Kirk Sorensen @ MRU on LFTR - Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 พ.ค. 2011
  • ThoriumRemix.com/ is a doc created (in part) from this footage: • Thorium: An energy sol...
    When arriving in Calgary to present at TEDxYYC, Kirk Sorensen was immediately raced from his late arrival flight to MRU, where Brett McCollum had helped organize a lecture.
    Kirk gave a brief overview of Molten Salt Reactors (MSR) and specifically Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTR). Half of the time was spent fielding questions from the Calgary students.
    This video is released by Gordon McDowell under a Creative Commons Share-Alike License.
    If you are interested in LFTR, consider joining Facebook's / energyfromthorium , if you are CANADIAN and interested in promoting this technology, also email me at gordonmcdowell@gmail.com
    An easy-to-download copy of this video (for recycling purposes) can be found at: www.archive.org/details/201103...
    If you remix on TH-cam, aside from a description hyperlink, please add an annotation hyperlink when MRU footage is first cited.
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ความคิดเห็น • 262

  • @andrewlambert7246
    @andrewlambert7246 2 ปีที่แล้ว +40

    When the molten salt reactor comes to life. I propose that Kirk recieves the highest civilian medal for his work making us aware of this game changing technology.

    • @francisgaliegue6645
      @francisgaliegue6645 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      A Nobel piece prize would be appropriate, I believe...

    • @darthvader5300
      @darthvader5300 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​@@francisgaliegue6645 The American political establishment does not like it for it will solve one problem which is a big money maker for the contractors who are the biggest campaign fund contributors to corrupt American politicians because it will CONSUME NUCLEAR WASTES ALSO AS A NUCLEAR FUEL. And nuclear wastes storage is a BIG MONEY MAKER for corrupt government contractors and corrupt government politicians. Russia and China already went ahead with their BFMSR power reactors power plants, with Russia using plutonium 239 and China using thorium. More than 200 Russian military underground BFMSR power reactors power plants are already on line and China has more than 500 underground BFMSR power reactors power plants on line. You won't hear or see that on your American and European mainstream media.

  • @victorarnault
    @victorarnault 2 ปีที่แล้ว +17

    I can't get enough of Kirk's lecture.

  • @TheBibliofilus
    @TheBibliofilus 11 ปีที่แล้ว +44

    Kirk is a master orator, his ability to talk about and explain advanced nuclear technology to the public in such a relaxed manor is of unprecedented importance for humanity's future. Hope that some day in the far future he'll be awarded a Nobel prize for peace and/or technology for his work if all goes well and China don't end up ruling the world with this technology.

    • @Just1Spark
      @Just1Spark 6 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      ^THIS

    • @solventtrapdotcom6676
      @solventtrapdotcom6676 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      It's much easier to explain things when you fully understand it. It's the mark of someone who thoroughly knows what they're talking.

    • @rogerzen8696
      @rogerzen8696 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Low and behold, China's first Thorium MSR just started commercial operation.

  • @apuuvah
    @apuuvah 5 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    There is absolutely nothing on this rock that I respect more than brilliant scientists trying to do good for humanity and the entire planet...

  • @DancingSpiderman
    @DancingSpiderman 12 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    The new book describing Thorium as the ideal fuel is "SuperFuel: Thorium, the Green Energy Source for the Future", by Richard Martin, which includes mention of Kirk Sorensen throughout. Excellent book.

  • @neilhobson3624
    @neilhobson3624 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Can’t get over how well Kirk speaks. I could listen to him talk about anything. 👍🇬🇧.

  • @MaddrellRoger
    @MaddrellRoger 13 ปีที่แล้ว +13

    Thanks for this Gordon. I found it enjoyable, very informative and more relaxed and 'human' than the intense condensed compilations of the three Google Tech Talks. Of course this wasn't edited down to 10 minutes, but in my opinion the extra time taken here to include the questions and interactions adds another, important dimension to the other videos you've done and was well worth the extra time involved. Thanks again.

  • @atlboy82
    @atlboy82 11 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    44:28 Oh my God. Did he just say he believes Thorium came from God. I think I've just found a new hero for myself. Intelligent, motivated, charismatic, optimistic and a visionary scientist who believes in God and wants the United States to succeed. GO KIRK GO!

