I am intending to start a blog devoted to thorium, and how it is a source of much safer nuclear energy, a source of very plentiful energy that could have a significant impact on the Peak Oil situation facing the world today.  We still need the basic research at the nitty gritty level to know how to build these things.  China and India are actively working in this area.  Several other countries have inquired.  There is modest interest in the US, but it is for the most part out of the public view.

I am retiring soon, and will be able to devote more time to this, but in the meantime you folks out there can contribute to this blog devoted to this most important area.

A very brief review of thorium’s benefits for now:

1.  Thorium is very plentiful; currently it is a waste product from rare earth mining.

2.  Thorium reactors have less than 1% of the waste products of standard nuclear reactors.

3.  Thorium reactors are not conducive to building bombs; it is a technology that can be shared to help defuse situations like Iran and North Korea.

4.  The half-life of the waste products from thorium reactors are measured in the 100’s of years, not tens of thousands or millions of years.

5.  Thorium reactors are much safer, and can easily avoid criticality problems such as Fukushima is now experiencing.

6.  The waste products of a thorium reactor may actually be useful in medical uses.

7.  The waste products of todays reactors, which we still don’t know what to do with, can be burned as fuel in a thorium reactor!

8.  The capital expenditure associated with a thorium reactor is dramatically less than with a standard reactor.

Obviously this is something worth looking into as soon as possible, if not yesterday.