The superfuel beneath our feet: Thorium

[@buddhimananayakkara7820]

“Thorium has been hiding in plain sight deep within the earth” Wow 😂

[@jtadevich]

Ha ha, yeah. We did discover the stuff way back in 1828. Nuclear energy started at about 1951. But yeah, I'm glad you noticed that. I like it.

[@Shun-m5m]

i love thorium and that cute pug watching a static television

[@Bob-qk2zg]

I tried to contact my congressman, senator and the chairman of my utility about thorium. Nobody understood it. Blank faces. Glazed eyes. No response. DOA.

[@ThatJay283]

yup! uranium too :) the benifits aren't really from thorium itself, but more to do with the technology that makes its use possible. breeder reactors are really amazing. they'll also turn uranium 238 into fissile plutonium 239, making it possible to extract EVEN MORE energy from uranium, and even work with nuclear waste.

[@minedustry]

I Love Thorium

[@lemonbread2165]

Sam o nella achadamy

[@curtrapp5291]

Based on what? Your extensive knowledge of nuclear physics?

[@carlsutherland3730]

​@@curtrapp5291 Kirk Sorensen and the entire nuclear plane project! It's still a work in progress, but the biggest hurdle is Washington Red tape! I've watched many hours on this subject, and I must say it really is the biggest discovery in Science. It's bigger than Fusion!

[@cal4050]

Dig deeper into your research, you're not going to mock anyone anymore once you find out the truth.​@@curtrapp5291

[@rowshambow]

Bring on the thorium reactors

[@CopenhagenAtomics]

We are working tirelessly to do just that!

[@marius165]

Go for it guys! BTW, I hope one day you go back to your early supporters with an energy equivalent of a golf ball sized amount of thorium ❤

[@BananaSackboy]

Lets see how it taste

[@jtadevich]

I'm sure it tastes like death. Do we need to put "not for human consumption" labels on it? Just for curious little tongues like yours? 🙃

[@BananaSackboy]

@@jtadevich even better😋

[@taavetmalkov3295]

I bet many people are crossing their finger for your success with the reactor. If you spread the hype to far then it starts to eat your own progress. So better put out some solid info about your testing results and the functional progress. Peace!

[@Feinrizulwur]

China is test running. Soner or later it will come out. Big fossil is trembling. Maybe a war.?

[@explosionsandfire-dm7yi]

But it’s not fissile

[@CopenhagenAtomics]

That is correct. It is fertile. Therefore, we can breed fissile material from thorium by using a kick-starter fuel such as LEU or Pu.

[@jtadevich]

@@CopenhagenAtomics You must immediately explain what you mean by LEU. My curiosity demands it!

[@CopenhagenAtomics]

LEU means low enriched uranium :) Pu is plutonium.

[@jtadevich]

@@CopenhagenAtomics I know Pu, but have never heard of LEU. Thanks for the info. I love science geek stuff.

[@yotte7959]

Calamity’s better tho

[@dudejit12345]

Why does everyone say the positive n not the negative ..... there's always a negative setback if you can't find the problem..where there is a whole bunch of problems with it... then how can you find a perfect solution

[@markgarvey7024]

So why the hell aren't nuclear power stations and generators using it NOW?!?!?! 🤨 Especially considering that it's a by-product of uranium mining & cheap!!!, 🤨

[@CopenhagenAtomics]

Some nuclear power plants are using it in limited capacities and in solid fuel :)

[@domingorodriguez1824]

We have known about thorium for ages. It’s so much safer safer than uranium but the USA and the Russian federation chose to use uranium because as a byproduct it created enriched uranium that could be used for atomic bombs.

[@curtrapp5291]

Seriously? The properties of U were well known even during the Manhattan Project. That's why the first bomb was made using U and needed no testing. Thorium is not fissile. It can fission from fast neutrons but water will slow down fast neutrons to thermal energy so not much Thorium will actually fission. U-235 does fission at thermal energies so water is a great moderator. Th was considered but discarded in favor of U.

[@CopenhagenAtomics]

@curtrapp5291 You are quite correct, yet also missing a few details. Thorium is correctly not fissile, it is however fertile. In thermal spectrum thorium will absorb a neutron to become Th233, which through beta decay will become Pa233 and then U233, which is fissile in thermal spectrum.

[@helloyes2288]

Did you know you'll never get thorium reactors passed regulators?

[@sowth_music]

Says the KZbin commenter to the nuclear energy company

[@helloyes2288]

@@sowth_music It takes an optimist to try when so many have failed.

[@chapter4travels]

China will/did, and eventually, we can just buy our reactors from China.

[@margidim1472]

A 6cm ball to power for 90 years... Rubbish talking, but you naively believe...

[@CopenhagenAtomics]

You are welcome to do the math yourself. We've made you a guide :) kzbin.infolld7hJnJi6w

[@therraxz]

They used uranium istead of thorium becouse they wanted the big bomb

[@chapter4travels]

Myth

[@killmimes]

Oh please.... thorium will kill you quick

[@Ev3ntHorizon]

How will it do this?

[@BackYardScience2000]

And it's much, much safer to use than uranium is.

[@jackarmstrong8790]

Which itself is far safer than plutonium

[@CopenhagenAtomics]

In that instance it would likely be more correct to say, molten salt reactors are even safer than pressurised solid fuel reactors.

[@jtadevich]

@@CopenhagenAtomics But from I've heard, molten salt reactors aren't efficient. Or is that solar melted salt reactors that I'm thinking of?

[@CopenhagenAtomics]

Consentrated solar power using molten salts does have issues.

[@jtadevich]

@@CopenhagenAtomics I guess the saying is true. There's no free lunch.

[@chapter4travels]

Uranium has the same amount of energy, we have just as much of it and it's just as easy or easier to get.

[@catandchipmunks]

It is more dangerous and we do not have just as much of it. Th is also much safer to mine

[@chapter4travels]

@@catandchipmunks Nope, incorrect on all accounts. We already have stockpiles of U238 ready to go into a reactor that could last the entire world a few hundred years. Uranium is more safe than thorium from a proliferation standpoint, and equally safe in a reactor. There is just as much if not more uranium than thorium, that's a myth.