very interesting stuff...it would be refreshing to get some super intelligent, fresh eyes on the energy situation the world finds itself in..
Gates has also been talking and trading e-mails with Nathan Myhrvold, former Microsoft chief technology officer.
"Being relieved of the tremendous responsibilities and duties of day-to-day life at Microsoft gives him the ability and license to open up his horizons to anything that strikes his fancy," Myhrvold said last week. "He is using that to learn about all kinds of disparate fields, in science and in world affairs."
Myhrvold has some firsthand evidence: A nuclear reactor. Well, not a nuclear reactor, exactly. But an idea for one.
Gates is investing in a project inside Myhrvold's Intellectual Ventures LLC, which is working on a new type of nuclear reactor that would use fuels other than enriched uranium -- including spent fuel from existing reactors.
The idea is to create a nuclear reactor that is simpler and cheaper than current reactors, and generates clean power without waste or proliferation problems, Myhrvold said. The problem with such a project, for the traditional investor, is the significant risk that it won't work. Even if there is a payoff, it might not come for 20 or 30 years.
That's where Gates, one of the world's richest people, is in an unusual position. He is interested in emerging areas of science, he can take big risks -- and he's not counting on the profits to make his mortgage payment.
"Bill has been an enthusiastic backer from the beginning," Myhrvold said. "To be honest, we would not have pursued it this far if it wasn't for his backing."
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