The Rest of the Story…

Duane Lawton
Aug 28, 2017 · 2 min read

You have the good sense to avoid proclaiming a 100% “renewable” world, or to completely ignore nuclear power. There are several tails to the rare earths (etc.) issue. In addition to being essential to make your “renewable” energy machines, they are essential for virtually all electrical/electronics technology products. Yes, the majority of our supply comes from China. Yes, China thus has tremendous leverage over its client states (such as the U.S.) as illustrated by the Japan episode. WHY?

Why, oh, why doesn’t the U.S. mine our vast reserves? It’s too expensive? Well, it’s too expensive because of the draconian and senseless restrictions imposed on that mining, chief among them being having to deal with the dangerous attendant “waste” mineral Thorium. Thorium is radioactive (shudder). As such, it is treated like uranium or plutonium. In reality, the expensive jumps through burning hoops of fire (backwards) are mandated based on flawed “science” that says that any human exposure to ionizing radiation, however small, is dangerous and must be prevented.

That flawed “science” is the Linear No Threshold (LNT) hypothesis, which has guided U.S. (and most of the world’s) nuclear regulatory apparatus for fifty years. It is the sweetheart of diverse groups for whom the expansion of nuclear energy would be economically or ideologically anathema. Such as Big Oil, Sierra Club, NRDC, … It has, through their tireless efforts, led to general public radiophobia, which has become a political force that prevents true science and progress from getting proper attention.

So, for instance, when Fukushima Daiichi failed because its backup generators were flooded by the tsunami, a general evacuation was ordered, which was unnecessary. …but ~2500 people died due to the evacuation

“renewables” are unable to completely replace other forms of energy. Period. The best other form of energy is nuclear power, safe, clean, economical (when not oppressed), zero CO2. Advanced forms such as Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs), which could use thorium as fuel (!) and also consume the nuclear “waste” from conventional reactors, would eclipse even the stellar record of today’s PWR reactors. They also don’t produce byproducts that could be used by evil forces to make bombs.

…But LNT and its limitations stand in the way.

Learn more from the X-LNT Foundation at x-lnt(dot)org

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