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To: Wharf Rat who wrote (2203)	9/20/2011 12:34:06 PM
From: longnshort	1 Recommendation Respond to of 85487

WBZ: Governor Deval Patrick did walk to a morning event on Beacon Hill — a stone’s throw from the Statehouse — but was quick to sheepishly admit that he probably hadn’t set the best example earlier in the day. “You got me!” grinned the Governor. Mass Gov Seen Riding In SUV During ‘Car-Free Week’

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (2203)	9/20/2011 12:44:35 PM
From: Brian Sullivan	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 85487

We could generate all the electricity we need using a new type of Nuclear power that uses Thorium as its fuel. en.wikipedia.org Fuel The Earth's crust contains about three times as much thorium as 238U, or 400 times as much as 235U, which makes it about as abundant as lead. Thorium is cheap. Currently, it costs US$ 30/kg. Thorium is a byproduct of rare-earth mining, normally discarded as waste. Safety Molten fluoride salts are mechanically and chemically stable at sea-level pressures at intense heats and radioactivity. There is no way they can burn, degrade or explode. Fluoride combines ionically with almost any transmutation product. This is an MSFR's first level of containment. It is especially good at containing biologically active "salt loving" wastes such as Cesium 137. Given an accident beyond the design basis for the multiple levels of containment, dispersion into a biome is difficult. The salts do not burn in air or water, and the fluoride salts of the radioactive actinides and fission products are generally not soluble in water or air. Molten-fuel reactors can be made to have passive nuclear safety: Tested fuel-salt mixtures have negative reactivity coefficients, so that they decrease power generation as they get too hot. Because the fuel and the coolant are the same fluid, a loss of coolant removes fuel from the reactor and thus terminates the nuclear reaction. Most MSFRs include a freeze plug at the bottom that has to be actively cooled, usually by a small electric fan. If the cooling fails, say because of a power failure, the fan stops, the fuel in the plug melts, and the fuel drains to a subcritical storage facility, totally stopping the reactor. Economy Since the core is not pressurised, it does not need the most expensive item in a light water reactor, a high-pressure reactor vessel for the core. Instead, there is a low-pressure vessel and pipes (for molten salt) constructed of relatively thin materials. Although the metal is an exotic nickel alloy that resists heat and corrosion, Hastelloy-N, the amount needed is relatively small and the thin metal is less expensive to form and weld. The thermal efficiency from the high temperature of its operation reduces fuel use, waste emission and the cost of auxiliary equipment (major capital expenses) by 50% or more. The molten-salt-fueled reactor operates from 650 °C in the tested MSRE (see above) and related designs, to as hot as 950 °C in untested designs. So, very efficient Brayton cycle ( gas turbine) generators are possible. The MSRE already demonstrated operation at 650 °C, making the 1965 MSR the most advanced of the "generation IV reactors." MSRs work in small sizes, as well as large, so a utility could easily build several small reactors (say 100 MWe) from income, reducing interest expense and business risks. In most new reactor designs, the longest-lead item is the safety testing of solid fuel elements. Fuel tests for a new reactor design usually must cover several three-year refueling cycles, and therefore take more than ten years. Since the MSR uses molten salts, the fuel has already been validated, and development can proceed more quickly.