Energy From Thorium: A Nuclear Waste Burning Liquid Salt Thorium Reactor
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN used it as the go-to introduction to LFTR and thorium reactor technology in energy threads.
What it is
Kirk Sorensen's Google Tech Talk on liquid-fluoride thorium reactors, a design that could burn nuclear waste and use thorium as fuel. It draws on Oak Ridge National Laboratory work from the 1950s and 60s.
Recommended by 3 HN commenters across 4 different months, 2009 to 2011.
What Hacker News said
Recommends cdibona · 2009-09 · on “India Plans to Export Uranium and Thorium Fueled Nuclear Reactors ”
One of the proponents of Thorium nuclear came to google to give a tech talk. The video describing the technology can be found here, [this video]
Recommends MikeCapone · 2010-04 · on “XKCD "Hell" implemented in flash”
He should probably draw a liquid fluoride thorium reactor, then.. (If you don't know about the LFTR, check out this talk by Kirk Sorensen: [this video] )
Recommends MikeCapone · 2010-05 · on “NASA Images of Oil Slick”
> Of course, if we had fusion we could easily solve this problem, but that's a good 40 years away. I'm not sure if Fusion would be much better than fission (which isn't to say that it's not good, just that it doesn't seem nearly as much of an improvement as some would want us to believe (many of those people writing grant proposals)): [LINK] What I'd really like to see is a liquid-fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR). Check out this Google Tech Talk about it: [this video]
Recommends nabilt · 2011-03 · on “Cringley: Japan may have just permanently lost 20% of its electricity supply”
However the events unfold I wonder if this will cause more nations to investigate other reactor technologies like Thorium. The abundance of Thorium and its inherent safety mechanisms (as a liquid at least) make the technology very exciting. Check out the Google Tech Talk [this video]
Cites moreati · 2011-07 · on “Thorium nuclear reactors: a possible solution of the energy crisis? (video)”
Here are the original videos: The Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor: What Fusion Wanted To Be [LINK] Aim High: Using Thorium Energy to Address Environmental Problems [LINK] Lessons for the Liquid-Fluoride Thorium Reactor (from history) [this video]