4 ms·

Some great previous discussion on thorium based nuclear reactors: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2723675 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2723675 http:

Some great previous discussion on thorium based nuclear reactors: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2723675 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2723675 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1009869 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1009869 I think the first article was in reaction to the Fukushima disaster. It's hard to imagine this technology will actually make it to cars, whether it's safe or not, because of the r-word. Intriguing stuff, though.

gus_massa 15y ago
The links you give are about nuclear thorium reactors, which is a real working technology. The problem is that in this project, they are not using a thorium reactor. It is not a nuclear fission reactor of any kind! They heat thorium with a laser or they produce a laser with thorium, or something like that, it changes from article to article. But the thorium doesn’t participate in any nuclear reaction. The energy involved in any nuclear reactions is so high that, with the current technology, it is impossible to produce a nuclear reaction with a laser (and perhaps it will never be possible). Another important point is that they don’t have a working prototype, and the explanations about how it works are very confusing. Some previous submissions about the same project: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2877063 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2877063 (14 comments) and http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2879219 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2879219 (5 comments).
- derobert 15y ago
  It's quite possible to produce a nuclear reaction with lasers. You just need some very serious lasers, for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Ignition_Facility http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Ignition_Facility
  - gus_massa 15y ago
    You are right! You are right! But your link is about a fusion nuclear reaction, that need a lot of heat to happen. And thorium is used in fission that are not temperature dependant.

gus_massa 15y ago

The links you give are about nuclear thorium reactors, which is a real working technology. The problem is that in this project, they are not using a thorium reactor. It is not a nuclear fission reactor of any kind! They heat thorium with a laser or they produce a laser with thorium, or something like that, it changes from article to article. But the thorium doesn’t participate in any nuclear reaction. The energy involved in any nuclear reactions is so high that, with the current technology, it is impossible to produce a nuclear reaction with a laser (and perhaps it will never be possible). Another important point is that they don’t have a working prototype, and the explanations about how it works are very confusing. Some previous submissions about the same project: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2877063 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2877063 (14 comments) and http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2879219 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2879219 (5 comments).

derobert 15y ago
It's quite possible to produce a nuclear reaction with lasers. You just need some very serious lasers, for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Ignition_Facility http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Ignition_Facility
- gus_massa 15y ago
  You are right! You are right! But your link is about a fusion nuclear reaction, that need a lot of heat to happen. And thorium is used in fission that are not temperature dependant.