Been hearing about this concept of Thorium, a metal comparable to uranium in that it requires similar reactors to be able to transform it into usable conventional energy. Check out this video by TYT http://youtu.be/68A_HPYGdlk So this begs the question why hasn't it been considered at all by our government for research and development? Well some basic theoretical physic facts would most certain tell us that since it is a nuclear/radioactive energy. If we were to use it in a small scale civillian setting such as cars/home power/ engine devices, that the biggest problem is keeping the radiation contained. Remember, gamma rays can pass straight through a meter of solid concrete, or several inches of lead. Alpha rays, emitted neutrons, and beta rays can easily be blocked by the same thing, but the biggest problem would be the penetrating gamma rays. Thorium research was cancelled in 1974 because the U.S. has already moved the dollar OFF the gold standard and has replaced the backing of the dollar to Oil (and that's why they call it Black Gold).. The U.S. in 1973 has hammered a deal with the head of OPEC, Saudi Arabia, to not sell oil on the International market EXCEPT FOR U.S. DOLLARS which created an "artificial" demand for the dollar which in turn kept the U.S. dollar from collapsing.. You all probably heard of the term "THE PETRO DOLLAR", well that is true because the U.S. dollar is now backed by nothing but Oil.. So if the U.S. had gone forward with it's research of Thorium it would have created a rival energy source other than Oil which would decrease demand for Oil and cause the dollar to weaken if not collapse... And that's why the U.S. abandoned Thorium research in 1974....... Still imagine if somehow we could have the dollar backed up a new Thorium world trade factor. It would be marvellous. Though the Oil companies/conglomerates/cartels wouldn't go down without a fight. The revolution of phasing out natural gases/fuels... It would be catastrophic to some economies. You have to imagine how much of the worlds infrastructure is built around such things. And it is not a suprise that the governments of the world would deviate from such a course. NO MATTER! How much our administration and the next would love to tout new, clean, green, and renewable energy.
It's a rare vein found in several different areas. The first time I ever saw it was in Azshara and the competition was fierce. It's a hard niche to get into because the current farmers had a stranglehold on the known mining spots. I actually got chased by a group of them for over 45 minutes before I escaped and logged off.
Interestingly IG Farben was stockpiling thorium in massive quantities in Nazi Germany... they claim they were investigating its use as a whitening agent for toothpaste. And Then There Was Silence
BTW a few posts up he was joking, talking about mining thorium in a video game World of Warcraft. And Then There Was Silence
I've heard that it's something like four times more efficient than thorium and has much shorter half life's so it's easier to dispose off. I also heard that we have abundant amounts of it in the United States although I'm not 100 percent on that. I'm pretty sure that new reactors have to be built for thorium which is why it's not as popular but that it's a much better resource than uranium. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
You need to have a certain level in mining to mine it. Or you could buy it at the auction house if you're lazy
there are people around the world working on thorium reactors. all that jazz about oil is nonsense propaganda. its simply high technology not yet very researched, because research of such nature is groundbreaking and expensive. other countries have expressed interest in thorium reactors and are no further into progress, and many prominent scientists in the field are american.