Warren Buffett may not be the biggest user of Facebook and Twitter.
But one of the world's richest men does know a thing of two about the value of a dollar and when he believes the valuation of some of tech's hottest companies is overvalued, it's news.
Buffett issued a warning this week that he believes a bubble is building in the social-networking world.
"It's extremely difficult to value social-networking-site companies," Buffett said, according to Bloomberg News. "Some will be huge winners, which will make up for the rest."
The billionaire investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway didn't name specific social-networking companies he was concerned about.
But with sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Zynga drawing valuations in the billions, other sites have launched to try to follow in their footsteps.
Does Buffett's warning indicate another dot-com crash is in the Silicon Valley's future? Not likely since he says he believes some of the companies will survive and make up for the overvaluation of others.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Thorium: An Alternative to Uranium
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. (Resourceinvestor.com) -- Thorium, one of the “rare earth metals,” is an alternative to uranium as fuel for the construction of nuclear reactors designed for the purpose of producing electricity.
Thorium was, in fact, tested for this purpose at the very beginning of the design of nuclear power plants for generating electricity for powering submarines. It was used in the fuel for the world’s first land sited nuclear power plant located at Shippingport, Pennsylvania. That first plant was built under the aegis of the “Atoms for Peace” program championed by then President Eisenhower.
The reasons for trying to use thorium were as urgent in 1955, as they are critical now. They are, simply, to reduce sharply both the amount of radioactive “waste” generated by nuclear power plants and to impair the capability of nuclear power plants to produce readily extractable weapons grade fissile materials such as plutonium-239 and uranium-235.
Thorium’s backers make a compelling case for a running ‘switch’ from uranium based fuel to thorium based fuel in existing Russian reactors and in the construction of new reactors with a mainly thorium based fuel in place of uranium.
Thorium has been determined to be three to four times more abundant than uranium in nature. The world’s total economically extractable reserves have been recently estimated at 1,200,000 tonnes (metric tonne units). Australia with 300,000 tonnes of reserves, leads the world in this category, followed by India (290,000 tonnes), Norway (170,000 tonnes), the U.S. (160,000 tonnes), Canada (100,000 tonnes), South Africa (35,000 tonnes) and Brazil (16,000 tonnes), with all others totalling 95,000 tonnes.
The most common ore of thorium, the phosphate mineral, monazite, which contains up to 12% of thorium oxide, also contains the economically extractable other rare earth metals, cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, yttrium and iridium. An immediate benefit therefore of producing thorium would be the creation of additional supplies of strategic materials for:
Chemical catalysis (cerium: used in the petroleum industry and emissions control catalysts for gasoline and diesel fueled vehicles);
Battery manufacturing (lanthanum: used in the production of nickel metal hydride rechargeable batteries for hybrid vehicles and portable electronic devices);
Small powerful magnets (neodymium: used to make the magnets used in miniature electric motors such as the 41 of these used in a typical automobile), and;
High temperature corrosion resistant alloys (iridium: used in surgical devices, thermocouples and automotive emission catalysts).
These other rare earth metals are no longer mined in the U.S. due to the fact that the mining of monazite for them produces a “waste” product of thorium!
The Southwest Biodiversity Institute, an environmental organization, has in fact led the charge that stopped rare-earth mining in the U.S. during the last 10 years. The rare earth metals that we do use in the U.S. are today imported principally from the Peoples Republic of China.
Thorium-232, the isotope that makes up 99%+ of natural thorium is mildly radioactive but its half-life in three times the life of the earth. The main feature of the nuclear chemistry of thorium that makes it attractive is the fact that thorium-232 can be converted by bombardment with slow neutrons into uranium-233, which is not only fissile, but also more efficient at producing further slow neutrons to maintain a chain reaction than U-235, the “natural isotope,” used for weapons and reactor fuel. Additionally it must be noted that U-235 makes up only 0.7% of the total of natural uranium, which is primarily non-fissile uranium-238.
