I'm sure I'm not the only one on the forum to have read about this, but I'll link it anyways. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten-Salt_Reactor_Experiment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_Nuclear_Propulsion edit: another good video! TL;DW - Use thorium (relatively abundant) in liquid form, regulated by molten salts, to generate electricity with a reactor. Problems this might solve: - Long half-life waste - Proliferation concerns - "Oh god it's going to mushroom cloud in my backyard!!" - passive safety systems mean if power goes out at the plant, fuel simply drains into tank (and can be reprocessed later) - Rare isotopes can be produced (power extrasolar spacecraft, attach to antibody and fire an alpha particle through cancer cells, etc.) - Bring fresh water to locations where it is difficult to procure through wells via desalination - Stable power, vs solar/wind which rely on the sun to shine / wind to blow, and a LOT of real estate Issues: - Salt is very corrosive and would likely require coating anything the salt touches with expensive and rare alloys (???) I'm not an expert on any of this, and I know I come off as a huge fanboy (but really in a Subaru community I doubt any of you will dock me points on that). I'd really like to hear from people who understand this better as to why it would / would not work.
