Radioactive waste from an LFTR (Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor) decays down to background radiation in 300 years instead of a million years for U-235 based reactors. Initially LFTRs produce as much radioactivity as an U-235 based nuclear reactor, since fission converts mass to heat, but the decay products have a much shorter half-life. See the figure below.
Today we are continuing in Romans, and read one chapter in 2 Kings.
May 30: Romans 8, 2 Kings 10 (click on the chapter to begin reading)
Romans 8. This chapter is too important for comments. Read it; together with all the Old Testament references, then read it again. Let it sink in.
2 Kings 10. This is a killings chapter, Ahab’s seventy sons killed, Ahaziah’s forty-two brothers killed, the rest of Ahab’s family killed, worshipers of Baal killed, and finally the death of Jehu.
A Thorium based nuclear power generator produces Pu-238 as one of the final TRansUranium products, which is in short supply and much in demand for space exploration nuclear power.
NASA relies on pu-238 to power long-lasting spacecraft batteries that transform heat into electricity. With foreign and domestic supplies dwindling, NASA officials are worried the shortage will prevent the agency from sending spacecraft to the outer planets and other destinations where sunlight is scarce. Thorium reactors produce PU-238 as a “free” byproduct. In 2009 Congress denied a request to produce more Pu-238 by traditional means, instead relying on Russia to sell us the plutonium. (Remember the Russian reset?) Russia made their last delivery in 2010. PU-238 production has since been restarted by converting Ne-237 to Pu-238 at a cost of 8 million dollars per kilogram. The Ceres-Dawn spacecraft used over 22 Kg of Pu-238 as electricity generator.
One week ago, President Xi and Vice Premier Liu He, China’s top trade negotiator, visited a rare earth metals mine in Jiangxi province. This has led to the rumor that China is seriously considering restricting rare earth exports to the US. China may also take other countermeasures in the future. The trade negotiations between U.S. and China got a lot more serious. It extends far beyond tariffs and intellectual property, it now involves strategic materials.
The first thing we must realize is that rare earth metals are not all that rare. They are a thousand times or more abundant than gold or platinum in the earth crust and easy to mine, but a little more difficult to refine. Thorium and Uranium will also be mined at the same time as the rare earth metals since they appear together in the ore.
U.S. used to be the major supplier of rare earth metals, which was fine up to around 1984. Then the U.S. regulators determined that Uranium and Thorium contained in the ore made the ore radioactive, so they decided to make rare earth metal ore subject to nuclear regulations with all what that meant for record keeping and control. 
This made mining in the U.S. unprofitable so in 2001 the last domestic mine closed down. China had no such scruples, such as human and environmental concerns, so they took over the rare earth metals mining and in 2010 controlled over 95% of the world supply, which was according to their long term plan of controlling the world by 2025.
The U.S. used to have a strategic reserve of rare earth metals, but that was sold off in 1998 as being no longer cost effective or necessary. Two years later the one U.S. rare earth metals mine that used to supply nearly the whole world, the Mountain Pass Mine in California closed down, together with its refining capacity. From that day all rare earth metals were imported. In 2010 it started up again together with the refining capacity but went bankrupt in 2015, closed down the refining but continued selling ore to China. They just announced they will start up refining again late 2020. Meanwhile China is slapping on a 25% import tariff on imported ore starting July 1. Rare earth metals may be in short supply for a while.
So, why is this important? Just take a look at all the uses for rare earth metals. The most sought after pays all the cost of mining and refining, and the rest are readily available at nominal cost.
The Chinese almost got away with it, and that is but one reason the trade negotiations are so complicated and hard fought, but necessary. Donald Trump fights for reciprocity and fair competition.
Today we are continuing in Romans, and read two chapters in 2 Kings.
May 29: Romans 7, 2 Kings 8, 2 Kings 9 (click on the chapter to begin reading)
Romans 7. Thanks to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are free from the Law when we belong to Him. Yet, we struggle with sin; “ For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.” The chapter ends up with “ O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” It all makes sense in chapter 8.
2 Kings 8. The King Restores the Shunammite’s Land, and then Hazael murders Ben-Hadad. Then the chapter lists two more kings of Judah, Jehoram and Ahaziah.
2 Kings 9, Jehu, a man of action was anointed king of Israel, Joram of Israel was killed, Ahaziah of Judah was killed, and finally Jezebel suffered the most humiliating and violent death possible.
A Thorium based fast breeder nucear reactor produces much less TRansUranium waste, 0.01% waste products compared to a Uranium-235 fast breeder. The Thorium process has a much higher efficiency of fission than the Uranium process. See the figure below. 
Pu = Plutonium, Am = Americum, Cm = Curium, all TRansUraniums, nasty stuff.
With Thorium based Nuclear power, there are no real problems, with traditional U235 power long tern storage is an immense and urgent problem, and has been since the 1960’s. At that time Sweden had a heavy water U-238 nuclear power program going, but abandoned it in favor of traditional U-235 power. U.S. promised to provide the material and take care of the reprocessing and final storage of all nuclear waste at cost if Sweden joined the nuclear proliferation treaty. Reprocessing was to be done in Washington State, and one of the final storage sites mentioned was Yucca Mountain in Nevada, having the ideal Geological properties.