Reactor fuel is today entirely made from uranium (enriched to between 8% and 20 % in U-235 in processes developed during WWI for the production of “bomb grade-up to 80% U-235”) and plutonium (Pu-239, which is chemically extracted from spent fuel and then fed back into a new reactor cycle), because, historically, these reactors were designed to “breed” plutonium, ostensibly so that the reactors would actually produce more fuel than they consume. In fact this focus on the use of highly enriched uranium as a fuel to make plutonium has resulted in a steady supply of weapons grade plutonium from which nearly all “modern” nuclear weapons are made. Thorium like uranium can be mixed with plutonium to make reactor fuel, but thorium has two major advantages over uranium:
Thorium can be used to “burn” up existing stocks of weapons grade plutonium, and;
Thorium reactors can be designed so that they do not produce weapons grade fissile material.
Thorium can be blended with weapons-grade plutonium to make fuel for nuclear reactors that convert the plutonium to a grade not suitable for the manufacture of fission weapons. This process allows us to use and therefore reduce or eliminate the radioactive thorium waste from rare earth processing thus allowing more rare earths to be produced for environmentally friendly uses such as emissions control catalysts and the batteries for hybrid vehicles. In addition this allows us to make a civilian-use asset out of weapons grade plutonium from the decommissioning of weapons rather than a dangerous liability.
The projected cost for disposing of weapons grade plutonium by methods in use today is estimated at $2-$5 billion per tonne. The United States and Russia have most of the weapons-grade plutonium in the world, and have mutually agreed to reduce their inventories. It has been stated that making new reactor fuel from thorium/weapons-grade plutonium is the fastest, most effective and cheapest means to dispose of the weapons-grade plutonium. Both the Russian and the U.S. governments are developing programs that emphasize thorium for this purpose.
In addition the world is awash in plutonium produced in civilian breeder reactors (there are a total of 1,700 tonnes of reactor-grade [mixed isotopes] plutonium in existence). Some of this reactor grade plutonium has already been separated and stored as spent fuel. Unfortunately this material could be used to make very inefficient but very dirty nuclear weapons. Thorium/reactor-grade plutonium fuel may be a more economical and effective way to dispose of reactor-grade plutonium than the current recycling process used. For example, the resultant ash from ‘burning’ thorium plutonium is 1/3 less volume than that generated today.
There is now one American company working actively in the thorium/uranium fuel approach to reducing the proliferation of nuclear weapons, Novastar Resource, Ltd. [OTCBB:NVAS], originally a mining company focusing on thorium, other rare earth metals and platinum group metals. Novastar has recently acquired Thorium Power, a Washington D.C.-based company that has developed nuclear fuel designs to stop the production of weapons-grade plutonium and eliminate existing plutonium stockpiles from both weapons-grade and spent reactor-grade plutonium.
Reactors have been built and are operating on thorium/uranium fuel in India and in Russia. It is the abundance of uranium and the desire for weapons that prevents thorium/uranium-fuelled reactors from becoming commonplace. I hope that the Iranian crisis wakes people up in the world’s capitals to the clear and present danger being presented. It is important to not brush off this approach to reducing proliferation by citing environmental constraints or the need for “more research.” All the outstanding environmental, political, chemical and engineering problems of proliferation can be solved if they are looked at holistically instead of myopically.
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. (Resourceinvestor.com) -- Thorium, one of the “rare earth metals,” is an alternative to uranium as fuel for the construction of nuclear reactors designed for the purpose of producing electricity.
Thorium was, in fact, tested for this purpose at the very beginning of the design of nuclear power plants for generating electricity for powering submarines. It was used in the fuel for the world’s first land sited nuclear power plant located at Shippingport, Pennsylvania. That first plant was built under the aegis of the “Atoms for Peace” program championed by then President Eisenhower.
The reasons for trying to use thorium were as urgent in 1955, as they are critical now. They are, simply, to reduce sharply both the amount of radioactive “waste” generated by nuclear power plants and to impair the capability of nuclear power plants to produce readily extractable weapons grade fissile materials such as plutonium-239 and uranium-235.
Thorium’s backers make a compelling case for a running ‘switch’ from uranium based fuel to thorium based fuel in existing Russian reactors and in the construction of new reactors with a mainly thorium based fuel in place of uranium.