  • @erickieffer8440
    @erickieffer8440 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Thank you for making this available. I wish this concept would be given more attention, our environment needs it.

  • @Rambowjo2
    @Rambowjo2 12 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    This is very exciting and I'm sharing this with everyone I know. I've always been for nuclear energy, but this is amazing.

  • @salgarcia3032
    @salgarcia3032 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Just want to say thanks for the education you’ve given me. I’ve watched several video’s of yours, and other people who have shined a light on thorium salt reactors. Get it done.

  • @gordonmcdowell
    @gordonmcdowell  10 ปีที่แล้ว +19

    Dear "T Karlo", when you hop all over TH-cam posting "Thorium is not the answer" without raising any points specific to the video you're commenting on, that is called spamming. You need to counter a SPECIFIC POINT touched on in the video. Not just the element itself, which is like saying "gravity isn't an answer to our energy problems". Leave better comments or I'll block you.

    • @evannibbe9375
      @evannibbe9375 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      It’s almost as though there are people who don’t like advanced technology that can help everyone, who would have thought 🤷🏻‍♂️?
      There are of course environmentalists who don’t understand the scope of how industrialization has removed human poverty, and want us to go back to having “reduced consumption.”

    • @captainsloth5895
      @captainsloth5895 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@evannibbe9375 yea, those folks talking about less energy consumption as a solution to climate change in the future... they need to get real..

    • @daszieher
      @daszieher 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@captainsloth5895 the "best" are the very rich with the footprint of small towns, who preach austerity to the "poor"...
      Makes you think.

  • @dustinpecora6935
    @dustinpecora6935 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    To hit on 1:35:00 on the security: the upscale security measures are not only to protect spent fuel, but to protect the radioactive wastes such as cesium-137 and Cobalt-60 that are highly radioactive, protect calibration sources, etc which can be used in dirty bomb construction. 10-CFR-37 describes these requirements.

    • @brianwild4640
      @brianwild4640 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      all true but the amount of effort and exposure to them selves and time to do that. if would be very difficult and way harder with a MSR

    • @wave5377
      @wave5377 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

      It’s good to see the government actually taking steps to protect the public I didn’t know this

  • @steveturpin4242
    @steveturpin4242 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Totally captivating....let's do it! A great orator and enthusiast. Thanks.

  • @gordonmcdowell
    @gordonmcdowell  10 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Michael, well he's currently co-founder of Flibe Energy, and wants to build LFTR. When he delivered this material in 2011 he was on the tail-end of trying to simply get anyone to try build it. That was his interest in MSR at NASA... it looked like a great way to power a manned moon outpost, given tough energy constraints on the moon.

  • @rhuntsinger8899
    @rhuntsinger8899 10 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Amazing!! thank you for this channel. I have subscribed and will share this on social media and remind all my friends of this. thank you.

  • @gordonmcdowell
    @gordonmcdowell  12 ปีที่แล้ว

    Am reading it now. Wonderful resource to have.

  • @wildshepherd5918
    @wildshepherd5918 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Fantastic and desperately needed

  • @MrDobrod
    @MrDobrod 13 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Great idea. Great presentation, Great speaker.

  • @BTC_DNA
    @BTC_DNA 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    To the camera person: With respect, getting a close-up of the presenter's head while he is explaining an image on the screen is the exact opposite of what is needed. In fact, it detracts from the presentation. Thank you.

  • @whitepoststudio3947
    @whitepoststudio3947 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Kirk Sorensen will go down in history as a visionary and a prophet of future logical energy development. Even if other energy sources are discovered, Thorium MSRs are ideal for burning up plutonium waste stockpiles and reducing their half life to one that is within humanities ability to store successfully until they decay to safe levels.

  • @paddy8391
    @paddy8391 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Thanks Kirk, you are an inspiration

  • @robertweekes5783
    @robertweekes5783 10 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    "A cup and a pen, I gotta come back to Canada..." lol. Kirk is awesome!

  • @christianborwick
    @christianborwick 13 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Very impressive - please come to Australia and speak at our universities!

  • @KarthikSoun
    @KarthikSoun 13 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    In India we already have a 300MW Thorium reactor which is the world first working Thorium reactor!

