The Liquid Flouride Thorium Reactor

The most revolutionary innovation needed in the next 10 years is the thorium portable nuclear reactor. Why? Because Bill Gates says repeatedly that the most important thing we need is a non polluting source of energy that’s 1/4 the cost of the coal energy. Why? Cheaper energy will lead to the next industrial and agricultural revolution. Everyone from the very poorest to the very richest will benefit. Government coffers will be refilled. Mr Gates believes nuclear energy will do this.

Which nuclear design?

Thorium fits the bill. Especially the liquid fluoride thorium reactor designs. Why?

Besides producing electricity for ¼ the cost of coal - the man who first held the patents for the design of today’s most widely used light water reactors-Alvin Weinberg (who headed the Oak Ridge Laboratories during the 1960s to 1970s), tested light water reactors side-by-side against the liquid fluoride thorium reactors and found the LFTR’s to be both much safer and much less expensive.

Scientists in the USA and China have said that a prototype can be built for 1 billion dollars in five years. The Pentagon already has a program in place to buy prototypes—thereby creating a path across the Valley of Death.