The Thorium Molten-Salt Reactor: Why Didn't This Happen (and why is now the right time?)

Why HN readers recommended it

Recommended as the go-to pitch for liquid fluoride thorium reactors whenever nuclear power comes up.

This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.

Video & recommendation details

Creator / channel

Google TechTalks

Topic

thorium molten-salt reactors

Format

talk

Level

intro

HN recommenders in dataset

4

HN mentions in dataset

4

Recommendation years in dataset

2012–2022

These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.

From the original HN conversations

Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.

• From my understanding it comes down to part politics, part feasibility. When nuclear power first started becoming popular light water reactors were easier to make and their fuel/byproducts aligned with the production of nuclear weapons. As years went on regulation and inertia did a great …

• The sad thing is we've already got the technology for clean(er), cheaper reactors now: [VIDEO] But we lack the infrastructure and investment to build them.

• There is a Google Tech Talk on this very subject by Kirk Sorensen. He's a big thorium proponent so apply salt as you see fit but his talk seems fairly well cited. [VIDEO]