  • @gordonmcdowell
    @gordonmcdowell  11 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    There's occasional online Q&A sessions where MSR notion could be bounced off him. I don't think an MSR question would get enough upvotes or retweets to be noticed without preparation and coordination. I'm not gonna coordinate that, but it is a strategy that hasn't been tried yet, in terms of getting POTUS attention directly.

  • @k-mar9587
    @k-mar9587 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Unglaublich wie jung er war.

  • @mjv1121
    @mjv1121 10 ปีที่แล้ว

    Gordon, I was merely commenting facetiously upon your reply to "t karlo", not on the video. I have been following the efforts of Kirk, and subsequently, your good self, since Kirk's 2009 GoogleTalk hit youtube. Also a big fan of David Leblanc and his DMSR approach. I think IMSR may be what's needed to pave for way for LFTR. A version of IMSR might also make for a good space reactor - no way Musk will colonise Mars using only solar or an LWR. Keep up the good work - you guys are all true heroes.

  • @arutixar
    @arutixar 11 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I heard of this at the University I work at. A student was doing a project with this idea. If only the nuclear society would be a bit more enthusiastic about this. It might just work out. Else... Asia will have a head start....

  • @jake68jcroul38
    @jake68jcroul38 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    This was posted 9 years ago why is no one talking about this right now ?

  • @kenstech
    @kenstech 11 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I find this all very interesting I ran across this last night and have spent the whole night watching these videos and reading about this issue., thanks for the work you do in this Kirk.
    I would recommend that you shift your focus from trying to get the government to fund this, to approaching venture capitalists for funding. The government wont fund this because 1: There are too many vested interest that back the politicians (on both sides) and who will push out any competitors.
    also...

  • @b43xoit
    @b43xoit 10 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    A conventional steam locomotive is also, in a sense, a load-following system. The rate of burning in the firebox depends on the draft. The draft is pulled by exhaust steam from the engine flowing through a nozzle in the smokebox. The draft thus depends on the load, and so does the rate of burning.

  • @Katabatic44
    @Katabatic44 11 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Aye, hes an amazing speaker

  • @pgiatrakis
    @pgiatrakis ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thanks!

  • @OfficeThug
    @OfficeThug 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks for correcting me. I read the 2006 WHO report more recently on Chernobyl and you're right.

  • @kenfogarty2968
    @kenfogarty2968 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Hi Kirk, given the news that the Japanese are pulling out of the construction of a Reactor on coast of North Wales UK. Could this project become Liquid Flouide

  • @ElevenHymn
    @ElevenHymn 13 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Good presentation, I found it really interesting. When he doesn't need to raise his voice to reach a larger audience (TED talks) his voice sounds just like Tom Hanks' to me. That might be one of the reasons (on top of it being very interesting) why I, knowing absolutely nothing about nuclear energy in general, watched the whole video.

  • @gordonmcdowell
    @gordonmcdowell  13 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    @gregreman That was probably me running to turn on another camera. Hey, if you write a comment like this... "At 10:35 there's a duck and run! How entertaining! He is still in the frame!" ...then the timecode should be clickable and start playing at the moment you specify.

  • @JosephStern
    @JosephStern 11 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    You can run your house on solar, and that is fantastic and amazing, but Kirk is talking about running civilization --- a totally different thing.

  • @k-mar9587
    @k-mar9587 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you

  • @spacehabitats
    @spacehabitats 10 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    In physiology we describe a self-regulating, inherently stability system as being "homeostatic". We expect to find this in living organisms but to find this in a nuclear energy source is serendipitous to the point of incredulity.

  • @thatcherbuck
    @thatcherbuck 8 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Lets get on the Thorium hype train

  • @HerrDrAlex
    @HerrDrAlex 13 ปีที่แล้ว

    On fission products & wastes, the purpose of using 232Thorium is it's 6 neutron captures away from Plutonium, while natural 238Uranium is but 1 away. So, the amount of heavy, long-lived (transuranic) waste is under 1/1000 of what current reactors leave in 'spent' fuel.& there's no spent fuel because the liquid cycle makes just what's needed.
    Regular fission products also occur, as for regular 235U reactors, but their lives are relatively short & are retained in the salt, unless noble gasses.

