Losing The Future

Japan is struggling to come up with sensible rules under which they can re-launch the nuclear reactors that had provided 30% of their electric power prior to the Fukushima FUBAR.

However! Japan has an earnest advocate of thorium in Takashi Kamei of the International Institute for Advanced Studies in Kyoto, and he told a conference last summer that Japan will be putting money into alternative nukes:

Speaking at the Thorium Energy Alliance Conference in Chicago on 31 May 2012, thorium advocates made it clear that the meltdowns at Fukushima's nuclear power stations have underlined the need to move away from conventional designs to other nuclear technologies. Japan, unsurprisingly, has taken the lead after energy provider Chubu Electric Power recently launched a $1.2bn research programme that aims to strengthen the safety of nuclear plants - also through the use of thorium.

International Institute for Advanced Studies (IIAS) researcher Takashi Kamei told attendees at the Chicago conference that the utility, which serves about 16 million people in central Japan, is specifically looking into an alternative reactor design which would use liquid thorium as fuel in a molten salt reactor - a U-turn from the solid uranium, water-cooled reactors such as the ones used at the Fukushima plant.

India has a vast amount of thorium and has been studying thorium reactors ineffectually for decades. China, on the other hand, is committed to trying everything to meet its energy needs. And let us not omit Norway, which is testing a retro-fitted uranium design powered by thorium.

The good news is that, with Japan and China both pushing hard and India interested, progress in understanding and adopting thorium reactors should be rapid. Closer to home, Bill Gates and Google are also interested in the clean nuclear alternative. The Department of Energy is dusting off old research and helping the Chinese, but, like fracking, this looks like an idea that will proceed in spite of Obama rather than because of him.

Comments

[peter]

First. In your face, Marko

[Bruce]

What is frustrating to me is that there is pretty clean nuclear power options available, or close to being available, and we aren't even really testing them out. There are well documented small, modular designs, and a number of other inherently safe designs (meaning that when they fail, they naturally shut down, instead of going critical). Have had breeder reactors for quite some time, that are useful in handling much of the nuclear waste, and saw a fission/fusion design in a recent IEEE Spectrum that would use fusion heat to greatly reduce the half-lives of fissionables.

Somewhat worrisome is that the money going into nuclear seemed to be going into fusion research, and that seemingly is now being diverted into
green" energy (i.e. places like Solyndra).

[Captain Hate]

Yeah that nuclear stuff isn't sciency enough for the global windmills dead bird fan crowd.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

I'm a little late, but happy birthday Hit!

[Jim Eagle]

naricso knows I have a Thorium Reactor in my garage that I let Frederick modulate the flux from time to time. Plan on making it in modular components that can be installed in every red state in America. And like the French do, we'll put them on the borders of the blue states so they can sweat it out with envy.

But seriously, Thorium is only one set of technologies available if we have the political will. The Japanese will figure out how to solve that problem and will beat us to the stage while we fumble around with goat shit powered windmills and bagasse incinerators.

[Rick Ballard]

CH,

It takes a bit of work to gin up the Peak Thorium models to the point where the SkyDragon totems appear slightly less ridiculous than they really are. The battle for worldwide total immiseration has suffered a bad setback due to current NG prices as it is.

We shouldn't expect taxpayer funding of advanced nuclear power until Air Taxes are firmly in place. It's just a matter of priorities.

[glasater]

HB Hit! My Dad was a groundhog also.

[peter]

HB hit

[matt]

Not sure if the Japanese should be given the keys to the flux capacitor after the incredible screwups at Fukushima (how appropriate a name in retrospect).

The Chinese will just bar Western visitors from the region if they melt down. Fundamentally, I think it best if we prove out the design first, but then, Obama does not want to lead anymore.

[Fecal Transplants Save Lives!]

Do you think Australia will give back their islands?

[sbwaters]

H&R, HBTY! HBTY! HBDH&R! HBTY!

[Ann]

Happy Birthday, Hit, JMH and everyone at JOM that I have missed.

[maryrose]

Happy Birthday Hit!
We love you and thanks for keeping the list.

[jimmyk]

Happy Birthday, Hit & Run!

[rse]

HB hit. Hope your arm gets tired from imbibing today and you enjoy yourself.

All your cooking reminds me it is time to get my 15 bean soup cooking.

And Ann good to have you posting more regularly again.

[NJJan]

Happy Birthday Hit & Run!

[Frau Steingehirn]

Woo-Hoo! Happy Birthday, hit, and mighty hugs.
I hope it's warm enough to sit out in the driveway, open the umbrella and take in the view.