Thorium has been determined to be three to four times more abundant than uranium in nature. The world’s total economically extractable reserves have been recently estimated at 1,200,000 tonnes (metric tonne units). Australia with 300,000 tonnes of reserves, leads the world in this category, followed by India (290,000 tonnes), Norway (170,000 tonnes), the U.S. (160,000 tonnes), Canada (100,000 tonnes), South Africa (35,000 tonnes) and Brazil (16,000 tonnes), with all others totalling 95,000 tonnes.
The most common ore of thorium, the phosphate mineral, monazite, which contains up to 12% of thorium oxide, also contains the economically extractable other rare earth metals, cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, yttrium and iridium. An immediate benefit therefore of producing thorium would be the creation of additional supplies of strategic materials for:
Chemical catalysis (cerium: used in the petroleum industry and emissions control catalysts for gasoline and diesel fueled vehicles);
Battery manufacturing (lanthanum: used in the production of nickel metal hydride rechargeable batteries for hybrid vehicles and portable electronic devices);
Small powerful magnets (neodymium: used to make the magnets used in miniature electric motors such as the 41 of these used in a typical automobile), and;
High temperature corrosion resistant alloys (iridium: used in surgical devices, thermocouples and automotive emission catalysts).
These other rare earth metals are no longer mined in the U.S. due to the fact that the mining of monazite for them produces a “waste” product of thorium!
The Southwest Biodiversity Institute, an environmental organization, has in fact led the charge that stopped rare-earth mining in the U.S. during the last 10 years. The rare earth metals that we do use in the U.S. are today imported principally from the Peoples Republic of China.
Thorium-232, the isotope that makes up 99%+ of natural thorium is mildly radioactive but its half-life in three times the life of the earth. The main feature of the nuclear chemistry of thorium that makes it attractive is the fact that thorium-232 can be converted by bombardment with slow neutrons into uranium-233, which is not only fissile, but also more efficient at producing further slow neutrons to maintain a chain reaction than U-235, the “natural isotope,” used for weapons and reactor fuel. Additionally it must be noted that U-235 makes up only 0.7% of the total of natural uranium, which is primarily non-fissile uranium-238.
Reactor fuel is today entirely made from uranium (enriched to between 8% and 20 % in U-235 in processes developed during WWI for the production of “bomb grade-up to 80% U-235”) and plutonium (Pu-239, which is chemically extracted from spent fuel and then fed back into a new reactor cycle), because, historically, these reactors were designed to “breed” plutonium, ostensibly so that the reactors would actually produce more fuel than they consume. In fact this focus on the use of highly enriched uranium as a fuel to make plutonium has resulted in a steady supply of weapons grade plutonium from which nearly all “modern” nuclear weapons are made. Thorium like uranium can be mixed with plutonium to make reactor fuel, but thorium has two major advantages over uranium:
Thorium can be used to “burn” up existing stocks of weapons grade plutonium, and;
Thorium reactors can be designed so that they do not produce weapons grade fissile material.
Thorium can be blended with weapons-grade plutonium to make fuel for nuclear reactors that convert the plutonium to a grade not suitable for the manufacture of fission weapons. This process allows us to use and therefore reduce or eliminate the radioactive thorium waste from rare earth processing thus allowing more rare earths to be produced for environmentally friendly uses such as emissions control catalysts and the batteries for hybrid vehicles. In addition this allows us to make a civilian-use asset out of weapons grade plutonium from the decommissioning of weapons rather than a dangerous liability.
The projected cost for disposing of weapons grade plutonium by methods in use today is estimated at $2-$5 billion per tonne. The United States and Russia have most of the weapons-grade plutonium in the world, and have mutually agreed to reduce their inventories. It has been stated that making new reactor fuel from thorium/weapons-grade plutonium is the fastest, most effective and cheapest means to dispose of the weapons-grade plutonium. Both the Russian and the U.S. governments are developing programs that emphasize thorium for this purpose.
In addition the world is awash in plutonium produced in civilian breeder reactors (there are a total of 1,700 tonnes of reactor-grade [mixed isotopes] plutonium in existence). Some of this reactor grade plutonium has already been separated and stored as spent fuel. Unfortunately this material could be used to make very inefficient but very dirty nuclear weapons. Thorium/reactor-grade plutonium fuel may be a more economical and effective way to dispose of reactor-grade plutonium than the current recycling process used. For example, the resultant ash from ‘burning’ thorium plutonium is 1/3 less volume than that generated today.
