" If anything, the liquid fuel simplifies the process. The fission products are continuously removed so that they do not build up, and can be stored safely. "

The second sentence completely contradicted the first. There is nothing simple, or even established yet, about continuously removing fission products from a highly caustic and radioactive liquid that is a few thousand degrees Celsius.

If we're talking about human error with regards to nuclear safety this makes even less sense! The amount and frequency of re-processing for LTFRs raises the potential for error significantly.

No, we need 'one stop shop' type reactors buried as columns in the ground that, once running, continue to do so without human intervention for decades. When the reaction is done, it also becomes the long-term storage facility.

Using an accelerator (combined with a spallation target) causes fission events...it creates 9x more energy than the accelerator consumes. Belgium is currently constructing a pilot plant.

A few other comments hit on this, but I wanted to more succinctly.

This trauma just happened. Do not underestimate the ability of the brain to re-route around damage. It takes time and physical therapy. She may unfortunately remain a quadriplegic, but facial/eye control could improve significantly over the coming weeks.

I'm really happy to hear that the baby is fine. I bet that gives her hope and determination to continue the fight. If she can survive and stabilize then in the future she may be a candidate for brain-machine interfaces. I have no doubt that within roughly a decade quadriplegics will once again become self-sufficient.

Good luck. Stay Strong.

Scientists have already found several microbes (fungi mostly) that can break down plastics and other petrochemicals. Concentrating them into one place seems like a good breeding grounds for more efficient strains. Their by-products are then just normal organic shiz (scientifically speaking) that can be used as fertilizer or compost or whatnot.

Australia sees that the 'waste' is actually >95% fertile material, i.e. fissionable FUEL.

"Yes, yes, we will take all of your...waste...all your energy are belong to us!"

Enough of these flops (though, as others have said, the list kinda sucks).

http://www.solar-flight.com/su... The sunseeker duo is the most innovative design I've seen in a while. Solar plane!

I always heard it as CLEAN SHAVIN

I think you're on the right track but interfacing directly with human cells is the wrong approach, at least initially. I would say we should focus on getting bacteria fully programmable. After all, they are ubiquitous in our own bodies. If we can control them, we can indirectly control our own cells. This would be a much safer method, as there could be programmed in fail-safes that destroy the bacteria if needed. You wouldn't want to do that with your cells.

Exactly! Those posts were primarily why I decided to look so deep into the Thorium issue.

As far as I can tell, there has never been a sustained system that has been cryogenically chilled in such an extreme environment (eg high neutron flux, >1000C temps).

It's not that they can't create a plug, it's that they have no idea how to do it reliably 24/7/365 x 30years.

The biggest mistake I can see is: 'For next-gen reactor tech my money is either on' If you take out 'either' then its okay.

Thanks for re-posting it!

After doing a lot of research into the current state of Thorium technology I was able to find the following non-FUD conclusions as to why Thorium and LFTRs in particular aren't working out so well.

1) The liquid medium that is actually containing the fission events is incredibly caustic. This means that the reactor vessel, in addition to dealing with a very high neutron flux, has to handle severe corrosion issues at the surface. The fact that it is done at STP does not provide any help. 2) The salt 'plug' that is often cited as a major safety asset for the LFTR has some major engineering obstacles that have been be able to be addressed yet. 3) The liquid medium has to undergo re-processing on a fairly frequent basis. This is non-trivial as the medium is highly caustic and radioactive. The products pulled out are also highly problematic. This is probably one of the biggest hurtles for LFTR. It is a costly and messy chemical process.

There are other smaller problems, but these are the 'big three' I can recall.

For next-gen reactor tech my money is either on traveling wave type reactors (which never need to be refueled for its entire lifespan..30-100 years). Look up the Toshiba 4s for the furthest along reactor.

There are also sub-critical 'energy amplifier' reactors that use a particle accelerator to drive a proton beam into a spallation target (lead) which causes a neutron flux suitable for fission events to occur, though not enough to cause a self-sustaining reaction. Only 10% of the energy is required to be redirected back to the accelerator (fission rules like that). This one has the advantage of being able to use pretty much any fuel, and waste we have as well as reducing the daughter products to benign isotopes. Belgium is currently in the process of building one.

Gene alalysis would be able to tell if it was from Earth or not. Even if the other life did have DNA. Although, DNA could out-compete before we got a chance to study the ET life.

I would say that it is our sacred duty to SEED mars with as many types of bacteria that would stand a chance at living and prospering.

DNA is the home team. We are DNA. We should ensure that it has a chance in case Earth goes totally tits up. People always talk about that in terms of humans, but really it's DNA.
Europa, Enceladus, anywhere we can get it to survive and grow.

We should even be undergoing genetic engineering efforts to space-harden some strains. Or make viable capsules that could last millions of years.



tl;dr DNA Rulz.

Maybe he doesn't want to serve only millionaires?