[Frau Steingehirn]

Oh, no. Does the fact that Sec. Chu just left mean we don't have a nuclear fan left in the WH? No?
In your faces, you Gaia-whipped idjits.

[Frau Steingehirn]

This one's just for Ann -

[MarkO]

Happiest of Birthdays to Hit & Run!

[RichatUF nee GMU]

Happy Birthday Hit and Run.

Ann-

Great that you are back in the comments too.

[RichatUF nee GMU]

The Department of Energy is dusting off old research and helping the Chinese

Why does this seem like a bad idea? Oh that's right, when the Clinton Administration wanted "to help" the Chinese, they ended up modernizing their nuclear forces. I guess Obama wants to go ahead and get the surrender over with.

[Beasts of England]

My JOM persona wishes hit and run a happy birthday!

[RichatUF nee GMU]

And with unemployment tickick up to 7.9% and gdp with a negative print, Obama claims it is "bad decisions"...can "bad luck" be all that far behind.

******

"[T]his week, we also received the first estimate of America’s economic growth over the last few months. And it reminded us that bad decisions in Washington can get in the way of our economic progress," said Obama, presumably referring to the uptick in unemployment from 7.8 percent to 7.9 percent and the news that the economy contracted in the final quarter of last year.

The president did not name which decisions were "bad," and who specifically was to blame for those "bad decisions." But he did blame Washington.

"2013 can be a year of solid growth, more jobs, and higher wages. But that will only happen if we put a stop to self-inflicted wounds in Washington. Everyone in Washington needs to focus not on politics but on what’s right for the country; on what’s right for you and your families. That’s how we’ll get our economy growing faster. That’s how we’ll strengthen our middle class. And that’s how we’ll build a country that rewards the effort and determination of every single American," said Obama.

[RichatUF nee GMU]

tickick -> ticking...that was a strange typo

[Jim Miller]

Thorium reactors are better described as "cleaner", rather than "clean". Or, when compared to fossil fuels or biofuels, we might describe conventional uranium reactions as very clean, and thorium reactors as ultra clean.

But that ultra clean isn't their most important advantage, since the problems of nuclear waste are almost entirely political, not technical,

(The engineers have many practical solutions to protecting the small amounts of waste produced by conventional reactors, but the political leaders have been unable, or unwilling, to get them past the demagogues. Incidentally, if someone says that nuclear wastes are an unsolved problem, as Obama did during the 2008 campaign, they are either lying or misinformed.)

But the thorium reactors do have much less of a proliferation problem.

[RichatUF nee GMU]

Evening Beasts.

Can't wait to see the photoshops. Maybe someone can pencil in an ACME "Economy Disintegrating Ray Gun".

[Beasts of England]

RichatUF - The released photo is not to be manipulated, et cetera, per White House directive. Now what do we? lol

[RichatUF nee GMU]

It's daddy's break a law day!!!

Get photoshopping.

[Strawman Cometh]

Happy Birthday Hit!
As I understand it, thorium reactors yield "waste" products with much (orders of magnitude) shorter half-lives. Moreover, some designs can serve as breeders, taking in the waste from conventional reactors and reducing it to shorter half-live elements. In the early days of nuclear, the Atomic Energy Commission and Defense Dept. eschewed Thorium for Uranium because the later would produce the material for The Bomb.
Baby shower today for our DiL and son's 3rd, our 5th grandchild. At the end our other DiL and son (of the many troubles) made it known that our 6th is in the oven. Happy day.

[Frau ohne Schatten]

Did you run from your shadow, hit?

From one of my favorite writers for young children and a fabulous self-taught artist.

[Frau ohne Schatten]

What great news about the strawbabies, Strawman.

Isn't thorium that weird instrument that sounds like extra-terrestrial mosquitoes buzzing? Leon plays a wicked one--his own invention-- but speaks Russian.
LUN

[narciso]

That's Theremin, I think, Frau,

[Frau ohne Schatten]

Yep, narciso. I know. What's the emoticon for pulling a leg?

The YouTube (LUN) shows the inventor Leon Theremin with his instrument. Wait, that doesn't sound quite right. Maybe Leon Theremin with his invention.

[narciso]

There is of course, the Iludium Q 36 explosive space modulator, to think of.

[Frau ohne Schatten]

Instead of a marshmallow gun, the marshmallow *rifle* could be used for the verboten photoshopping crime.

[Frau ohne Schatten]

narciso @9:00, a great weapon but is it commanding enough for the Skeeter-in-Chief?