There is now one American company working actively in the thorium/uranium fuel approach to reducing the proliferation of nuclear weapons, Novastar Resource, Ltd. [OTCBB:NVAS], originally a mining company focusing on thorium, other rare earth metals and platinum group metals. Novastar has recently acquired Thorium Power, a Washington D.C.-based company that has developed nuclear fuel designs to stop the production of weapons-grade plutonium and eliminate existing plutonium stockpiles from both weapons-grade and spent reactor-grade plutonium.
Reactors have been built and are operating on thorium/uranium fuel in India and in Russia. It is the abundance of uranium and the desire for weapons that prevents thorium/uranium-fuelled reactors from becoming commonplace. I hope that the Iranian crisis wakes people up in the world’s capitals to the clear and present danger being presented. It is important to not brush off this approach to reducing proliferation by citing environmental constraints or the need for “more research.” All the outstanding environmental, political, chemical and engineering problems of proliferation can be solved if they are looked at holistically instead of myopically.
Thorium was, in fact, tested for this purpose at the very beginning of the design of nuclear power plants for generating electricity for powering submarines. It was used in the fuel for the world’s first land sited nuclear power plant located at Shippingport, Pennsylvania. That first plant was built under the aegis of the “Atoms for Peace” program championed by then President Eisenhower.
The reasons for trying to use thorium were as urgent in 1955, as they are critical now. They are, simply, to reduce sharply both the amount of radioactive “waste” generated by nuclear power plants and to impair the capability of nuclear power plants to produce readily extractable weapons grade fissile materials such as plutonium-239 and uranium-235.
Thorium’s backers make a compelling case for a running ‘switch’ from uranium based fuel to thorium based fuel in existing Russian reactors and in the construction of new reactors with a mainly thorium based fuel in place of uranium.
Thorium has been determined to be three to four times more abundant than uranium in nature. The world’s total economically extractable reserves have been recently estimated at 1,200,000 tonnes (metric tonne units). Australia with 300,000 tonnes of reserves, leads the world in this category, followed by India (290,000 tonnes), Norway (170,000 tonnes), the U.S. (160,000 tonnes), Canada (100,000 tonnes), South Africa (35,000 tonnes) and Brazil (16,000 tonnes), with all others totalling 95,000 tonnes.
The most common ore of thorium, the phosphate mineral, monazite, which contains up to 12% of thorium oxide, also contains the economically extractable other rare earth metals, cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, yttrium and iridium. An immediate benefit therefore of producing thorium would be the creation of additional supplies of strategic materials for:
Chemical catalysis (cerium: used in the petroleum industry and emissions control catalysts for gasoline and diesel fueled vehicles);
Battery manufacturing (lanthanum: used in the production of nickel metal hydride rechargeable batteries for hybrid vehicles and portable electronic devices);
Small powerful magnets (neodymium: used to make the magnets used in miniature electric motors such as the 41 of these used in a typical automobile), and;
High temperature corrosion resistant alloys (iridium: used in surgical devices, thermocouples and automotive emission catalysts).
These other rare earth metals are no longer mined in the U.S. due to the fact that the mining of monazite for them produces a “waste” product of thorium!
The Southwest Biodiversity Institute, an environmental organization, has in fact led the charge that stopped rare-earth mining in the U.S. during the last 10 years. The rare earth metals that we do use in the U.S. are today imported principally from the Peoples Republic of China.
Thorium-232, the isotope that makes up 99%+ of natural thorium is mildly radioactive but its half-life in three times the life of the earth. The main feature of the nuclear chemistry of thorium that makes it attractive is the fact that thorium-232 can be converted by bombardment with slow neutrons into uranium-233, which is not only fissile, but also more efficient at producing further slow neutrons to maintain a chain reaction than U-235, the “natural isotope,” used for weapons and reactor fuel. Additionally it must be noted that U-235 makes up only 0.7% of the total of natural uranium, which is primarily non-fissile uranium-238.
