond to the different climates and the different needs but also weakening a direct dependence on a single source
+Mark Smed so you would agree that an energy ecosystem is necessary and not just a single source. and that would be great for economy and our energy needs.
***** Nuclear requires a blank check from a national government to underwrite unlimited future storage of the waste, doesn't it bother you that we allow governments to fund really wasteful practices instead of going with the best technology has to offer? Concentrated solar can run at night time without any loss in output.
This is very important stuff. It’s equally important to get the best, clearest messages out by the best, clearest narrators. This info is good, very good. This give us hope for clean energy. Clean in that it deals with the world’s nuclear waste AND turns it into new clean energy, plus it can’t “melt down”, it can’t run out of operating power (like Fukushima did), and it doesn’t pollute the air or adjacent landscape. It’s extremely efficient and it’s our best possible solution for the future.
He says waste but that is not what we're talking about, that stuff is used for bullets,shells,tank armor, it isn't dangerous when we say nuclear waste we mean spent fuel, he just means U238,still all Terrapower is doing is wonderful, two project Natrium in Wyoming and a fast molten chloride experiment, would still like to see the traveling wave but Im glad Bill went back and put the others first, for this you'd need to have such confidence in the robotics.
I couldn't help but noticed that he cleverly dodged the question about the cost of such plant. While I do understand we talking about technology which ain't even at proof of concept stage, he could have at least say how this cost is estimated to be in comparison to generation 3 plants.
@@placeholdername0000 No no no! That is completely different, better in some ways.Sodium which is a metal is melted and is the coolant allowing fast neutrons.a salt solution is used to store some energy.
As the others have indicated: It is good - but you need geothermal activity in your country though. Check out Scandinavia - they can do it. But it takes some reasonable amount of geothermal activity to be anywhere near profitable.
+A Cat with a Face You mine some more? - And you wouldn't have to mine as much as today per unit of energy since the reactor don't need enriched uranium. You might also start mixing in thorium into the fule in order to mine less uranium.
+Viktor Gribbe But they don't explain the process of using the uranium terribly well. Despite that the uranium doesn't need to be enriched, can the uranium be depleted? If it doesn't matter terribly what types of uranium can be used, can pre-depleted uranium be used?
They would be using depleted uranium or mixed uranium - enriched uranium is where you pull out a particular rare isotope that is much more fissile naturally - so it burns fast ... and also used in nuclear weapons for that reason. There is no 'pre-depleted' uranium, there are just the enriched, which is very rich in the good fissile material and the 'depleted' which is really a bad name for it, but basically it is a very low-fissile material.
It is a fast reactor so at the end you store the rods for 300 years then you can put them in the garden, the two things in them have half lives of 30 years.
1 its too late babe. solar panel are already dirt cheap so no point in investing in nuklear just add storage right at the plant or closer to consumer 2 not a single word on how its "safer" so i call BS on that too. all melted designs were considered safe also.
You clearly have no idea. As much as I love solar panels they can't produce the amount of power nuclear can they are not even close for example to power the entire US you would need a field about the the size of Spane filled with solar panels and if you wanted to power the US with wind you would need every aqure of farmland completely filled with wind turbines. Also you need electricity when the wind is not blowing and when the sun is not shining. Also solar panel waste is dangerous waste that's not carefully treated when on the other hand nuclear waste has a dozen different ways of being reused or carefully buried underground. As much as i would love to see the shahara desert covered in solar panels and see geothermal energy in Norway it can't compare with nuclear. Also you can't compere TWR reactors to RMBK reactors like the chernobil one that was totally based on human error. TWR reactors are extremely safe by a factor of 30 and way more practical for cities away from lakes and rivers.
We need free energy for all in America asap. To hell with socialism, but if our government could provide free energy no one would be left behind, a socialist form of welfare could be our answer to AI. The only way i see that possible is if our energy was next to free. Long lives America!
I still don't like the graphite rod the Russian failed how do you think you can do better with out the same out come and why is it that we keep kicking thorium it is always the game of playing critical mass why why the high fission prosses
Graphite is great for reactors,but Bill is building two fast reactors,Natrium and MCFR, Graphite is used in thermal reactors, fast reactors don't want to slow neutrons down.With graphite just replace the reactor every seven years so we know the graphite doesn't swell too much.
advantage to Thorium here as MSR's are much smaller than travelling wave reactors, so can be built anywhere in the world where governments approve, put on ships and go anywhere ... in fact it's close to happening already.
Which is a ridiculous concern if the government and greedy energy companies would choose to participate and endorse and support financially (they certainly have the funds).
This concept doesn’t compete with renewables, natural gas etc. It competes with battery storage to even out the gaps between electricity demand and when renewables are unavailable. Latest trends show that grid battery storage cost declines have largely bottomed out as much of the production inefficiencies efficiencies have been wrung out. Lithium is now the largest cost.
