<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>On Dec 28, 2010, at 3:48 AM, Eugen Leitl wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div>The thorium fluoride molten salt reactor is not just a breeder,<br></div></blockquote><div><br></div>Yes LFTR is a breeder, a breeder that uses safe SLOW neutrons, not dangerous fast neutrons as in a conventional Uranium breeder. LFTR breeds fissionable U233 from cheap Thorium-232, something that is twice as common as tin. However it doesn't keep that U233 around for long, LFTR burns it up and it needs all that U233 to keep the reaction going; if you try to steal the U233 everybody will know because the reactor will stop. And its not just the U233 that gets used up, the great thing is that unlike conventional pressurized water reactors we use today most of the super-radioactive stuff like U232 gets burned up too, leaving only mildly nasty stuff and much less of it than in conventional reactors; and almost no Plutonium ever gets made in the first place. </div><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div>it is also a continuous fuel reprocessing plant (in fact, it<br>must continuously process fuel in order to operate sustainably).<br></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>What is your point? Even a coal powered steam engine must continuously process fuel in order to operate.</div><blockquote type="cite"><div><br>It is also a preparative source of neutrons.</div></blockquote><div><br></div>Bullshit. Unlike a conventional reactor a LFTR needs almost all the neutrons it produces just to operate, it has almost none it can spare to irradiate U238 to produce Plutonium. And by the way, there are already thousands of tons of Plutonium in the world and you only need 4.4 kilograms to make a bomb. Some of that Plutonium was deliberately made but most of it was a unwelcome byproduct of conventional reactors, they make the damn stuff automatically whether you want to or not. LFTR doesn't have that problem. And with all that crap already around it's a little late in the day to be worrying about too much Plutonium on the planet, that ship has sailed.</div><div><br></div><div> John K Clark</div><div><div><br></div></div></body></html>