CoeurAge

Humanity has reached a point where changing how we live is essential for our survival. The writing’s been on the wall for decades but we’re close enough now that even short-sighted guys like me can see the letters clearly – ‘Change or Die’. After years of living out of our heads – using science to do things simply because they’re possible or profitable, we must now focus our scientific knowledge onto the tasks that meet basic ethical criteria – • Does Humanity really need this or do we just want it? • Are we working with nature or against it? • Will our efforts help all of humanity to grow together or apart? • Do our actions respect all life on earth or are we undermining the life-support systems and habitats of our own or that of other species? In short, we need to enter an age where we live from the heart. Perhaps the greatest Hot-Button issue of our time is Global Warming and our continued reluctance to address our use of fossil fuels. For years we have extolled the virtues of electric cars and most recently we’ve developed a prototype train running on Hydrogen. Unfortunately clean inner city air is made possible at the expense of those remote communities, near conventional power stations, where electricity for these innovations is generated by burning more fossil fuels. Never are we presented with an end-to-end power budget. But it is possible to end our dependence on fossil fuels. Though I am opposed to the building of any more uranium based nuclear reactors, with their 100,000 year toxic waste products and very low efficiency (<1%), there is a much better alternative that we should be pursuing. A reactor using Thorium as a fuel was built in Tennessee over 50 years ago, where it ran continuously for almost 5 years. The so-called LFTR – Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor produces waste with a 300 year toxicity and because the fuel is in liquid form it runs at 50% efficiency. Copenhagen Atomics in Denmark believe they can even use LFTR technology for ‘Energy Recycling’ – the conversion of spent fuel rods to reduce their toxicity and the recovery of their unused power. So why are we not already doing this? Possibly because the Thorium fuel cycle does not produce Plutonium for bombs and it runs too hot to be used in nuclear submarines. So, despite its superiority for civilian power generation, it was of no interest to the US Navy who were funding the research. The rest is history. It’s long past time to put this right. We must demand that governments of the world commit the necessary resources to engineer a Thorium based solution to our energy needs. Scientists believe that Thorium reactions maintain the earth’s core in a molten state and hence the earth’s magnetic field that protects us from radiation. So Thorium power is not new technology; it’s totally natural and literally billions of years old! LFTR technology can make hydrogen-powered vehicles possible without increasing our use of fossil fuels. We can provide clean air and reduce respiratory disease. We can recycle and sanitise the waste legacy of existing reactors. We may even be able to usefully and safely decommission nuclear weapons. We can create a vibrant zero-carbon economy by 2030. We can stop the Global Warming juggernaut and leave a habitable planet for future generations.