[narciso]

well it can blow up planets, so I guess so;

http://www.washingtonguardian.com/monkeying-around-tax-dollars

[Frau ohne Schatten]

It's not the power but the impression. Unless you view the entire image at 9:12, you won't see the scary length and the tough shoulder brace. The Marshmallow Blaster is indeed worthy of our kick-rear preezy (cool be upon him).

[Frau ohne Schatten]

Back on topic - it's likely the U.S. will be one of the last in the world to consider the use of thorium. I caught a glimpse of algore the hut pushing his one-note agenda of enriching himself stopping AGW.

" Closer to home, Bill Gates and Google are also interested in the clean nuclear alternative."
Did they run this past the WH?

[Strawman Cometh]

You can reload faster with one of these. Loaded ultra high capacity chips are available for $.50

[Captain Hate]

I caught a glimpse of algore the hut pushing his one-note agenda of enriching himself stopping AGW.

I saw that he was on Letterperv's show where they both doubtlessly regaled the audience of barely trained seals with tales of unindicted sexual harassment. Next week: Stupid NAMBLA tricks and Top 10 reasons Jerry Sandusky isn't all that bad. Heyyyy-oooooo

[Frau Kartoffeln]

High capacity potato chips for $50?

That tater tot gun looks like it could hurt a fellow.

Nite-all - off to the comfy chair.

[daddy]

Happy Birthday HITster!!!

Just got it in under the wire. Whew.

BTW, my new little grand-nephew is 7 lbs, 8 ounces, and handsome as me. John Brennen Riley.

[jimmyk]

Since on one of the recent threads several JOMers were praising GWB's decency and humanity, I happened to hear a nice story tonight. We met a guy from Israel whose son (now 35 or so) became deaf and blind at age 1, and became sort of the "Helen Keller of Israel." When the son was 30 he was invited to the White House, met W, and later got a letter from the President that essentially said "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to meet you." The father assumed that it was just the protocol and a form letter, but someone later explained to him that the President doesn't routinely thank people for coming to visit him, and in any case he was so moved by the meeting that he specifically dictated the letter.

Anyway, this father just couldn't say enough about how wonderful a human being GWB was and is.

[daddy]

Great story JimmyK.

What a very decent man.

[narciso]

A sign they are getting a clue, not on Cameron's side, he's just another Etonian toff;

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9844514/Conservative-party-ripped-apart-by-gay-marriage-vote.html

[Captain Hate]

Yes, I may have complained about many things GWB did as President but he's a far better man than was there preceding and after him.

[daddy]

Astronomy Picture of the Day posted this very neat video by an astrophotographer of a full moon rise over Mt Victoria in Wellington, New Zealand.

Here's a still from the Video:

Because the people silhouetted against the huge moon come out so clear, it makes you think it may be fake, but here's the explanation provided thru the links:

The video was taken on Jan. 28, 2013 by photographer Mark Gee, who made the attempt several times before finally capturing the event. This isn’t an example of the famous Moon Illusion, where the Moon looks huge on the horizon, though. He wanted to get the silhouetted people walking around, so he camped over two kilometers away from the Mount Victoria lookout in Wellington, New Zealand. Using a telephoto and exquisite pre-planning (not to mention aim), he was able to show the people who, at that distance, were barely able to be seen by the naked eye. It’s the magnification of the lens that makes the moon look so big.

Very cool, and I'd like to see it done with some Jazz or a version of "Blue Moon" as the music background, and maybe some choreography included.

[narciso]

Ditto, Captain, a very decent fellow, compared to the fools and knaves that seem to be in abundance in this administration,

[Jimmyk]

When you've lost Geraldo....

Jerry Rivers advocates "stop & frisk" over trying to ban assault weapons.

[daddy]

When you've lost Senator Geraldo...

Can Congress really get that bad? (Don't answer that.)

[narciso]

I just was coming across his book, today, and I didn't know this connection in the LUN

[rse]

RIP Chris Kyle.

So sad.

[peter]

Woke up early to see some beautiful snow on the ground. Also, at the LUN a well crafted article from our very own Clarice; good morning, good coffee, good reading.

[Jane (A dog in the crate is better than one on the plate)]

The Chris Kyle story is just awful.

Clarice blows my mind. Are there 10 people on the planet who can use the word "addlepated" in a sentence?

[marlene]

Oh dear,maybe one of these mornings we will wake up to good news.

RIP Chris Kyle

[clarice]

Thanks..Just arrived at the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong. This place is so gorgeous they may have to arrest me to get rid of me. Now for a shower, dinner and bed. SMOOCHES.

[Jack is Back! (On his iPad)]

Clarice,

Wait until you see the hotels in Singapore. BTW did they pick you up with one of their Rolls Royce's.

