To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Thorium-based Molten Salt Reactors
Let's have an intelligent discussion about long-term American energy and environmental policy. Let's think about aggressively bringing back thorium-based molten salt reactors, the successful program at Oak Ridge National Labs. It will simultaneously solve the long-term nuclear waste problem, bring back a rational approach toward small modular reactors, and provide a cost-effective chemical platform so that all of the coal reserves here in the United States will not go to waste. Use coal as a reagent, not a fuel!
Why is this important?
On the one hand, Americans - and humans in general - have benefited enormously from zero-emission nuclear energy. On the other hand, the waste that could plague us for millions of years combined with nuclear proliferation make it a sharp, double-edged sword. How about looking at thorium-based molten salt reactors? We can get rid of 100% of the long-term waste left over from conventional nuclear energy. Plus, with the molten salt fuel acting as its own coolant, it's not plagued by the one issue common to all the safety problems we've ever had: using very high-pressure water as a coolant. It's about the same price as coal: 2 cents per kilowatt hour. Finally, it burns up all the nasty, weapons-grade material that is harvested from conventional nuclear energy. Let's give it a shot!