My father told me about thorium reactors back when I was in fifth grade and he was one of the engineers working on the design of the USS Nautilus' nuclear power plant. Shortly after that, I entered the "Name the Planet Contest" associated with the TV program "Space Cadets" (or was it "Space Patrol") in which a new planet had been discovered. I suggested the name "Thoria" for thorium because "Uranus" was named for uranium, Pluto for plutonium, etc. (I know they were named for Roman gods but apparently I didn't then). By the way, there was one first prize (full size replica of the program's space ship), several second prizes (three-speed bicycles), and many third prizes (first aid kits for use in outer space). This was in 1954?
Frank --- Frank C. Wimberly 140 Calle Ojo Feliz Santa Fe, NM 87505 [email protected] [email protected] 505 995-8715 (home) 505 670-9918 (cell) -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Fred Seibel Sent: Sunday, February 07, 2010 1:20 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Technology Review: Cleaner Nuclear Power? Back in the dark ages when I was working in the CTR program at LANL, then retired James Tuck, the founder of the euphemistically named Project Sherwood, presented a colloquium in which he analyzed the future of various energy sources. He concluded that when the lights began to go out that the world would reconsider the use of nuclear power in a big way. He then presented data on the "thorium cycle" which while not as easy to use as pure uranium, I believe he mentioned the abundance of thoria in the earth's crust made it a relatively easy fuel to get and would be sufficient for a long time. I guess this indicated his pessimism for achieving power generation from fusion anytime soon. Fred On Feb 7, 2010, at 12:56 PM , Owen Densmore wrote: > Anyone know if thorium is really a breakthrough in terms of nuclear > power? > http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.aspx? > id=19758 > > -- Owen > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
