kirksorensen

Hello Sid_Harmless,

Thank you for the kind words. I do believe China's recent announcement will have as much if not more significance (ultimately) than the events that surrounded the launch of Sputnik.

Hello JayKay_00,

There has been very little interest in the US in molten-salt reactors since the early 1970s. When you understand MSR technology you begin to see how thorium can be used with extraordinary efficiency. If your paradigm is solid-oxide ceramic fuel, thorium's advantages do not appear particularly compelling. Therefore, until MSR technology was disseminated to a greater audience (via the Internet) it was hard to get too excited about thorium. Just my opinion.

Hello giggsy664,

The liquid fluoride fuel operates at high temperatures and at low pressures. The chemical form of the fuel and fission products is stable. Gaseous fission products are continuously removed. There is no fluid in the core like water that could undergo a phase change in the event of pressure loss. The core can be configured to drain passively in the event of a loss of coolant into a subcritical configuration.

Hello mrwadia,

If there had been a LFTR where F-D was, the detection of the earthquake would have caused the reactor to shut down, just as it did at F-D. In a minute or two, the freeze plug would have melted and the fuel would have drained into the drain tank, where it would reject decay heat to the air. If the system had been flooded, the rate of heat loss would have improved and soon the fuel salt would solidify. Cesium would have been trapped chemically (as CsF) in the fuel and would not have been in a volatile state with the potential to be released to the environment.

Hello lastchance,

Talk to people about it. You'd be amazed what a difference that makes. I've been blown away by the informal channels through which real resources ($, people, capability) have made their way to us.