Reactor fuel is today entirely made from uranium (enriched to between 8% and 20 % in U-235 in processes developed during WWI for the production of “bomb grade-up to 80% U-235”) and plutonium (Pu-239, which is chemically extracted from spent fuel and then fed back into a new reactor cycle), because, historically, these reactors were designed to “breed” plutonium, ostensibly so that the reactors would actually produce more fuel than they consume. In fact this focus on the use of highly enriched uranium as a fuel to make plutonium has resulted in a steady supply of weapons grade plutonium from which nearly all “modern” nuclear weapons are made. Thorium like uranium can be mixed with plutonium to make reactor fuel, but thorium has two major advantages over uranium:
Thorium can be used to “burn” up existing stocks of weapons grade plutonium, and;
Thorium reactors can be designed so that they do not produce weapons grade fissile material.
Thorium can be blended with weapons-grade plutonium to make fuel for nuclear reactors that convert the plutonium to a grade not suitable for the manufacture of fission weapons. This process allows us to use and therefore reduce or eliminate the radioactive thorium waste from rare earth processing thus allowing more rare earths to be produced for environmentally friendly uses such as emissions control catalysts and the batteries for hybrid vehicles. In addition this allows us to make a civilian-use asset out of weapons grade plutonium from the decommissioning of weapons rather than a dangerous liability.
The projected cost for disposing of weapons grade plutonium by methods in use today is estimated at $2-$5 billion per tonne. The United States and Russia have most of the weapons-grade plutonium in the world, and have mutually agreed to reduce their inventories. It has been stated that making new reactor fuel from thorium/weapons-grade plutonium is the fastest, most effective and cheapest means to dispose of the weapons-grade plutonium. Both the Russian and the U.S. governments are developing programs that emphasize thorium for this purpose.
In addition the world is awash in plutonium produced in civilian breeder reactors (there are a total of 1,700 tonnes of reactor-grade [mixed isotopes] plutonium in existence). Some of this reactor grade plutonium has already been separated and stored as spent fuel. Unfortunately this material could be used to make very inefficient but very dirty nuclear weapons. Thorium/reactor-grade plutonium fuel may be a more economical and effective way to dispose of reactor-grade plutonium than the current recycling process used. For example, the resultant ash from ‘burning’ thorium plutonium is 1/3 less volume than that generated today.
There is now one American company working actively in the thorium/uranium fuel approach to reducing the proliferation of nuclear weapons, Novastar Resource, Ltd. [OTCBB:NVAS], originally a mining company focusing on thorium, other rare earth metals and platinum group metals. Novastar has recently acquired Thorium Power, a Washington D.C.-based company that has developed nuclear fuel designs to stop the production of weapons-grade plutonium and eliminate existing plutonium stockpiles from both weapons-grade and spent reactor-grade plutonium.
Reactors have been built and are operating on thorium/uranium fuel in India and in Russia. It is the abundance of uranium and the desire for weapons that prevents thorium/uranium-fuelled reactors from becoming commonplace. I hope that the Iranian crisis wakes people up in the world’s capitals to the clear and present danger being presented. It is important to not brush off this approach to reducing proliferation by citing environmental constraints or the need for “more research.” All the outstanding environmental, political, chemical and engineering problems of proliferation can be solved if they are looked at holistically instead of myopically.
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. (Resourceinvestor.com) -- Thorium, one of the “rare earth metals,” is an alternative to uranium as fuel for the construction of nuclear reactors designed for the purpose of producing electricity.
Thorium was, in fact, tested for this purpose at the very beginning of the design of nuclear power plants for generating electricity for powering submarines. It was used in the fuel for the world’s first land sited nuclear power plant located at Shippingport, Pennsylvania. That first plant was built under the aegis of the “Atoms for Peace” program championed by then President Eisenhower.
The reasons for trying to use thorium were as urgent in 1955, as they are critical now. They are, simply, to reduce sharply both the amount of radioactive “waste” generated by nuclear power plants and to impair the capability of nuclear power plants to produce readily extractable weapons grade fissile materials such as plutonium-239 and uranium-235.
Thorium’s backers make a compelling case for a running ‘switch’ from uranium based fuel to thorium based fuel in existing Russian reactors and in the construction of new reactors with a mainly thorium based fuel in place of uranium.
