Development of Tiny Thorium Reactors Could Wean the World Off Oil In Just Five Years

[Xringer]

Line loss is a big advantage of building small units that will supply small cities.
No long high voltage lines crisscrossing the state.

Check this out.. What would happen if we discontinued nuclear electricity? | Our Finite World

[Xringer]

Originally Posted by AC_Hacker

Why isn't anyone doing a DIY Thorium reactor?

I mean, wouldn't it be pretty cool to have one down cellar, and be done with electricity bills?

-AC_Hacker

Get a Russian military surplus RTG off EBay..


Radioisotope thermoelectric generator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[AC_Hacker]

Originally Posted by Xringer

Get a Russian military surplus RTG off EBay...

First off, as you know full well, the device in the photograph is not a miniature Thorium reactor, it uses Plutonium di-Oxide.

Just using that word can alert Homeland security... so, be advised.

But I think more importantly, this is a DIY forum,

• "D" stands for Do
• "I" stands for It
• "Y" stands for Yourself

What do you have to say about a DIY miniature Thorium Reactor? What plans do you have for actually making a miniature Thorium Reactor?

-AC

[Xringer]

Yeah, the Russian RTG from Ebay was just a joke.. Those are only sold on the black market..

And, I'm going to wait for the Chinese LFTR kits to hit Ebay..
Needs to be small.. About this size..

[benpope]

Originally Posted by AC_Hacker

What do you have to say about a DIY miniature Thorium Reactor? What plans do you have for actually making a miniature Thorium Reactor?

-AC

No need to get that advanced right off the bat. There is plenty of spent nuclear material sitting in holding ponds and casks around the US (and central Asia while we're at it) waiting to be put to use. A good first step would be to use the lowish grade heat for water heating. Wouldn't you be the envy of the neighborhood with radiant heating powered by Nuclear Fission? With one of these babies sitting in your backyard you - and your neighborhood - could have enough hot water to last a lifetime.

The trick would be getting the heat out without letting any of the nasty radioisotopes out. I would imagine the basic double walled heat exchanger wouldn't be enough to pass code.

[Xringer]

Thorium Reactors could use all that junk for fuel..
But then, what would we have to store away in the ground(water)??

[sparkchaser]

Hmm. I wouldn't think we would need very much thorium to do a home-sized reactor- Too bad it hasn't been really developed for that- imagine "Honey, we're almost out of thorium, go in the back yard and get me a bucket of rocks to put in the Transmogrifier!"

I wonder just how hard it is to extract thorium from rocks?

[Xringer]

From what I've heard, there are massive piles of thorium near every old uranium mine..
The ore is only slightly radioactive.?.

[Xringer]

The wait is almost over!!



5 kW E-Cat Heater (Pending)

"Pure Energy Systems News
October 20?, 2011

When the research and development phase is complete, Leonardo Corporation will offer a 5 (five) kilowatt home heating unit for sale to the general public. This unit will be capable of providing up to five kilowatts of heat -- in the form of hot water -- non stop and continually, twenty four hours a day, if needed; or it can provide less heat, governable according to the demand. It is slated to be the first cold fusion product marketed to ordinary individuals, families, and small businesses, in the history of human civilization. "



Gee, that sounds almost too good to be true..

[MN Renovator]

If something like this E-Cat really came to be it would probably cost about 100 years worth of fuel, not ignoring increases in fuel costs over the same hundred years.

...Refueling fee, umm, I'm good.