  • @ThatAdelaideGuy
    @ThatAdelaideGuy 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    Please come and convince Australia to go down the LFTR track

  • @DouglasASean
    @DouglasASean 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    I'm not qualified to know if what this guy is saying is accurate but I like the way he speaks - he has conviction. its convincing.

  • @zbret
    @zbret 12 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    @yorryyorry Yes - go to energyfromthorium. On the right side is "Java Programs" - download and run your own simulation or join the forum. I can also recommend my site lftrnow which is geared towards summarizing the key points that make LFTR and Thorium great, with links to back up the points. Finally, the quick answer - most products from LFTR decay quickly with fairly little left after a few 100 years rather than 100,000+ years.

  • @gordonmcdowell
    @gordonmcdowell  11 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    The "need" for LFTR waste being recycled is pretty high, since some impede reaction, and NEED to come out. I'd take a look at NASA's needs for Xenon (ion drive Dawn mission) and Pu-238 (RTG for Curiosity mission) as prime examples. This is an in-the-USA process. Since PV aren't REALLY being recycled yet it will end up looking like electronics recycling... ship the used up PV waste to China. If there's no heavy rare earths the PV just isn't that valuable. PV are NOT like hybrid car batteries.

  • @peterdorn5799
    @peterdorn5799 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I'm part of the thorium tribe and advocate every chance

  • @mathewmathunny7514
    @mathewmathunny7514 ปีที่แล้ว

    Kirk in love with his own voice

  • @williamwaugh8670
    @williamwaugh8670 9 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Load Following --
    The blowpipe of a conventional coal-burning steam locomotive makes the firebox tend to follow the load imposed on it by the engine proper. So the combination of the firebox and the blowpipe constitutes an engineered load-following heat supply.

  • @NukeMarine
    @NukeMarine 11 ปีที่แล้ว

    1. What do you mean by 95% recyclable. There's material used to make the solar cells, cost involved in installation and upkeep and there's a set useful lifetime. Over that time, it generates certain number of gw/hours.
    Plus, while there are hazardous substances with LFTR and other nuclear powered variants, those substances have been found to be very beneficial to medical and space research. Hazardous is not anthesis to benefits.

  • @jimmyb6541
    @jimmyb6541 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Mr Sorensen how can I help with this project

  • @oldspammer
    @oldspammer 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    @OfficeThug Google video search (The Don Smith Device RUS-(part 2))
    At about 1 minute into the presentation, Smith shows one of the radiological survey maps of an area nearby conducted by the US government.
    Just because a home energy project is slightly tricky to get going does not make it impossible.
    Google video search ("testatika generator" OR "Swiss ML converter")

  • @blahblah6557
    @blahblah6557 7 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Who was the MRU Student/Staff that organized Kirk Sorensen's talk at MRU? I would like to get in touch with them. I am a current MRU student that is interested in starting a Nuclear Club their, and bringing Kirk back would be fantastic.

    • @gordonmcdowell
      @gordonmcdowell  7 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Bret McCollum PhD was the MRU guy who organized the lecture/visit date
      at MRU. I graduated from MRU back when it was a College (MRC), and is
      why I visited and asked around Physics dept to see if anyone was
      interested in hosting a short Kirk talk while he was in town for sake of TEDxYYC talk.

  • @gunnarMyTube
    @gunnarMyTube 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    I want an explanation what is preventing such a reactor from being built today ?
    What is so expensive or difficult ? If so, how can this be accomplished as a power source in cars to have the cars be low cost ?

  • @SolidSquid1
    @SolidSquid1 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    @yorryyorry iirc there's a very small amount of material left, but unlike uranium it'd only be around a couple hundred years rather than for hundreds of thousands of years. Not sure what the isotopes are, but they're definitely not any more dangerous than the uranium fueled ones

  • @znurfy
    @znurfy 11 ปีที่แล้ว

    If i dont have facebook and arent canadian (but a swede), what and where can i go then? ;) Very interesting stuff this i must say!

  • @joesaiditstrue
    @joesaiditstrue 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    one thing i wish he would've conveyed over and over is "molten salt can boil at atmospheric pressure, this means you aren't going to have flash steam explosions when a cooling system breaks down. you need to mention this to your congressmen/senators. it's so important. the more of you that bring this up to your represenatives, the more likely they'll realize that they wont win their next elections unless they listen."

