Liquid Metal Battery Could Budget Sun's Energy

[Mike90250]

Wired has a pretty decent story about Thorium reactors.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/ff_new_nukes/all/1

Not all designs need a radioactive seed. I love this quote:
Because thorium does not sustain chain reaction, fission stops by default if we stop priming it, and a runaway chain reaction accident is improbable.
Besides, the priming process is extremely efficient: the nuclear process puts out 60 times the energy required to keep it primed. Because of this, the device is also called, (quite inappropriately) an "Energy Amplifier." - http://www.cavendishscience.org/bks/nuc/thrupdat.htm

A simplistic Yes or No is not a good answer for a lengthy technical decision.

Both of you are glossing over , or magnifying , the related issues - but remember, if you want a fridge of cold, fresh food, energy to power it, comes from somewhere. All the wind and solar in the areas blessed with an abundance of it, isn't going to get everywhere. Japan is learning the lesson of running short of power.

[billvon]

Not all designs need a radioactive seed.

Any reactor that could be considered "today's designs" needs such a fissile starter. The other way to get a thorium reactor started is to generate a neutron beam sufficiently strong to start the transmutation process. And while that is theoretically possible, no such beam generator has ever been built - so you're talking some significant R+D before you can begin designing such a reactor.

A simplistic Yes or No is not a good answer for a lengthy technical decision.

Very true.

Both of you are glossing over , or magnifying , the related issues - but remember, if you want a fridge of cold, fresh food, energy to power it, comes from somewhere. All the wind and solar in the areas blessed with an abundance of it, isn't going to get everywhere. Japan is learning the lesson of running short of power.

And also learning the risks of a power source billed as safe. There are no perfect solutions.

[Mike90250]

....And also learning the risks of a power source billed as safe. There are no perfect solutions.

It was fine till a over-sized tsunami over topped their sea wall by 15 feet or so. If you want clean hydro power you loose canyon habitat. Coal, all the issues with mines. Oil, pumping and spills. If the greens would demonstrate HOW to do it, and take themselves off the grid, then others have an example to follow.

[billvon]

It was fine till a over-sized tsunami over topped their sea wall by 15 feet or so. If you want clean hydro power you loose canyon habitat. Coal, all the issues with mines. Oil, pumping and spills.

Exactly. There are no perfect sources of power.

If the greens would demonstrate HOW to do it, and take themselves off the grid, then others have an example to follow.

We generate about twice as much as we use and effectively "donate" the rest to the grid. We also have a battery backed system but we almost never use it; no need when the grid is available as a much better battery.