11th Carnival of Nuclear Energy at NextBigFuture

Brian Wang presents 10 outstanding nuclear blog entries at the 11th Carnival of Nuclear Energy, hosted at NextBigFuture. Here is a sampling:

3. Atomic Rod (Rod Adams) has Proving a Negative - Why Modern Used Nuclear Fuel Cannot Be Used to Make a Weapon

My position is that there is no way for an ad hoc group of terrorists or nefarious state actors to build a weapon out of used commercialnuclear fuel. The challenge is that I have a self-appointed task of proving a negative when the positive assertion has been well publicized and firmly established as a "fact" by people with impressive credentials. I also have to figure out how to make this argument without access to technical details that remain classified. Finally, I have to do it in a way that does not require readers to work their way through the excellent, but lengthy explanation provided by Why You Can’t Build a Bomb From Spent Fuel (depleted cranium) orAlexander de Volpi's detailed Knol titled NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROLIFERATION: Controversy About Demilitarizing Plutonium.

4. Nuclear green has the Fuji Molten Salt Project Seeking $300 Million in Funding for Thorium Molten Salt Reactor Development.

On July 7, 2010 Professor Kazuo Furukawa, the head of the NPO "International Thorium and Molten-Salt Forum" has announced that a new company which aims to produce a commercially viable thorium nuclear power generation was established. The goal is to make a thorium nuclear power generator capable of producing 10,000 kilowatts and 20,000 kilowatts of electricity for the next five to ten years, respectively.

The company which was established in June is called, "International Thorium Energy & Molten-Salt Technology Inc. (IThEMS)." Its office is in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo (tel. no. +81-3-3239-2595) with a capitalization of 2 million Japanese yen*. Its president is Mr. Keishiro Fukushima. A total of 300 million US dollars of capital coming from domestic and international companies and investors will be procured in order to produce a small-scale electric generator producing 10,000 kilowatts of electricity within five years.

This generation technology utilizes and involves fluoridized molten-salt to dissolve fluoridized thorium and other materials as liquid fuel.

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10. Rod Adams had an article published on the oil drum "Possibilities for Small Modular Nuclear Reactors?". There are over 450 comments on this article, including comments by the author of this article under the alias of advancednano. In the comments, I also have another set of bets with Dittmar. This time on Kazakhstan uranium production in 2010 and 2011.

Go to NextBigFuture for the entire carnival

More from Charles Barton on Gen IV small reactors we might be building very soon:

The Babcock & Wilcox mPower Reactor actually sets a benchmark for Generation IV reactors. Generation IV reactors will need to compete with the mPower and similar reactors both in capital costs and in operational and maintenance costs.

The ARC-100 reactor project in the main conforms to the to the practical approach. Its design tracks closely with the design of the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II as it evolved into an Integral Fast Reactor prototype. The ARC-100 will be a more powerful reactor than the EBR-11, but not by an problematic extent. Current thinking suggests that reactors capable of generating 100 MWe represent a convergence point between the maximum financial benefit of factory reactor production, and grid usefulness. Smaller reactors because they produce less electricity, may represent less attractive investments for utilities seeking to replace fossil fuel generation sources, while larger reactors may demand far more expensive field construction. Thus the ARC-100 with an electrical output of 100 MW, is size competitive with the 125 MW mPower Reactor. _Much more with links at NuclearGreen

Safe, abundant, clean nuclear fission will provide the foundation for a successful transition from a fossil fuel economy to a sustainable energy economy. It is the key to long-term success in breaking free from the energy starvation, dieoff.org straitjacket that faux environmentaist lefty Luddites are attempting to wrap around the planet.