  • @travismoore7849
    @travismoore7849 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Why don't we use a fast sodium chloride reactor to breed a blanket of thorium salt chlorides that would slow down high neutron flux by boron carbide, graphite or zirconium hydride with zirconium as the salt containment vessel or window? The idea is we can breed more thorium faster for burners short term or fuel existing reactors, while consuming our nuclear waste spent fuel rods. I figure that thorium is more common and cheaper to breed as a fuel. With wast u238 can drive the breeding in the high flux fast salt reactor. So you can do both.

  • @AGrandt
    @AGrandt 11 ปีที่แล้ว

    Dear Americans, please realize that there currently are NO petitions on the Whitehouse's "We the people" petition site matching either the thorium or lftr search terms.

  • @maynardjohnson3313
    @maynardjohnson3313 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

    How much more plentiful is thorium than U235?

  • @MaxB6851
    @MaxB6851 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Had there been a water tower on the hill behind the Fukashima power station cold water fed by gravity could have cooled the rods as a back up for the diesel power plant.

    • @gordonmcdowell
      @gordonmcdowell  ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Would have taken far less than that to avoid the meltdown. But yes, this is true.

  • @dhouse1990
    @dhouse1990 9 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    The creators of this video should consider separating out the first 8 minutes or so and posting it as a separate video. Then link to this full video at the end of the "summary version."
    Would make sharing the main ideas in classrooms and on social media much easier.

    • @gordonmcdowell
      @gordonmcdowell  9 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Dylan, the [remix this video] feature is enabled for all my videos. If you want to try do it yourself right in TH-cam (I'd recommend using Chrome browser) you could host that yourself on your own TH-cam channel.

  • @yorryyorry
    @yorryyorry 13 ปีที่แล้ว

    very interessting video. But can anyone explain me what isotopes are left after this reaction and how long they're dangerous.

  • @oldspammer
    @oldspammer 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    @OfficeThug According to the full version video "The science and politics of cancer A discourse" by G Edward Griffin, the board of Memorial Sloan Kettering were the ones in charge of the brewing controversy that was exposed by Dr. Ralph Moss.

  • @bobnetherton1900
    @bobnetherton1900 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    lets do this asap

  • @kurtisengle6256
    @kurtisengle6256 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    54:53 -55:56 Point. Marked for reference.

  • @gordonmcdowell
    @gordonmcdowell  13 ปีที่แล้ว

    @yorryyorry There's Kirk Sorensen @ PROTOSPACE video ( watch?v=YVSmf_qmkbg ) where 1h 38m the isotopes produced by the reactor are profiled. There might be more info scattered around the video, but that's a chunk of it.

  • @darrellgrossfs96
    @darrellgrossfs96 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    LFTR+ mobile suit?

  • @Andytlp
    @Andytlp 10 ปีที่แล้ว

    Energy is easy to make, make with the storing it.

  • @wolfcatsden
    @wolfcatsden 11 ปีที่แล้ว

    ok we had something similar shown to us when they first came out with nuclear power being the power of future. being cleaner and being so cheap they won't be able to meter and you provide a very pro Thorium presentation but i want to read the cons of this power source as well. I'm not pro Nuclear,oil or solar and would love to learn more on this possible alternative type of power..... call me a fence sitter for now

  • @davekpghpa
    @davekpghpa 10 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    At 1:13:00 the question comes up regarding interest in development. The interest would be limited to those who have a genuine concern for the human race, which is not the goal of the .001% who run the world. We have to overcome the .001% before any positive advancements will ever take place.

    • @Dumdumshum
      @Dumdumshum 7 ปีที่แล้ว

      Actually it's cheaper than coal, so even they're interested once they understand how much money they're looking at.

    • @shainemaine1268
      @shainemaine1268 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      Either a concern for the human race or an abnormal passion for engineering.........

  • @paulwinters4727
    @paulwinters4727 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    we come back to rockets some day. genuis, pure genius mind of the C21th

  • @kenstech
    @kenstech 11 ปีที่แล้ว

    also...
    2: There are a large body of Malthusian government class people all over the world who basically see the rest of us (you and me and most people) as weeds who need to be culled. They really aren't interested in making us more productive (because they see that as making us more independent and uncontrollable). I found this out years ago when the "Cold Fusion" thing came out. The biggest opponents (at first) were the "environmentalists" who were scared they were about to lose their

  • @puncheex2
    @puncheex2 10 ปีที่แล้ว

    Beryllium may be rare, but it is not consumed in the reactor. Ideally what you start out with will last the the end of the reactor.

