Recently, a friend of mine posted a video which featured a series of clips of Kirk Sorenson selling his LFTR (Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor) concept to the masses. I had made some fraction of a response based on what I'd seen in the video at the time. Nonetheless, I felt it merited further study, so I looked a little deeper into the literature and now have the need to write a little more on the subject.
I do have to admit that a lot of what I hear Sorenson say sounded more like shpiel appealing to the masses rather than hard science, but that's not to say he doesn't know the science. In fact, I'm fairly sure he does. But since the video clips came from public speeches, he's playing to a crowd who really don't know much about the subject. He focuses a great deal on the shortcomings of the current technology and a lot on the strengths of the LFTR design in terms of efficiency and safety and so on. The numbers he quotes sound incredibly exaggerated on the face of it, but in fact, they are mostly accurate, if a little misleading.
In reference to this subject, though, I suggest that people watch both Kirk Sorenson's TEDxYYC talk on the LFTR and Bill Gates' TED talk titled "Innovating to Zero," during which he evangelizes the TWR (Traveling Wave Reactor) design. I don't particularly favor one idea over the other, but I think having the combo of those two videos at the very least helps put some things into better perspective.
I do have to admit that a lot of what I hear Sorenson say sounded more like shpiel appealing to the masses rather than hard science, but that's not to say he doesn't know the science. In fact, I'm fairly sure he does. But since the video clips came from public speeches, he's playing to a crowd who really don't know much about the subject. He focuses a great deal on the shortcomings of the current technology and a lot on the strengths of the LFTR design in terms of efficiency and safety and so on. The numbers he quotes sound incredibly exaggerated on the face of it, but in fact, they are mostly accurate, if a little misleading.
In reference to this subject, though, I suggest that people watch both Kirk Sorenson's TEDxYYC talk on the LFTR and Bill Gates' TED talk titled "Innovating to Zero," during which he evangelizes the TWR (Traveling Wave Reactor) design. I don't particularly favor one idea over the other, but I think having the combo of those two videos at the very least helps put some things into better perspective.
