Car Runs 1 Million Miles on 8 Grams of Thorium

Did a search, didn't see this anywhere.

In breaking news on the energy and technology front, Laser Power Systems, a U.S. company based out of Connecticut is developing a method of automotive propulsion using the element thorium to produce electricity.

Charles Stevens, the CEO of Laser Power Systems CEO, explains that just one gram of thorium yields more energy than 28,000 liters of gasoline. Just eight grams of thorium, Stevens explains, would produce more energy than the vehicle could use in its entire life, without the need for refueling… ever.

The entire engine weighs only about 500 lbs and is light and compact enough to fit under the hood of any conventional vehicle.

Far from conceptual, this has worked in the thorium-powered 2009, Cadillac World Thorium Fuel Concept

Source
Source 2

Well well, could this be the end of the primitive gasoline industry? It's already been tested and works. While this isn't free energy, it's damn near close.
But how much does thorium cost? According to some quick Googling, and correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that it's extremely cheap... As in a couple dollars.

Far from conceptual, this has worked in the thorium-powered 2009, Cadillac World Thorium Fuel Concept

Except it didn't actually "work". The WTF is waiting for a powerplant but when and if there is one it will be a cool car.

Another example.
en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by Phage

this has worked in the thorium-powered 2009, Cadillac World Thorium Fuel Concept

What makes you say it didn't work?

So basically eight grams of thorium could also power a house for the rest of your life. Another gram could get some people through a life of traveling in a car, if they didn't abuse the fact.

It will not be allowed to be built at this time.

reply to post by trollz


As fantastic as this is, the general public uneducated and ignorant as it applies to the safety, handling, and hazard risks of radioactive materials will likely run around in circles flapping their hands in alarmist panic over potential Fukishimas driving all over the road.

I can even see people making Fukishima, or Chernobyl (drive one today!) car memes popping up in protest response to make alarmist ignorance go viral.

Personally, I'd own one.
It'd be nice were logistics carriers, freight, and passenger services to eventually transition over to a similar solution.

Edit: I just read the article for more detail. I'd originally assumed they were taking an RTG approach similar the Curiosity rover. Seems they're attempting to create a Thorium Laser based engine to heat water to drive a turbine?

Thorium is likely cheap due to the fact that it is not in any sort of demand. If this would ever become another source of "fuel" the price would likely soar. Nice find though!

reply to post by trollz


You mean aside from the fact that you can get Weapons Grade Uranium from it?

The actual article title is "Thorium-powered car COULD drive a million miles before refueling". There are quite a few issues with Thorium that have yet to be worked out.

AliceBleachWhite
reply to post by trollz

 

As fantastic as this is, the general public uneducated and ignorant as it applies to the safety, handling, and hazard risks of radioactive materials will likely run around in circles flapping their hands in alarmist panic over potential Fukishimas driving all over the road.

I can even people making Fukishima, or Chernobyl (drive one today!) car memes popping up in protest response to make alarmist ignorance go viral.

Personally, I'd own one.
It'd be nice were logistics carriers, freight, and passenger services to eventually transition over to a similar solution.

I'd be curious to find out just how radioactive thorium is. As far as I understand, it's far safer than the stuff used in nuclear power plants. Tons of stuff around us gives off radiation... The microwave, the cell phone... So radiation doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. I wonder how thorium would compare to such common appliances as far as the amount of radiation given off.

By the way, welcome to ATS, I see you're apparently new and active.

reply to post by trollz

Because I can't find anything (other than the article you posted) which says it has a working powerplant.

The WTF is a design study, not a prototype.

The Cadillac World Thorium Fuel concept is a design study for a futuristic vehicle powered by a nuclear powetrain and built to last 100 years without any maintenance. The author is designer Loren Kulesus.

www.carbodydesign.com...

reply to post by trollz


It's not highly radioactive, but it has some byproducts I'd hate to be exposed to long term, like driving in a car.

reply to post by Phage


Your article is from January of 2009 though. Surely progress has been made since then if the project is still ongoing.

reply to post by trollz

The microwave, the cell phone... So radiation doesn't necessarily mean it's bad.

Not the same thing. That is not ionizing radiation. Radioactive isotopes produce ionizing radiation. Some isotopes of thorium have very short half-lives, meaning they are radioactive.

reply to post by trollz


Laser Power Systems doesn't claim to have a working design.
www.laserpowersystems.com...

reply to post by trollz


They're having to build a reactor small enough to be lightweight and let the car drive, heavy enough to shield the driver and keep from killing them after the first 10,000 miles or so, and find a fuel that is safe enough to use (thorium has a few little side effects I'm not sure I'd want in my car). It's going to take a lot longer than 4 years to have it on the road.

reply to post by AliceBleachWhite


The amount of people that are absolutely retarded when speaking about DU would have a field day if this ever went past the drawing board.

If the process worked then I could see some practical applications for it but I don't think cars would be one of them.

trollz

I'd be curious to find out just how radioactive thorium is. As far as I understand, it's far safer than the stuff used in nuclear power plants. Tons of stuff around us gives off radiation... The microwave, the cell phone... So radiation doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. I wonder how thorium would compare to such common appliances as far as the amount of radiation given off.

By the way, welcome to ATS, I see you're apparently new and active.

Well, a flashlight, or a campfire technically give off radiation, but, we're talking about higher energy stuff here like Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and X-Rays.

Anything that fizzes off Alpha and Beta is relatively easy to shield against with even 1/4 inch aluminum.
Gamma and X? well, that's another story.

Phage
reply to post by trollz

 

Because I can't find anything (other than the article you posted) which says it has a working powerplant.

The WTF is a design study, not a prototype.

The Cadillac World Thorium Fuel concept is a design study for a futuristic vehicle powered by a nuclear powetrain and built to last 100 years without any maintenance. The author is designer Loren Kulesus.

www.carbodydesign.com...

As ridiculously cool as this automobile concept is, I can't help but laugh my butt off over that acronym.

Very cool concept, though, very cool. Fossil fuels aren't going to last forever, but this might be the holy grail for long-term fuel if any real thought & dedication is put into it for other applications.

Is this the bogus "thorium laser" thing from a couple of years ago? It was technically ridiculous and a scam.

Sadly it's likely that this will never be allowed into production. Any vehicle that becomes independent from the energy (Oil/Electricity) industry would lobby the hell out of governments to stop it in some way.

Oil Companies rule every household, every person that uses electricity, and so pretty much the world.

Look at 9/11 (New York), 7/7 (London) and 11/3 (Madrid), it was staged, and was not just about the corrupt secret agencies and billionaire corporate bosses of America, Europe and Britain being able to get the public to be more accepting of their spying and world domination activities.

If you don't thin it's possible that I could be right, notice that even the food we'd prefer not to eat just to stay healthy is being secretly and forcefully fed to us these days by means of affordability and suppression of knowledge, and false (pseudo) science.

I wish we all headed the lyrics of Lennon, MJ, SOAD, Green Day and Rage while we still had a chance to stop the cancerous growth of these nasty groups of people.

Isn't the DoD supposed to secretly possess Thorium Plasma batteries or some such thing? They got it from a russian scientists that went "missing"?