Quote from: qbg on December 03, 2011, 07:14:37 PM

Quote from: cbeast on December 03, 2011, 05:19:04 PM

I like the science of breeder reactors, but it would be better if we can wait to use them off-planet.

Why generate the power off planet? You would be greatly increasing the transmissions costs with no gain.

If Fukushima was a LFTR, there would've been nothing news worth to report there. You cut power, the freeze plug melts, and the fuel drains into a container that passively cools the fuel.

Yep. Instead of a critical mass of uranium you have a tiny piece to emit neutrons. The thorium absorbs these and enriches to uranium. It then decays back to thorium once it becomes too heavy. Thorium is fairly stable and will rarely emit neutrons on it's own. The thorium simply aids in turning the neutrons into heat and carrying this heat to the steam turbine boiler. Reaction only occurs near the neutron source, and the source is small enough to be passively contained, which happens automatically because the freeze plug melts when the power is cut.