We the undersigned petition you, the Obama Administration for a cleaner, more stable and sustainable energy source. During the years of the Johnson Administration they experimented with Molten-Salt Reactors using the natural element of Thorium, which we have have an abundance of buried in the Nevada desert. With use of the Liquid-Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTR), you will not only provide a cleaner, sustainable energy source to the United States, but to the world, as well.
Using thorium has many advantages:
-Research has already been conducted (reactor active from 1965-1969 Molten Salt Reactor Experiment).
-One hundred grams of Thorium meets the current US citizen's lifetime energy needs.
-LFTR 'burns' nearly all of its fuel.
-Current Light Water Reactors burn only 3.4% of fuel, the rest is introduced into the waste stream.
-LFTR generates much less waste.
-LFTR burns existing nuclear waste as a fuel source.
-The Thorium decay chain produces medical isotopes including Bi-213 (Distributed Cancers).
-Thorium is abundant enough in the United States to achieve Energy Independence.
-LFTR is passively safe, in a full power loss, LFTR cools naturally (No chance of meltdown via power-loss/natural disaster).
-LFTR is perfect for Desalinization.
-LFTR could completely replace fossil fuels as our grids energy source.
-Thorium is 120x more abundant naturally than fissile uranium.
-Known US Thorium reserves represent well over 500 years our current TOTAL power consumption.
-Thorium fuel cycles does NOT produce weapons grade waste.
-Kirk Sorenson has been invited to speak to Google about this tech multiple times.
-Energy Independence has massive implications on our federal budget deficit.
This, and many other benefits could be found by funding further research and development of a Thorium LFTR reactors. China, France, and other countries are currently working on this technology. It would be a great travesty to allow technology we developed 50 years ago, to be commercialized by the other great nations on this earth and fall behind with a 50 year head start.
Thorium LFTR technology, is Green and Sustainable Technology. The resource is sufficiently large to be inexhaustible on a large scale time frame (500-5000 years in proven reserves per current energy usage). The resource is Green because of its lack of airborne greenhouse gasses, along with its ability to completely replace dirty fossil fuels.
Kirk Sorenson projects 2-5 years for a prototype, 300-400million dollars, 5-10 years for commercial production.