Thorium powered cars in our future?

[alfredo]

When I was a kid (in the 50's) I remember one commentator saying someday nuclear power will power our cars. Looks like the guy may be right.

http://wardsauto.com/ar/thorium_power_car_110811/


A U.S. company says it is getting closer to putting prototype electric cars on the road that will be powered by the heavy-metal thorium.

Thorium is a naturally occurring, slightly radioactive rare-earth element discovered in 1828 by the Swedish chemist Jons Jakob Berzelius, who named it after Thor, the Norse god of thunder. It is found in small amounts in most rocks and soils, where it is about three times more abundant than uranium.

However, the use of thorium is controversial because, as with uranium, it is used as a nuclear power source. Indeed, the internal heat of the Earth largely is attributed to the presence of thorium and uranium.

The key to the system developed by inventor Charles Stevens, CEO and chairman of Connecticut-based Laser Power Systems, is that when silvery metal thorium is heated by an external source, it becomes so dense its molecules give off considerable heat.

[MADem]

1. Back to the Future!!! A flux capacitor!!! nt

[Warpy]

4. Well, it won't quite be a Mr. Fusion

but it will be neat if it pans out.

Sadly, we won't be the ones to develop this technology.

China or India will.

We'll still be sitting in a sticky oil patch paid for with blood, proud of all the richest rich people in the world while the rest of us slide into serfdom.

[bananas]

8. More like a Mr. Crackpot. nt

[Warpy]

19. Well, that too

but blessed be the crackpots, for they shall occasionally let in the light.

All invention in an economy like this is going to come from crackpots, I'm afraid, since seed money for everything has dried up along with money to repair the infrastructure.

Do I think a Mr. Thorium is going to pan out? Nah. It's about as likely as a Republican Party that is concerned for the US citizenry. While not totally outside the realm of possibility, it is highly improbable.

[bananas]

11. LOL - Kirk Sorensen discussed this...

Back in Feb: http://www.energyfromthorium.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1507

I just had another "investor" contact me breathlessly about this "idea". I asked two questions about the physics and he immediately gave up and said he'd tell me when they had it working. Which will be never, I think.

They have a current discussion which links back to that: http://energyfromthorium.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&p=41207&sid=7787659504e5beb21a7427f80f2a8c81

[bananas]

12. This claims to use ADS, but the inventor of ADS says "The Nuclear Error, The Future is the Sun"

No, this won't be developed in China or India or the US or France or India or anywhere.
2009 interview with Carlo Rubbia: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=228x60525

[NYC_SKP]

2. 250 MW Generator in your car???

I don't think so....

"A 250 MW unit weighing about 500 lbs. (227 kg) would be small and light enough to drop under the hood of a car, he says."

:shrug:

[alfredo]

3. Let's wait to see what they have.

[NYC_SKP]

6. A "Fill Up" will have a petro-equivalent value of $60,000... in just 8 gm of Thorium Fuel

:think:

"Because thorium is so dense, similar to uranium, it stores considerable potential energy: 1 gm of thorium equals the energy of 7,500 gallons (28,391 L) of gasoline Stevens says. So, using just 8 gm of thorium in a car should mean it would never need refueling."

That will be interesting, the solution to making the fuel safe from theft.

It's a very interesting technology in any case.

For energy production, I'm willing to look at any non-carbon non-fossil energy source, but prefer non-fuel based solutions.

As long as we depend upon fuel to create power, we're stealing from future generations (to paraphrase Tesla).

:patriot:

[bananas]

10. "Dr. Charles Stevens" - "Doctor" of what, exactly?

I've just spent a few minutes googling this and found nothing but fluff.

[Rabblevox]

13. He ran a 1-person DNA modeling company, now is doing nuke research, and is founder of the Galactic

Government movement. He is either the greatest multi-discipline genius since DaVinci, or a complete wing-nut. I know how I'm betting.

[alfredo]

That's why I want to see results before I get excited.

[madokie]

17. Its ok to have a wait and see attitude

as long as it doesn't effect the here and now. remember that

[Kurmudgeon]

5. A typical small V8 weighs right around 500 lbs.

[NYC_SKP]

7. 250 MW? A nuclear power plant reactor is 1,110 MW, or tens of thousands of V8 engines...

That's a crazy amount of power, I think it's a typo.

:shrug:

[shanti]

9. can you IMAGINE

what a free, clean global source of energy would do to this world?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

21. It would make the people who kept it from being distributed extremely wealthy.

Just a guess.

[shanti]

22. well, there's that

but i was thinking about free energy for everyone. a girl can dream...

[johnd83]

14. I think thorium is an extremely promising fuel source

Combined with synthetic hydrocarbon fuel created from thorium stations it could provide a carbon-neutral fuel source. However, putting nuclear fission products in moving cars that tend to crash is not necessarily the best way to use the fuel source. I'd be much happier having small, self contained power plants that can be better monitored.

[PoliticAverse]

15. They're bringing back the Stanley Steamer?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Motor_Carriage_Company

"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."

[Tesha]

16. Even if this would work, you will never be allowed to own one.

*NO* government is going to put reasonably-powerful nuclear
materials into the hands of civilians (who might then re-purpose
them into dirty bombs and the like).

As it is, they're nervous about letting you have the infinitesimal
amount of radioactive Americium that's in your smoke detectors;
they're *NOT* going to let you have power-grade quantities of
thorium.

Tesha


(I'll assume that "250 MW" really meant "250 KW", a pretty-typical
car power rating.)

[surrealAmerican]

18. What happens when there's a car crash?

This just seems unsafe.

[Shagbark Hickory]

20. Rare earth? keep dreaming.