Time goes by and in 1982 – Congress passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, requiring the establishment of a deep geologic repository for nuclear waste storage and isolation. Yucca Mountain was high on the list out of of 9 possible sites.
Time goes by, and Congress is still not able to decide on a solution. Meanwhile, TRU’s from spent and reprocessed fuel is piling up in less than ideal locations. Thorium based nuclear power would go a long way to alleviate this problem.
Today we are continuing in Romans, and read three chapters in 2 Kings.
May 28: Romans 6, 2 Kings 5, 2 Kings 6, 2 Kings 7 (click on the chapter to begin reading)
Romans 6. The three most important truths are: “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.“ and “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
2 Kings 5. Naaman’s Leprosy is Healed. This was so important that Jesus mentioned it to the self righteous Jews, proving they were not that special. Elisha refused payment for healing Naaman, but his servant Gehazi accepted payment instead, so he becme leprous instead of Naaman.
2 Kings 6. Elisha makes an ax head float, The Floating Ax Head, the Syrians ary to capture Elisha from which we ger the quote”Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” But then Syria Besieged Samaria with famine.
2 Kings 7. When the siege was about to succeed Elisha prophesied “Hear ye the word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.” During the night the Syrians fled and four lepers discovered it. After feasting they went and told the good news to the besieged.
Thorium is a by-product of mining heavy metals and rare earth metals. The price is the cost of extracting and refining, which can be as low as $40/Kg. No extra mining is required for extracting the Thorium, and we all know that mining is a major source for pollution.
The first thing we must realize is that rare earth metals are not all that rare. They are a thousand times or more abundant than gold or platinum in the earth crust and easy to mine, but a little more difficult to refine. Thorium and Uranium will be mined together with rare earth metals.
U.S. used to be the major supplier for rare earth metals, which was fine up to around 1984. Then the U.S. regulators determined that Uranium and Thorium contained in the ore made the ore radioactive, so they decided to make rare metal ore a “source material” with all what that meant for record keeping and control. This made mining in the U.S. unprofitable so in 2001 the last mine closed down. China had no such scruples, such as human and environmental concerns, so they took over the rare earth metals concession and in 2010 controlled over 95% of the world supply, which was according to their long term plan of controlling the world by 2025. Luckily this has now been rectified with U.S. and Australian mines reopened.
So, why is this important? Just take a look at all the uses for rare earth metals. The most sought after pays all the cost of mining and refining, and the rest are readily available at nominal cost.
The Chinese almost got away with it, and that is but one reason the trade negotiations are so complicated and hard fought, but necessary. Donald Trump fights for reciprocity and fair competition.
We live in challenging times with enormous environmental challenges. It takes a lot of energy to clean up the mess we have generated over the ages. It would be a shame to use up our remaining coal, oil and gas to produce the electricity needed to clean up. Oil coal and gas will eventually be depleted and we need to save some for our great grandchildren so they can enjoy flying like we have become accustomed to. Like the famous conservationist Sarah Palin once said: “for when it’s gone, it’s gone.”
The need to develop a Thorium based molten salt fast breeder nuclear reactor to develop our energy needs for the future can not be overstated. Lest anyone should be threatened by the words fast breeder, it simply means it uses fast neutrons instead of thermal neutrons, and breeder means it produces more fissible material than it consumes, in the case of Thorium the ratio is about 1.05.
There is enough Thorium around to last for a million years at today’s worldwide electricity generation levels. Uranium is in short supply. The consumption exceeds production, and the worldwide major importer of Uranium is the U.S. (The fact that we sold 20% of our uranium ore to the Russians did not help)
There are of course the sustainable energy sources such as wind, solar, hydroelectric, biomass, geothermal, tidal and wave energy, and they should be pursued where economically and environmentally appropriate. These are a separate but important subjects.
Today we are continuing in Romans, and read two chapters in 2 Kings.
May 27: Romans 5, 2 Kings 3, 2 Kings 4 (click on the chapter to begin reading)
Romans 5. This is a great chapter and tells how faith triumphs in trouble, one quote: “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” And so it is: Death came through one man, Adam, but “if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.” Let that sink in.
2 Kings 3. There is trouble all around: Moab Rebels Against Israel. Israel calls for Judah and Edom to help. They gather their armies and horses, but after seven days without water they call for Elisha. He tells them to dig ditches in the desert. They obey, and without rain the ditches are filled, they all got water and quenched the rebellion. Then they punished Moab, but the King offered his firstborn son as a burnt offering. This was too drastic even for Israel, so they drew back.
2 Kings 4, Like Elijah, Elisha multiplies a widow’s oil, like Elijah, Elisha Raises a person from death, this time the Shunammite’s Son. Elisha purifies a pot of stew, and at another time he feeds one hundred men. with twenty small loaves of bread, and there are leftovers, much like Jesus did, but on a much smaller scale.
Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment. 