  • @dnickaroo3574
    @dnickaroo3574 9 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    There seem to be a lot more problems with developing the Thorium Reactor than I was first led to believe, especially related to Radiation levels that a decent sized one will produce. Only Research and Development sized ones are being produced; with problems still with materials for the containment vessel. Kun Chen estimates that it will take 20+ years for the introduction of a Functional Reactor. Fukushima was a major turning point; and problems from it will continue for many years, the situation being still very unstable. It has turned things back to Coal, Fracking and Natural Gas, and the continuing drop in Oil production. I shudder to think what will happen when Oil output drops below a critical level. That's when there will be a sudden drop in Food production. Either this Thorium Reactor gets built within the next few years or we might as well forget about it.

    • @OtakuBozu
      @OtakuBozu 9 ปีที่แล้ว

      *****
      no, India's thorium program is based on the heavy-water CANDU reactor design. Solid fueled, water-cooled.

    • @douglasdobson8110
      @douglasdobson8110 8 ปีที่แล้ว

      +D Nickaroo Chen didn't say it would take 20+ years for a "functional reactor" He was guessing a timeframe to having a commercial capacity operating reactor online providing power to their grid in 20+ years, there's a huge difference there. What levels of radiation will a "decent sized" one produce?

    • @dnickaroo3574
      @dnickaroo3574 8 ปีที่แล้ว

      Douglas Dobson. Yes, I can see that there would be a significant interval between the development of a design for a commercially viable Reactor and when it is built and functioning on the grid. I do not know the exact levels of radiation, but this would appear to be main problem: container materials become brittle.
      However, technical problems usually seem to solved sooner than one expects; so I feel rather more optimistic that this will occur.
      I understand that Uranium is a rather scarce resource, with only enough to last another 100 years or so. The solid Thorium Reactor as developed in India seems to be an available technology.
      Although there are continuing improvements in Solar and Wind Energy, it appears that Nuclear Reactors will be needed to replace Coal, Natural Gas etc to solve the problem of storage; and Thorium-based Reactors seem to be the only ones with assured long-term availability of fuel.

    • @tureytaino2785
      @tureytaino2785 8 ปีที่แล้ว

      +Douglas Dobson It will be even longer if they don't start right now.

    • @brianwild4640
      @brianwild4640 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      so how did they burn the U233 from thorium back in the 60's yet everyone was safe. yes it will have a high radiation area which no one can go in for a while after it has stopped reacting. just like any reactor. or even fusion

  • @CUBETechie
    @CUBETechie 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    So it isn't the an option for space exploration?

    • @Scientist538
      @Scientist538 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

      its probably possible in a centrifuge to power space stations but imagine what happens if it stopped spinning for whatever reason lol radioactive molten salt floating everywhere

  • @joyceadkins5229
    @joyceadkins5229 ปีที่แล้ว

    Will there be fluoride air or water pollution caused by liquid fluoride thorium reactors

    • @francisgaliegue6645
      @francisgaliegue6645 ปีที่แล้ว

      Short answer: no.
      Long(ish) answer: an LFTR does not need a water source for cooling -- and while it can use it, this waste heat can then be used to desalinate water, so that's the first point. As to fluorine gas/fluorides, they are used in the fuel/blanket closed cycle and as such never get released in the environment. If a danger exists here, it's in the manufacturing and transport of fluorine (which never is transported as such anyway), not in the LFTR itself.

  • @gordonmcdowell
    @gordonmcdowell  11 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Well why don't you just pick ONE then, and we'll take a closer look at it. Instead of me listing off problems with intermittent/diffuse power sources you've listed, and ignoring any proposed solutions or counter arguments.