[rse]

Well I now have ldh herself saying in 2000 that CT statewide was the early and aggressive adopter of exactly what is now being nationalized via Common Core. I have said that but part of the Newtown fury and manipulation is clearly to prevent that from becoming common knowledge.

Doc was on the servers of Kennedy school of govt.

I have also learned that when you have a mention of Uncle Karl in your title, it gets translated into other languages. I find that interesting.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

Wayne LaPierre is making mincemeat of Chris Wallace.

[gmax]

but, like fracking, this looks like an idea that will proceed in spite of Obama rather than because of him.

Why limit your insightful comment to fracking. The entire economy is proceeding, haltingly and anemically, is spite of the SOB...

[clarice]

No. JiB, the Seabourn cruise line did send a greeter and driver for us though. The cruise begins tomorrow afternoon.
In Singapore where we wind up the trip we are at the Four Seasons. I could get used to this without half trying.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

Sounds spectacular Clarice.

[pagar]

IMO, we have been losing the future for a long,
long time.

http://www.trevorloudon.com/2013/01/obama-and-the-communists-they-censored-their-own-website-to-protect-the-president/

"Our Party actively supported Barrack Obama during the primary.

[clarice]

It's my dream vacation,Jane.

[Old Lurker]

Clarice I did the math and concluded a couple could live very nicely on Seabourn year round if you gave up real houses (particularly two). And you would not be a taxpayer in any state or city...though you are stuck with the Feds. I sort of think of it as an alternative if Jane is unsuccessful in finding terra firma for us. And their internet access is really good on board mostly.

[clarice]

OL--I think that might be a grand idea..but they don't take pets. Maybe we could engage a tramp steamer for 4 plus dogs and cat and sail the 7 seas year round.

[narciso]

A Pieces with a Country and Western flavor, clarice,

http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/02/our_foreign_policy_establishment_looking_for_love_in_all_the_wrong_places.html

Your suggestion, OL, reminds me of Khashoggi's yacht the Nabila, which was used as a set in that Seam Connery stand alone vehicle, 'Never Say Never Again'

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

Harry Reid's father committed suicide with a gun(he just announced that on Stephanopolus). I am desperately trying not to capitalize on those sad remarks.

[narciso]

No, we are not ghouls, Jane, Adjami and BHL, are still a little naive, we have yet to learn the original lesson of Afghanistan, do not cultivate scorpions, like Hekmatyar they will sting you,

[clarice]

Heck, OL, now that I think of it, we could just commission the damn thing as our own and bring aboard whatever pets we chose. It would be the St Lanes line.

I bet we won't have difficulty finding cruise ship doctors either.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

I'm in Clarice. Caro can drive it. I'll be the bartender. You can cook.

[Captain Hate]

Are there 10 people on the planet who can use the word "addlepated" in a sentence?

I'm sure I can find 9 others.

And Chris Wallace is an idiot.

[Cecil Turner]

Singapore's nice (though it's getting a little crowded). Especially dinner at either Clarke or Boat quays. Have fun!

[AliceH]

re: St. Jane's Cruise Ship

Can we have skeet shooting on the upper deck?

[pagar]

O/T but if anyone is needing books to read this site claims to offer ONE Million FREE Ebooks.

http://www.readingfanatic.com/index.jhtml?partner=^AIC^xdm008&gclid=CKTXsIy6mrUCFQcHnQodkR0AAg

[narciso]

Well Captain, from that Mitchell memoir, she says he agreed with her, that Reagan got it too easy. doesn't Dear Leader seem like Daffy Duck, in 'Duck Season'

[narciso]

I see someone came to the same conclusion;

http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=33946#comments

[Chubby]

there is a great Andrew McCarthy article up on NRO about the Republicans who voted to send arms to the the Muslim Bro'hood in Egypt.

[Old Lurker]

If we are going to take the whole boat I suggest we buy one of the Windstar ships since it can sail quickly under wind power alone when we want to save fuel. LUN

Plus I know the bar tenders. More importantly, they know me.

[Chubby]

link to the Andrew McCarthy article:

John McCain & Lindsey Graham's Mideast Idiocy - Andrew McCarthy, NRO

LUN

[narciso]

Yes, this is the piece, Chubby, which makes their statements about Benghazi to be rather beside the point;

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/339590/senate-republicans-arm-brotherhood-andrew-c-mccarthy

[Chubby]

narciso, not to mention their hassling of Hagel.

[clarice]

OL, I 's heading off to shower and bed, but the idea seems more appealing every moment.

