What Is A LFTR, and How Can A Reactor Be So Safe?: Molten Salt Reactors, including Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors

by George Lerner

What if we could design and build a reactor :- that uses no water and so can't have high pressure steam or hydrogen explosions,- that fissions over 99% of its fuel so there's no waste to store for hundreds of thousands of years,- with fuel that can't have a nuclear melt down,- that can consume spent nuclear fuel from other reactors?Well, we've already built one, and we ran it for 5 years! (But you never heard about it...)A Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) produces energy using a liquid (molten) nuclear fuel, not a solid fuel. LFTRs also use a coolant that remains liquid at atmospheric pressure.With liquid fuel and atmospheric pressures, LFTRs solve the safety and waste disposal problems our current (1970's design) light water reactors (LWR) have.George Lerner is an expert at solving complex technical & communication problems, in controversial fields such as alternative energy, health care, climate change. He can communicate complex ideas clearly, even to emotionally invested or polarized people.In this book, you will learn - how LFTRs work, - how they can be so much safer, - how they are completely different than LWR, - what it will take to build them, - technical and regulatory challenges still to be solved, - how they will fare in accidents, - the economics of designing and operating them.

40 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 29, 2012

Reviews

[Delores Barclay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read easy to understand

Highly recommend this book for anyone concerned about climate change. It is truly an easy read with much insight into our climate problems.
There are many ways this technology could be put to
use besides power generation, high temperature manufacturing, non fossil fuel production, desalinization of water, just to name a few