Thorium Fueled Concept Car
(http://www.autoblog.com/2011/09/03/thorium-lasers-could-make-nuclear-cars-a-reality/)
THORIUM named after the mythical God of Thunder THOR
So? You may ask: What does it have to do with the fabulous looking futuristic car pictured here?
Simply put: the FUTURE!
Unless you were off-planet during the massive 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Japan March 11, 2011, leading to a massive tsunami consuming the Fukushima nuclear power plant that to this present day, represents the largest nuclear catastrophe beyond that of Cherrnobyl of the former Soviet Union and now Russia. Given the nature of the disaster for which mitigation has yet to be resolved and, the potential for global nuclear pollution due to fallout if not adequately rectified; much global debate and scrutiny to the future of nuclear power generation has ensued.
At the core of this debate is recognition that several of the existing nuclear power generation plants globally, are exceeding their original economic and, safe functioning design life-cycle.
Further, this discussion is taking place in context with climate change, dwindling fossil fuels and renewable energy technology development. The result is a multi-faceted, multilevel and complex debate serving as wide a spectrum of stakeholders most important of whom is the general global population.
So again; what does this have to do with Thorium besides being named after the Thunder God Thor?
Thorium is a radio-active Element (source a Periodic Table for symbol `Th’) much like Uranium, the present nuclear fuel used by nuclear power plants however, it has well documented and proven properties that make it superior to uranium as a nuclear fuel. (For brevity’s sake, reference http://www.thoriumenergyalliance.com/ and view the videos for a full explanation of Thorium’s properties and advantages versus Uranium).
As explained by the principals of Thorium Energy Alliance; technology in support of using Thorium as a nuclear fuel is not new; it dates back to the 1950’s. However, as with most innovated technologies that fly in the face of established technologies (Tesla vs Edison) that generate massive corporate profits, much opposition is encountered from affected corporations which lobby governmental legislative and regulatory authorities to impede access to available R&D funding leading to the eventual abandonment of new and innovative technological development.
Such has and continues to be the case for Thorium as a practical resource for clean, efficient and cost-effective, safe nuclear electrical energy production .
So you ask: What can I do about it?
The sole purpose to this essay is to bring to the attention of the many whom are otherwise unaware of the existence and properties of Thorium as potential, viable and readily available, alternative nuclear fuel resource to the present, highly radio-active and, extremely dangerous use of Uranium. Too, as highlighted by the videos; China, India, Norway and other nations are actively pursuing exploration and development of this technology with the ambition to dominate the field with the goal of establishing proprietary rights to the technology.
Every nation has ready access to the Element Thorium however, as best is known, to-date, none have sole-propriety to the technology to maximize this potential.
Research and development of the potential for Thorium is essential here in Canada if we are to save falling behind that of named nations resulting in our having to be dependent on their achievements. So, spread the word amongst all you know of this potential and ideally our politicians will become aware of the chatter and ideally, the needed development and funding for this alternative to the status-quo will materialize before it is too late.
naykdpoet 