Alternate Energy Holdings Inc.

Wired Magazine (Jan 2010) has a very intriguing article "The New Nuke", by Richard Martin (pg 114-119) about Thorium-based nuclear power generation. Less waste, less danger of meltdown and terrorist use of refined uranium, abundant here at home, and much shorter 1/2 life than U-235. We didn't use Thorium to start with because, it seems, the by-... See Moreproduct is less usable for weaponizing. U-235 was selected so we could also make bombs (this was the Cold War, remember). Seems it's now time to switch technologies and it would make it a much easier sell I would think.

I, and most likely many others, was not aware of this option.

Is AEH looking into it?

Mike, thanks for the comments. We could compare this to hydrogen fuel: People could use hydrogen to run their car over gasoline or diesel for many good reasons, but it is not readily available and still expensive to make, and so it is with thorium. Thorium has been an available fuel since the beginning of nuclear, but uranium was chosen because it ... See Morewas already being processed for weapons and was cheaper - not because it made bombs. Commercial reactors are 3-5% U-235 enriched and bombs are over 90%, but we don’t use fission bombs anymore, only fusion. The issue is U-238, which converts to PU-239 and must be reprocessed to prevent long half life issue. Thorium is not ready for current reactors, but soon will be. Current reactors can be configured to use it and likely will be when available. India plans to use in their new reactors because they have it available. We would certainly use it when available and if the price is reasonably competitive as I believe most would. No one is against using it. The fuel is currently more expensive because it is not mined or processed to any degree. Also, there is an expense in converting the reactor to use it.

Thanks. Looks like Thorium is a promising alternative and I'm glad the industry is looking into it.