This presentation promotes the benefits of using thorium as a nuclear fuel instead of uranium. Thorium is slightly radioactive but safe to carry, produces only small amounts of waste that needs storage for a few hundred years, and has zero chance of meltdown. It notes the nuclear disasters at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima as evidence that current uranium reactors are unsafe, while thorium could power the US for 1000 years safely. It urges contacting government officials to support bills promoting thorium and a global effort to transition to its use in nuclear power.
WEEK 7 Nuclear Weapons and ThreatsLessonWelcome to .docx
Thorium
1. A Presentation by Jim Shaver Logansport, IN Music: “Wake Up” by Arcade Fire Thank you to Kirk Sorensen for refueling the energy from Thorium issue. Thank you to Wired Magazine for publishing “The New Nuke” by Richard Martin in their January issue. This article piqued my interest in Thorium and inspired me to attempt to raise awareness of the safe nuclear alternative.
3. Thorium, named after the Norse God of Thunder, is only slightly radioactive and could be carried in your pocket all day with no risk. Raw Thorium
4. Yucca Mountain Repository We currently have 52,000 tons of nuclear waste stored in the U.S., which will have to be stored and guarded for a few hundred thousand years.
5. Thorium Reactor Thorium breaks down so efficiently during the process of being used as fuel that only miniscule amounts of waste are left behind which only need to be stored for a few hundred years. Thorium reactors have zero chance of a meltdown and reactor byproducts are virtually impossible to weaponize!
6. Three Mile Island The entire world was alarmed during the partial meltdown of Three Mile Island in 1979!
7. Chernobyl today The world was horrified and affected in April 1986 with the full blown meltdown of Chernobyl!
8. Chernobyl’s Legacy To this day the world is seeing the consequences of that nuclear disaster !
9. 03/12/2011Fukushima, Japan We now know what effect a double punch from Nature can have. The Japanese were as prepared as they could possibly be but they are still experiencing at least partial meltdowns in multiple reactors. Now, while the worlds attention is focused on nuclear power, is the time to make it known to our leaders that it is time to switch over to the safer Thorium fuel.
12. They were wrong then but it is not too late to correct it now! Alvin Weinberg and his team proved the effectiveness of Thorium at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory with hundreds of tests from 1955 through the early 70’s. In 1965 Weinberg and his team built a working reactor. The U.S. government decided in the late 60’s to not go with Thorium strictly because it can not be weaponized like Uranium can. Their reasoning? We were in a cold war with the Soviet Union and the head of the U.S. nuclear program, Hyman Rickover, wanted the Plutonium produced by Uranium fueled reactors for weapons. Being extremely abundant, existing Thorium supplies could power the U.S. for a 1,000 years. With no chance of a meltdown!
13. Capitol Hill There are currently 3 Thorium related bills working their way through the Congress including the Senate’s Thorium Energy Independence and Security Act of 2009.
14. It’s Up To You The Thorium Energy Independence and Security Act of 2009 could be the single most important piece of legislation in the history of the United States and the World! We need this document to come to life and work with other nations on this global Manhattan project. We can retrofit all of our nuclear power plants and have 50 new ones up by 2020. What is needed is for each of us to write or call our Senators, Congressmen, local, state, and federal government officials. Send an email to the Department of Energy and President Obama demanding support for and passage of Thorium related bills.
15. LocalContacts Representative Joe Donnelly- 202-225-3915 Senator Dan Coats– 202-224-5623 Senator Richard Lugar – 202-224-4814 Email President Obama at: letterforthepresident.com or www.whitehouse.com
16. More Contacts For Members of the Senate only go to: www.senate.gov/ then select Senators to find yours For contact information on the President, Senators, and Representatives go to: www.congress.org Upon entering your zip code you also get info on your state representatives Department of Energy / Secretary of Energy via email at: The.Secretary@hq.doe.gov
17. For more information on Thorium go to: www.energyfromthorium.com www.IThEO.org www.thoriumenergyalliance@ gmail.com OR Plan on attending the Thorium Energy Alliance ‘s 3rd annual Future of Energy Conference being held on Thursday May 12th 2011 in Washington, D.C. at the Top of the Hill Conference Center.