[Newsbot]

Title: U.S. Researcher Preparing Prototype Cars Powered by Heavy-Metal Thorium
Category: Science
Posted By: DrCaleb
Date: 2011-08-12 11:47:45

[Canadian_Mind]

Could be a step in the right direction. To bad we don't have more Thorium deposits.

[Guy_Fawkes]

As of right now, but this application into a vehicle is still decades away I think.

[DrCaleb]

Canadian_Mind Canadian_Mind:

Could be a step in the right direction. To bad we don't have more Thorium deposits.

We probabally do. Just no one was looking.

I've been a fan of Thorium reactors for a long time.

$1:

And amid widespread concerns about terrorism, would governments allow scores of nuclear sources to roam the freeways? Processed thorium can produce uranium 233 as a byproduct. Would governments allow charging an electric vehicle using radioactive material in private garages? “Nobody will allow that to happen,” Hashemi-Nezhad says. Hedrick thinks such concerns are overblown, stressing thorium’s by-products are very hard to turn into weapons-grade material, requiring an immense amount of work and energy. Stevens agrees, emphasizing his system is “subcritical.” This means no nuclear reaction occurs within the thorium. It remains in the same state and is not turned into uranium 233, which happens only if thorium is sufficiently super-heated to generate a fission reaction. “It’s very safe,” he says.

[Bruce_the_vii]

thorium in a nuclear reactor is worth, what, a million dollars a kilo? We won't be powering cars by thorium. Working from memory it's three times more common than tin in the crust.

[DrCaleb]

Bruce_the_vii Bruce_the_vii:

thorium in a nuclear reactor is worth, what, a million dollars a kilo? We won't be powering cars by thorium. Working from memory it's three times more common than tin in the crust.

Current prices, from googling, are about $5000/kg to estimates of $10 a kg once more mines are available. It doesn't need refining, it can be used raw.

http://www.nbl.doe.gov/htm/lists/uraniu ... e_list.htm

[Canadian_Mind]

Not to mention the speak of 8 grams, or approximately $40 worth of Thorium at current prices, being enough fuel to replace $180 000 - $240 000 worth of gasoline.

hmm, 440 000 Tonnes x 1 000 000 (convert to grams) / 8 grams per car = 55 000 000 000 cars... That's a lot of cars.

[DanSC]

I knew we'd go back to steam cars eventually.

[BartSimpson]

DanSC DanSC:

I knew we'd go back to steam cars eventually.

I read this passage...

$1:

Small blocks of thorium generate heat surges that are configured as a thorium-based laser, Stevens tells Ward’s. These create steam from water within mini-turbines, generating electricity to drive a car.

And the first things that popped into my head were the return of steam powered trains and steam powered cars and...of course...the advent of steampunk.

http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&h ... afe=strict

[PublicAnimalNo9]

Wow, I didn't realize Thorium had a following outside of this local area. Great band man. Who'd have thought their music would power cars

[Canadian_Mind]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

DanSC DanSC:

I knew we'd go back to steam cars eventually.

I read this passage...

$1:

Small blocks of thorium generate heat surges that are configured as a thorium-based laser, Stevens tells Ward’s. These create steam from water within mini-turbines, generating electricity to drive a car.

And the first things that popped into my head were the return of steam powered trains and steam powered cars and...of course...the advent of steampunk.

http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&h ... afe=strict

If you look at scifi since it's inception, 90% of what the writers or creators of a given scifi universe imagine to be true, actually come true.

[saturn_656]

Canadian_Mind Canadian_Mind:

Not to mention the speak of 8 grams, or approximately $40 worth of Thorium at current prices, being enough fuel to replace $180 000 - $240 000 worth of gasoline.

hmm, 440 000 Tonnes x 1 000 000 (convert to grams) / 8 grams per car = 55 000 000 000 cars... That's a lot of cars.

A practical motor vehicle that never needs refuelling?

Oil companies would shit themselves in horror.

[Canadian_Mind]

I'm going to start investing in Thorium related industries... I never knew something like this existed.