Thorium has been determined to be three to four times more abundant than uranium in nature. The world’s total economically extractable reserves have been recently estimated at 1,200,000 tonnes (metric tonne units). Australia with 300,000 tonnes of reserves, leads the world in this category, followed by India (290,000 tonnes), Norway (170,000 tonnes), the U.S. (160,000 tonnes), Canada (100,000 tonnes), South Africa (35,000 tonnes) and Brazil (16,000 tonnes), with all others totalling 95,000 tonnes.
The most common ore of thorium, the phosphate mineral, monazite, which contains up to 12% of thorium oxide, also contains the economically extractable other rare earth metals, cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, yttrium and iridium. An immediate benefit therefore of producing thorium would be the creation of additional supplies of strategic materials for:
Chemical catalysis (cerium: used in the petroleum industry and emissions control catalysts for gasoline and diesel fueled vehicles);
Battery manufacturing (lanthanum: used in the production of nickel metal hydride rechargeable batteries for hybrid vehicles and portable electronic devices);
Small powerful magnets (neodymium: used to make the magnets used in miniature electric motors such as the 41 of these used in a typical automobile), and;
High temperature corrosion resistant alloys (iridium: used in surgical devices, thermocouples and automotive emission catalysts).
These other rare earth metals are no longer mined in the U.S. due to the fact that the mining of monazite for them produces a “waste” product of thorium!
The Southwest Biodiversity Institute, an environmental organization, has in fact led the charge that stopped rare-earth mining in the U.S. during the last 10 years. The rare earth metals that we do use in the U.S. are today imported principally from the Peoples Republic of China.
Thorium-232, the isotope that makes up 99%+ of natural thorium is mildly radioactive but its half-life in three times the life of the earth. The main feature of the nuclear chemistry of thorium that makes it attractive is the fact that thorium-232 can be converted by bombardment with slow neutrons into uranium-233, which is not only fissile, but also more efficient at producing further slow neutrons to maintain a chain reaction than U-235, the “natural isotope,” used for weapons and reactor fuel. Additionally it must be noted that U-235 makes up only 0.7% of the total of natural uranium, which is primarily non-fissile uranium-238.
Reactor fuel is today entirely made from uranium (enriched to between 8% and 20 % in U-235 in processes developed during WWI for the production of “bomb grade-up to 80% U-235”) and plutonium (Pu-239, which is chemically extracted from spent fuel and then fed back into a new reactor cycle), because, historically, these reactors were designed to “breed” plutonium, ostensibly so that the reactors would actually produce more fuel than they consume. In fact this focus on the use of highly enriched uranium as a fuel to make plutonium has resulted in a steady supply of weapons grade plutonium from which nearly all “modern” nuclear weapons are made. Thorium like uranium can be mixed with plutonium to make reactor fuel, but thorium has two major advantages over uranium:
Thorium can be used to “burn” up existing stocks of weapons grade plutonium, and;
Thorium reactors can be designed so that they do not produce weapons grade fissile material.
Thorium can be blended with weapons-grade plutonium to make fuel for nuclear reactors that convert the plutonium to a grade not suitable for the manufacture of fission weapons. This process allows us to use and therefore reduce or eliminate the radioactive thorium waste from rare earth processing thus allowing more rare earths to be produced for environmentally friendly uses such as emissions control catalysts and the batteries for hybrid vehicles. In addition this allows us to make a civilian-use asset out of weapons grade plutonium from the decommissioning of weapons rather than a dangerous liability.
The projected cost for disposing of weapons grade plutonium by methods in use today is estimated at $2-$5 billion per tonne. The United States and Russia have most of the weapons-grade plutonium in the world, and have mutually agreed to reduce their inventories. It has been stated that making new reactor fuel from thorium/weapons-grade plutonium is the fastest, most effective and cheapest means to dispose of the weapons-grade plutonium. Both the Russian and the U.S. governments are developing programs that emphasize thorium for this purpose.
