June 1, read through the Bible in a year.

Today we are continuing in Romans, and read three chapters in 2 Kings.

June 1: Romans 10, 2 Kings 12, 2 Kings 13, 2 Kings 14 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

Romans 10. Israel too needs the Gospel, “ if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” It is true, in the Gospel “there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek,” but Israel rejects the Gospel.

2 Kings 12, the Temple had fallen in disrepair, so Jehoash repaired the Temple. Hazael, king of Aram threatened Jerusalem but withdrew after Joash paid the ransom. After forty years reign Joash died and was succeeded by Amaziah.

2 Kings 13. One more history chapter. Jehoahaz Reigned in Judah, Jehoash Reigned in Israel, Elisha died and Israel Recaptured some cities from Syria.

2 Kings 14, Amaziah firmly ruled in Judah,  but he followed the law of Moses: “every man shall be put to death for his own sin.” After a victory over the Edomites he became proud and tried to conquer Israel. This failed completely, and instead Israel broke down part of the wall of Jerusalem and raided the Temple. Finally,  Jeroboam II became king of Israel, died and his son Zechariah succeeded him.

 

The need to develop Thorium based Nuclear Energy as the major electric energy supply. 6. Thorium based nuclear power is not suited for making nuclear bombs.

 Thorium based Nuclear Power does not produce Plutonium239, which is the preferred material used in nuclear bombs. The higher Plutonium isotopes and other TRansUraniums are about as nasty as they get, and need expensive protection against terror attacks, and need to be stored for a very long time.

One anecdote from my youth. The time had come to apply to University, and to my delight I was accepted to Chalmers’ University in Sweden as a Technical Physics major. I felt, maybe I can do my part by becoming a Nuclear Engineer and help solve the energy needs of the future. The Swedes at that time championed the heavy water – natural Uranium program together with the Canadians. Sweden is a non-aligned country, so it was not privy to any atomic secrets, it had to go it alone. They settled on the heavy water moderated natural Uranium process because Sweden had an ambition to produce its own nuclear bomb. Officially this was never talked about, and I was not aware of it at that time. They could have gone with Thorium instead, but a Thorium based nuclear reactor  produces very little Plutonium, and what it produces is PU-238, not suitable for bomb making.

I was excited to learn about all the possibilities and signed up for a couple of nuclear classes. One lab was to design a safety circuit, then run the heavy water research reactor critical and hopefully watch the reactor shut down from the safety circuit before the system safety circuit shutdown. About that time the word came that U.S. will sell partially enriched uranium at bargain basement prices if Sweden agreed to abandon the heavy water project and sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, a treaty being formulated by U.N.

Sweden was in awe about U.N, all the problems of the world were to be solved through it, and it had such capable General Secretary in Dag Hammarskjöld, a Swede. I looked at the light water, partially enriched Uranium nuclear power plants being developed and decided to have no part with it, not due to safety concerns but it was the design that produced the most nuclear waste of any of the available designs. At that time there was still optimism that fusion would be ready by about the year 2010 or so. The cost of maintaining spent fuel in perpetuity was never considered, so light water reactors became the low cost solution.

India on the other hand refused to join the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, kept their heavy water program going and had by 1974 produced enough plutonium for one nuclear bomb, which they promptly detonated. They still use heavy water moderated reactors, but since India is low on Uranium but rich in Thorium they have now converted one heavy water reactor to thorium with a Plutonium glow plug. It went on-line in 2011.

They are also developing molten salt Thorium reactors, but full production is still a few years off.

There we have it. We could have gone with Thorium from the beginning, but the cold war was on, and the civilian peaceful use of nuclear energy was still all paid for by nuclear weapons research and development. Once all the bombs we could ever need were developed the greatest asset of nuclear power became its greatest liability.

 

May 31, read through the Bible in a year.

Today we are continuing in Romans, and read one chapter in 2 Kings.

May 31: Romans 9, 2 Kings 11 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

Romans 9. After the glorious chapter 8 Paul turns his attention to  Israel and their rejection of Christ, they are, after all God’s Sovereign Choice and the Children of Promise. God administers justice as he seed fit “As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated,” and Israel’s unbelief is “Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”

2 Kings 11. This is a  chapter full of palace intrigue: Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel takes seizes power over Judah and reigns for six years. Finally, Joash is crowned King of Judah, and Athaliah was put to death. After all, she had put Baal in the temple.

The need to develop Thorium based Nuclear Energy as the major electric energy supply. 5. Radioactive waste from an LFTR decays down to background radiation in 300 years compared to a million years for U-235 based reactors.

 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.

May 30, read through the Bible in a year.

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.

 

The need to develop Thorium based Nuclear Energy as the major electric energy supply. 4. Thorium based nuclear power produces Pu-238, needed for space exploration.

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.

China is seriously considering restricting rare earth exports to the US. Why is that important?

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.

Related image

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.

Rare Earth Element Production

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.

May 29, read through the Bible in a year.

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.

 

The need to develop Thorium based Nuclear Energy as the major electric energy supply. 3. One ten-thousandth of the TRansUranium waste compared to a U-235 based fast breeder reactor.

 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.

May 28, read through the Bible in a year.

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.