[jimmyk]

Yglesias is getting shredded on twitter for whining about how hard it is to start a business.

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/small_business/2013/02/starting_my_small_business_cities_make_it_incredibly_hard_to_get_a_business.single.html

[Captain Hate]

The dumbest part of the Chris Wallace questions was the underlying feeling of "we've gotta do something" no matter how ill conceived. It's part of the idiotic feeling that when something bad happens it's somehow the fault of "the system" for which we have to be blamed for not making things perfect. Bad people do bad things and it's senseless to think that a bunch of halfassed legislation will change that. If Gabby Giffords husband is so hell bent on finding out the cause of his wife's shooting, Loughner's parents and the people they influenced to give him a pass on taking responsibility for his past actions are a much better target for his ire than people who never did a damn thing to harm anybody else.

[jimmyk]

ONE Million FREE Ebooks.

Doesn't work on Apple products, it would seem.

[Chubby]

Bush was very much a Biblically centred person. After his presidency, he gave an interview, and his big well-worn Bible was prominently shown, right there close at hand to his desk, and he said he consulted it frequently.

[narciso]

Kelly, cannot be that ignorant, as to who is really at fault, so I put it as mendacious.

[rse]

CH-

Plus it primes people to think in terms of systems as if they can be guided and redesigned instead of what they are, a collection of supposedly separate individuals. Then what Bronfenbrenner created as a useful metaphor to try to get people to adjust to the idea of being embedded in something much bigger becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The statists who would like to plan for us want people to cease seeing themselves as independent or really individuals at all. Telling kids they are just their experiences and relationships takes its toll over time. As does repeatedly telling them that EVERYTHING they do impacts others.

[Pops]

LapIeere should have said:

Chris, with all due respect, if your house was being invaded by three armed rapists/murderers would you throw your wife the gun with the 10 round clip or the 30 round clip?

[Frau Steingehirn]

(I, too, was unable to access the site with the million free books.)

Jeez, I'm too lazy to get up from the comfy chair and Jesse Jackson is mumbling away about gun violence caused by the "pain of poverty" (Rainbow trademark) on the south side of *all* minority communities. What would he do besides increased checks and outright bans? --- Lie-berries! We need more libraries for these communities.

If the reverend read more, he might have seen the almost non-existent literacy levels for yutes in those communities he hopes to impove. My husband asks, "What one thing has Jackson ever accomplished that helps anyone other than himself?"

[Rick Ballard]

"we've gotta do something"

CH,

Follow the link in Clarice's excellent Pieces this morning to Spengler's rebuttal of a CFR credentialed moron pontificating on the need to "do something" to the tune of $22 billion to prop up Morsi.

Rest assured that Magic Hat will return from his first visit abroad with demands "something must be done" to furnish the subsidies promised by Obama to the Egyptian military in exchange for allowing Mubarak to be deposed.

I vote to send them Chevy Volts. They can park them next to the last shipment of surplus F-16s and Abrams tanks. It would actually count as a threefer - prop Govmo, appease Gaia and "help" the Egyptians.

[jimmyk]

would you throw your wife the gun with the 10 round clip or the 30 round clip?

Shades of Bernard Shaw, Pops. Wallace could have pulled a Dukakis and said, "Neither, you know I've favored gun control all my life."

[Frau Steingehirn]

Rick, share that asap with the WH!

Why is the tv control across the room? Jackson feels that all guns and all drugs are brought in "from the South" (WTH?) making double victims out of those who are forced to use them. If he would just mumble more, I wouldn't have to hear his nonsense.

[Captain Hate]

My husband asks, "What one thing has Jackson ever accomplished that helps anyone other than himself?"

http://newsone.com/1810955/jesse-jackson-karin-stanford-child-support/

[Janet]

well said @ 11:24, Captain.

[Frau Doof bleibt doof]

CH - you're not helping Jackson's legacy.

Since "addlepated" is in the spotlight..... Jess's piece on the side became a professor based on her "work" with the *leader* and was surprised to find she was pregnant. Her mama didn't tell her to shop around! She and Monica were obviously separated at birth: each believed her reprobate lover was in an empty marriage.
hahahahahah!

In 1998, Stanford surprisingly became pregnant. Initially, she thought she was incapable of becoming pregnant because she had undergone chemotherapy for breast cancer. Stanford admitted that the civil rights leader never made any promises to her during their four-year affair but also claimed that she understood Jackson’s marriage was one of political convenience.

[Rick Ballard]

Frau,

"Library" in the Jacksonian universe means "free computer and wifi access to your Facebook page". You don't expect young grillzntats to actually pay for indoctrination, do you?