  • @VicVlasenko
    @VicVlasenko 10 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Actually, Chernobyl happened because of stupidity of operators, who violated instructions and also didn't understand the processes that go in reactor. Each RBMK can produce up to 1500 MW of electricity and plutonium for atomic bombs.
    It's not such a terrible design, main problem is that this reactor was originally designed as a small reactor, and when it becomes bigger and bigger - a lot of safety problems appears.
    I remembered Chernobyl because in 80-s some of USSR scientists also told that RBMKs are extremely safe. They couldn't even imagine, that such shit could happen.

    • @robertweekes5783
      @robertweekes5783 9 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      ***** I don't think anyone was "vaporized" from Chernobyl but it killed about 30 workers from radiation poisoning (from what I heard). It's laughable for anyone to compare Fukushima to Chernobyl, Ch. was 100-1000x worse.

  • @OfficeThug
    @OfficeThug 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    @oldspammer Also Transmitters don't produce energy. They take electrical energy and alter it. Tesla's magnifying transmitter would indeed produce nothing at all, because it does not generate electricity at all.

  • @learpilotken
    @learpilotken 10 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    'A cup and a pen, I need to come back to Canada'

  • @MichaelOZimmermannJCDECS
    @MichaelOZimmermannJCDECS 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    Kirk needs better public relations AND his own LFTR webpage. HELP HIM!

  • @MrTGolden
    @MrTGolden 10 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    No movement can realize success without an enemy whose detrimental influence is beaten into the heads of the movement's supporters, motivating action necessary to achieve the movement's objectives.
    (Hint: a government of, by and for the people is no more the enemy to LFTR development than it was an enemy to Tesla's conception of free energy, which statement, itself, provides certain clue to who the real enemy is. As fate would have it, this enemy is so widely hated these days, its aggressive promotion as enemy to LFTR for the sake of building support for the technology practically is a no brainer.)

    • @Dumdumshum
      @Dumdumshum 7 ปีที่แล้ว

      Not really considering the US gov just gave a grant to companies designing these last year.

    • @Dumdumshum
      @Dumdumshum 7 ปีที่แล้ว

      Sugar is much better for catching flies than vinegar.

    • @shainemaine1268
      @shainemaine1268 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      I read this 4 times and I still can't understand, I think you misplaced a comma or two

  • @mrwonk
    @mrwonk 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    Seems to me, we should be extracting the protactinium from the blanket. If we wait till it decays to U-233; we run the risk of the protactinium absorbing another neutron because Pa-233 is fertile.

    • @brianwild4640
      @brianwild4640 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      he does this. its just not mentioned in this talk

  • @OfficeThug
    @OfficeThug 13 ปีที่แล้ว

    @MrDobrod Chernobyl's released radiation killed thousands of people within weeks of the accident. Several months later, zero people have died due to radiation from Fukushima. At worst Fukushima will cause a few more radiation-caused cancer cases to spring up, but the radioactive material fallout released by the accident still pales in comparison to Chernobyl's mess. For that matter, the average coal plant produces more radiation than Fukushima daily, why aren't those level 7 nuclear disasters?

  • @gordonmcdowell
    @gordonmcdowell  12 ปีที่แล้ว

    Agreed, without cold war less risk going on. But it will happen eventually. I'd like to think folks would try spread the word to help make it happen sooner rather than later. If you Google THORIUM PETITION that's one angle of attack. There's 2 big thorium non-profits out in the world, if you want to join. Richard Martin released SUPERFUEL a book, that's a handy thing to have on-hand for any people-of-influence you meet. I'm always looking for help to make TR2012.

  • @NukeMarine
    @NukeMarine 11 ปีที่แล้ว

    Ok, I'll bite:
    1. What is the cost of LFTR that makes it much too expensive?
    2. When has complexity stood in the way of implementation? A passenger airplane is a complicated piece of equipment, it still gets manufactured.
    3. If profit exceeds costs, it's economical. Considering such devices are used for more than electricity, it seems very economical.
    4. What risks are there that are not present in nuclear powered solar and thermal energies?

  • @mjv1121
    @mjv1121 10 ปีที่แล้ว

    Have no fear, if the US does not invest to conquer those risks, someone else will. Canada perhaps, China definitely. I think it highly likely that the world will have significant power generation from molten salt reactor technology well within 25 years.

  • @DaveKing
    @DaveKing 13 ปีที่แล้ว

    You can run Alberta for a year on 10 Tons of thorium. That's cool.

