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[acosmichippo]

Thorium lasers: The thoroughly plausible idea for nuclear cars

Some proposed technological innovations seem so far out that they are easy to reject out of hand. But sometimes, a new idea has a kernel of plausibility. Such is the case with a new project to develop a thorium laser power generation system that its creator says could provide electricity for the grid, stand-alone power applications and even cars.

Charles Stevens, an inventor and entrepreneur, recently revealed that his Massachusetts-based R&D firm, Laser Power Systems (LPS), is working on a turbine/electric generator system that is powered by “an accelerator-driven thorium-based laser.” The thorium laser does not produce a beam of coherent light like conventional lasers, but instead merely heats up and gives off energy.

Thorium, a silvery-white metal, is a mildly radioactive element (with an atomic weight of 90) that is as abundant as lead. It is present in large quantities in India and is a much-touted stand in for uranium in nuclear reactors because its fission is not self-sustaining, a type of reaction called “sub-critical.”

The idea has energized the small but active thorium community, which holds that it is the answer to our clean energy needs because it could, effectively, power a car forever. The new technology “would be totally emissions-free,” Stevens said, “with no need for recharging.”

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[Hammer278]

Do people actually believe all this talk will turn into the walk? We advanced so much in gas propulsion, biomas, electric, even AIR powered cars....but will they ever be mass produced?

Lets face it, the O&G giants will settle with hybrids, nothing more. I bet they even hate hybrids as their loss of demand is pretty significant which is why its advancing at a snail's pace globally. Money talks before saving the world, end of.

[madbrad]

Hybrids don't save very much gas. They make hybrids out of large vehicles, so they get good mileage for its size but there are many models of smaller, straight petrol cars that get better mileage than all the hybrids. Now they don't even need hybrids to get good mileage on large cars, with these latest generation turbo V6s in place of V8s, not to mention direct injection. I am sure the hybrids' place in the market is carefully controlled by, and the result of, big oil lobbying.
In fact, I expect no improvement of the situation without a sea change in the way government works, and that is impossible for humankind to execute. Government is merely a tool for big oil, big p h a r m a , big food, and big tobacco. It is not there to serve you and me. It has no concern for our interests. It does not care about keeping the air and water clean or our food safe. It occasionally throws us a bone to give us that illusion, but all those agencies with names that suggest they protect us from big bad corporations are actually staffed and controlled by them. The conflicts of interest are countless and blatant. It cannot be monitored, investigated, or prosecuted, because the fox has been left to tend the henhouse.