Last week at Heritage, representatives from the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Thorium Reactors, Hyperion and General Atomics discussed the potential of new nuclear technologies for America. The full event is available and accessible by going to Heritage’s event site. The INL’s Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) project, which is a private-public partnership that focuses on high temperature gas-cooled reactors, broadly expands the applications of nuclear energy beyond electricity production (by the way, the U.S. currently gets 20 percent of its electricity from 104 reactors). The heat produced from high temperature …
Despite having not built a plant in more than three decades, the technology for nuclear power has come a long way in the United States. One of the most intriguing developments is the ability to use the chemical element thorium to power reactors. Thorium power has unique advantages that address two of the primary concerns for those skeptical of nuclear power. The first is that it is a proliferation-resistant fuel cycle — no production of nuclear weapons-usable materials in spent fuel. The second is the significantly reduced volume, weight and …