  • @thrunsalmighty
    @thrunsalmighty 10 ปีที่แล้ว

    I guess nearly all fission products come out as fluorides. But what about stuff like gold which (I think) eschews collaboration with any other elements? The fission product stream must require a lot of processing, but it sounds like a cornucopia for chemists.

  • @MrDobrod
    @MrDobrod 13 ปีที่แล้ว

    And by the way - Japan meltdown now officially more dirty than Chernobyle. Looks like that Chernobyle reactor scheme was not so bad as we speak about it.

  • @gordonmcdowell
    @gordonmcdowell  11 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    You can consume, hold even, or create surplus (breed) U-233 depending how reactor is tuned & operated.
    Good questions. Takes only seconds to ask them. I don't want to dig up answers which can't be completely accurate, there's material science still to do and components need to be put under neutron bombardment to see how they do. Am not worried about ANY unit of waste measure since E=[MC^2]/1500 is energy density. 4g Th per year per human. Mass isn't being created, so small waste footprint.

  • @liutasx
    @liutasx 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    That kind of gasses is used in gas turbine? Which of it is best and why? How you're proposing to solve Chernobyl problem, and how this problem should solved after disaster? And Chernobyl catastrophe wasn't human error, because RBMK reactors have positive void coefficient, but at that time people don't know about that, and this have caused nuclear explosion.

  • @finnurth
    @finnurth 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    well, not really, as he points out, it's actually very costly and needs a consolidated effort preferable on a governmental level. The Chinese and the Indians have started to look seriously into this and it's just a question if the United States are going to be trailing behind and be left in the dust...

  • @oldspammer
    @oldspammer 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    Corporate industrialization of nuclear plants typically involves cost cutting & liability avoiding policies that result in very poor operating procedures & suppression of embarrassing reports of the results of those poor procedures--pollution of toxic materials, radiation leaks, etc. Major sources of long term pollution has often come from such companies as DuPont & other fuel producing companies. Freon in the air, fluoride in soil & ground water.

  • @TrueUchiha666
    @TrueUchiha666 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    R.I.P.

  • @DuelingBongos
    @DuelingBongos ปีที่แล้ว +1

    This video was posted 11yrs ago, and yet the rate of CO2 emissions are higher than ever. Where are all the thorium molten salt reactors? I suspect that, like all forms of zero carbon energy production, the fossil fuels industries and the uranium based nuclear power sector are heavily lobbying congress to obstruct and thorium reactors as long as possible. Since there is already enough greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to make the Arctic Ocean ice-free by the 2030s, which will trigger an abrupt 3 degree increase in average global temperature. That will be game-over for the anti-thorium lobbyists, as well as the rest of the human race.

    • @gordonmcdowell
      @gordonmcdowell  ปีที่แล้ว +1

      LFTR specifically hasn't seen much progress. TerraPower is using molten-salt to buffer thermal energy in their Natrium reactor (fast-spectrum Uranium fuelled solid fuel). Moltex is building an SSR-W in New Brunswick that is a fast-spectrum MSR which will recycle used CANDU fuel. Kairos finalized construction (in 2022) the Engineering Testing Unit (ETU) which simulates Hermes their demo unit which they've submitted to NRC. ThorCon will likely build Indonesia's first nuclear reactor, a molten-salt reactor. There's progress but is scattered in western world. The only fast and impressive progress is in China, where they've actually built their MSR. There's been no announcement but most people think it is likely already fissioning. Is a small test reactor similar to MSRE built in Oak Ridge.

    • @Scientist538
      @Scientist538 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@gordonmcdowell Gordon please consider covering these sorts of things in videos, as in, the latest state of the industry, any new news, the differences in reactor spec between them etc, the public needs to know about and rally around these companies. Thank you so much for all your hard work.

  • @Oliveir51
    @Oliveir51 4 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Why was abandonned in 60ties if not that militaries wanted more plutonium for their bombs ?

  • @Aturayd
    @Aturayd 12 ปีที่แล้ว

    The problem with developing this technology is it has the scary term "nuclear" and there is so much red tape to cut through to even start building a prototype LFTR that it would take probably close to a decade to get 1 of these built. The chinese will have this technology before we do. They are not hindered by the insane overregulation and buerocracy.