The bias toward the continued and uninterrupted use of the highly volatile and extremely low-efficiency Uranium-based reactors is an extension of this Nations weapons development programs and profitability demands of Multi-Nationals GE and Westinghouse.
Despite the obvious and expanding risk of catastrophic events (3-Mile Island, Chernobyl and most recently Fukushima) as well as the aging and increasingly problem-plagued inventory of aging U.S. Reactors – nearly half of the 104 reactors are over 30 years old – it is unlikely that these powerful influences are going to release their hold and move on to a safe, efficient and environmentally neutral power source. The Thorium-Based Reactor, technically known as a Molten-Salt Reactor (MSR), was developed by nuclear physicists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory thru the leading efforts of Administrator Alvin Weinberg.
His simplicity-by-design MSR set records for continuous problem-free operation while his continued advocacy for increased nuclear safety and development of MSR’s won him early termination by the Nixon Administration in 1971 and the entire program was shelved. While the U.S. naps, China has taken the Weinberg research moving fast-forward with its own development program. It’s so very difficult to fathom that this Nation would willingly cede an advantage of its own making (and one with numerous environmental and economic benefits) to the inbred presumption that we must first serve the interests of an economic complex. One that preys upon a people whose personal industry subsidizes its very existence.
This kind of stupidity has no half-life and will continue until it is forced out of the equation. If the topic interests you then I recommend reading the following article and watching the imbedded video contained therein.
