Slashdot Mirror


Thorium: The Wonder Fuel That Wasn't

Lasrick (2629253) writes "Bob Alvarez has a terrific article on the history and realities of thorium as an energy fuel: For 50 years the US has tried to develop thorium as an energy source for nuclear reactors, and that effort has mostly failed. Besides the extraordinary costs involved, In the process of pursuing thorium-based reactors a fair amount of uranium 233 has been created, and 96 kilograms of the stuff (enough to fuel 12 nuclear weapons) is now missing from the US national inventory. On top of that, the federal government is attempting to force Nevada into accepting a bunch of the uranium 233, as is, for disposal in a landfill (the Nevada Nuclear Security Site). 'Because such disposal would violate the agency's formal safeguards and radioactive waste disposal requirements, the Energy Department changed those rules, which it can do without public notification or comment. Never before has the agency or its predecessors taken steps to deliberately dump a large amount of highly concentrated fissile material in a landfill, an action that violates international standards and norms.'"

7 of 204 comments (clear)

  1. Mystery lead by T.E.D. · · Score: 5, Funny

    uranium 233 has been created, and 96 kilograms of the stuff (enough to fuel 12 nuclear weapons) is now missing from the US national inventory

    In addition, they have about 96 kilograms of lead that they don't remember ordering. And the situation gets worse every day!

    1. Re: Mystery lead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      The situation is only half as bad as you might think.

    2. Re: Mystery lead by Megane · · Score: 3, Funny

      Maybe someone made a zeppelin out of it.

      --
      #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
    3. Re:Mystery lead by T.E.D. · · Score: 5, Funny

      If you think this joke went over badly with actual Nuclear Physicists, you should have seen the blank stares I got when I tried it out on a crowd of English majors.

  2. other uses were considered... by nimbius · · Score: 1, Funny

    Thorium: the glow in the dark candy
    Thorium: Fights dandruff and smells great!
    Thorium: 24 hour odor protection
    Thorium: Kills weeds dead!

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
  3. Re:We should use the moon as a hazardous waste dum by jfdavis668 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Didn't the hazardous nuclear waste storage site on the Moon explode and throw the Moon out of the solar system in 1999?

  4. Re:Is this about Thorium or Uranium 233? by NEDHead · · Score: 4, Funny

    They haven't yet, but they will eventually