In addition the world is awash in plutonium produced in civilian breeder reactors (there are a total of 1,700 tonnes of reactor-grade [mixed isotopes] plutonium in existence). Some of this reactor grade plutonium has already been separated and stored as spent fuel. Unfortunately this material could be used to make very inefficient but very dirty nuclear weapons. Thorium/reactor-grade plutonium fuel may be a more economical and effective way to dispose of reactor-grade plutonium than the current recycling process used. For example, the resultant ash from ‘burning’ thorium plutonium is 1/3 less volume than that generated today.
There is now one American company working actively in the thorium/uranium fuel approach to reducing the proliferation of nuclear weapons, Novastar Resource, Ltd. [OTCBB:NVAS], originally a mining company focusing on thorium, other rare earth metals and platinum group metals. Novastar has recently acquired Thorium Power, a Washington D.C.-based company that has developed nuclear fuel designs to stop the production of weapons-grade plutonium and eliminate existing plutonium stockpiles from both weapons-grade and spent reactor-grade plutonium.
Reactors have been built and are operating on thorium/uranium fuel in India and in Russia. It is the abundance of uranium and the desire for weapons that prevents thorium/uranium-fuelled reactors from becoming commonplace. I hope that the Iranian crisis wakes people up in the world’s capitals to the clear and present danger being presented. It is important to not brush off this approach to reducing proliferation by citing environmental constraints or the need for “more research.” All the outstanding environmental, political, chemical and engineering problems of proliferation can be solved if they are looked at holistically instead of myopically.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
東京都の水道水「２日間は注意を」 摂取制限解除で
東京都水道局の金町浄水場（葛飾区）で、水道水から乳児の摂取制限を超える放射性ヨウ素が検出された問題で、都は２４日、水道水１キログラム当たりの放射性ヨウ素が７９ベクレルに減少したと発表した。食品衛生法で定めた１歳未満の乳児の暫定基準値の１００ベクレル範囲内に改善したため、都は摂取制限を解除。ただ、配水管などに水が残っている可能性もあり「２日間は注意をしてほしい」と呼びかけた。
暫定基準値は、長期にわたり摂取した場合の健康影響を考慮して設定されており、都は「降雨による影響があったとみられ、長期的に制限を超えて摂取する可能性は低くなった」として解除を決めた。
都では２３日の時点で、金町浄水場の水を使っている東京２３区と武蔵野、三鷹、町田、多摩、稲城の５市で乳児が飲むのを控えるよう要請。該当地域の乳児（約８万人）のいる家庭に対し、１人当たり３本、計２４万本のペットボトル（５５０ミリリットル）の配布を２４日午前から開始。２５日もさらに２４万本を追加で配布する予定。
２２日午前９時に３カ所の浄水場で実施した検査では、小作浄水場（羽村市）で３２ベクレル、朝霞浄水場（埼玉県朝霞市）では検出されなかった。金町浄水場では２３日午前９時の採取でも水道水１キログラムあたり１９０ベクレルを検出していた。
石原慎太郎知事は２４日の記者会見で「摂取を控える必要はない。値は上下すると思うが、一時的に上回っても長期間で範囲内だったら構わない」と冷静な行動を求めた。
暫定基準値は、長期にわたり摂取した場合の健康影響を考慮して設定されており、都は「降雨による影響があったとみられ、長期的に制限を超えて摂取する可能性は低くなった」として解除を決めた。
都では２３日の時点で、金町浄水場の水を使っている東京２３区と武蔵野、三鷹、町田、多摩、稲城の５市で乳児が飲むのを控えるよう要請。該当地域の乳児（約８万人）のいる家庭に対し、１人当たり３本、計２４万本のペットボトル（５５０ミリリットル）の配布を２４日午前から開始。２５日もさらに２４万本を追加で配布する予定。
２２日午前９時に３カ所の浄水場で実施した検査では、小作浄水場（羽村市）で３２ベクレル、朝霞浄水場（埼玉県朝霞市）では検出されなかった。金町浄水場では２３日午前９時の採取でも水道水１キログラムあたり１９０ベクレルを検出していた。
石原慎太郎知事は２４日の記者会見で「摂取を控える必要はない。値は上下すると思うが、一時的に上回っても長期間で範囲内だったら構わない」と冷静な行動を求めた。
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