[ExI] Could Thorium solve our energy problem?

[samantha]

So, are there any current commercial molten salt thorium reactor 
projects in the US?  If not, why not?  How much does say a 300 MW plant 
cost to build?  Which billionaires can we recruit or which energy 
companies? 

- s

John Clark wrote:
> Although it would be more economical to mine high quality ore that can 
> approach 50% Thorium content first, if at random you picked one cubic 
> meter of rock anywhere in the Earth's crust you would find about 12 
> grams of Thorium in it. if placed in a liquid Thorium reactor 12 grams 
> would produce the energy equivalent of 37 tons of coal, enough to 
> power one person's western middle class lifestyle for about a decade. 
>
> Or Imagine it this way, the entire Earth's crust (and then some) being 
> made of nothing but coal, every rock you have ever seen in your life 
> was made of pure coal and you're worried about running out of coal. 
> Finding enough free oxygen to burn up all that coal would be a 
> legitimate concern but running low of that fossil fuel itself not so 
> much. 
>
>   John K Clark
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