Taylor Wilson: My radical plan for small nuclear fission reactors
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- čas přidán 29. 04. 2013
- Taylor Wilson was 14 when he built a nuclear fusion reactor in his parents' garage. Now 19, he returns to the TED stage to present a new take on an old topic: fission. Wilson, who has won backing to create a company to realize his vision, explains why he's so excited about his innovative design for small modular fission reactors -- and why it could be the next big step in solving the global energy crisis.
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This young man needs a team whose sole mission in life is to remove obstacles from his path.
But overcoming obstacles is what makes him so special.
There are pleanty of armed anarcho-capitalist groups already.
If you listened carefully, you will find he already has a team
I believe he means the everyday individual obstacles of life, so that this brilliant mind may focus on humanities obstacles and overcome them for us all.
Tom Bayura yes this is what he meant. Let's start a go fund me to resource this team. 😺
I'm 60 years old. I do feel better knowing that there are people like Taylor that will save and change the world. Be safe
When people make SciFi movies about the future and all the wonderful technologies we will have most forget to factor in the greed of those in control of the markets and what gets to make it to market. I was excited about him when I first heard of his ideas but am not convinced we will ever see most of his great ideas any time soon. When John Kanzius discovered that he could make saltwater burn (when he was experimenting with a device he designed to kill cancer) we all got really excited until he died from cancer he had and others took over, now it just sits in labs and very little has been done with it. Hopefully, for the sake of our grandchildren, things will change.
well we still waiting for him change the world, 8 years later
Taylor Wilson is BANDIT LOWLIFE VERMIN SCUM
This technology is not new but was dumped because fission weapons got the $ for development. He is absolutely correct, we need to scale down nuclear weapons and expand non threatening nuclear fission using thorium molten salt reactors.
And keep researching nuclear fusion. Cleaner and 100x the energy generation
There is a world of difference between a Nuclear bomb and a continuous power reactor. Why Thorium though its very rare. Sad though that as you say mega bucks are available for destruction.
General Electric proposed almost exactly this plan 60 years ago for small, neighborhood reactors buried in a vault.
@@StephenMannUSA Indeed they did. But for some reason (physics) they carried it through.
@@CHURCHISAWESUM Fusion may not be practical because we don't seem to be able to get more power than we put in and maybe it's the same for the Stars in the universe. The force Gravity exerts on a Star to keep fusion going in it's core may be greater than the power that the Star produces. No free lunches in our universe.
I am almost speechlessly in complete awe of this young man! Bravo, Taylor!
This isn't a new idea. Molten Salt Breeder Reactors (MSBR) are nothing new. This very concept was created in the 1950s because of the government's desire to create a nuclear powered bomber. This was a fantastic method of preventing meltdowns because salts can tolerate much higher temperatures and they don't expand until 1000c. The expansion actually cools the salts, so it's almost impossible to make a MSBR go super critical. Unfortunately, lobbying for the Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor won over with government officials. The government's major concern with MSBRs is that the salts tend to have a corrosive effect on the cooling pipes. A ridiculous argument considering that beryllium neutralizes the salt's corrosive effects. Regardless of this system's failed history, it would be fantastic to see a comeback of this system.
while watching the video I was confused! though Nuclear Physics ain't my major! I thought, how come the idea is brand new!
Thanks for explaining *****
***** Various composites could fix that without beryllium.
AMVM Awesome! I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of chatting with a chemist before. What are some of the other elements that could be used that are cheaper or that work better?
***** I'm not a chemist.
What I know comes from other of dealing with corrosion in various situations. I know of various composites (reinforced with (pre-ceramic) polymers), polymers and of coating/paints/sprays containing these exotic polymers that are good against corrosion and the good old chrome lining used in rifles (on bolts and recently on barrels) to deal corrosion since at lest WWII.
Of course I never said these solutions were cheap or don't have disadvantages.
Thank you Jake. Very well put, if anyone that deserves credit for the molten salt design. it would go to Alvin Weinberg
This guy is great! Yes the basic concepts have been banging around since the early 1950s, but he is offering some new ideas into the old model. I think his ideas are wonderfully refreshing. Compact self contained reactors, deployable with relative ease. A potentially great fill for the time delay gap, as Fusion Power is developed. I wish him much success. 👍
I love this young man! Taylor Wilson you give this Grand mama much hope for the future you are amazing.
He must be the Universe’s way of correcting the fact that most of us are as dumb as a box of rocks.
Well put! Haha.
why would you say that about a box of rocks
Its masonry. Thats all. Just masonic bullshit...
... so this was recorded 6 yrs ago, what has happened since this happened.
WAMSRs have been shown to be balderdash.
@@nrsrymj lol wut
@@gregweatherly7793 I'll tell you wuts wut
Waste annihilating molten salt reactors have been shown to be balderdash. At best, they are far more difficult and expensive to build than Taylor Wilson or the Now defunct Transatomic thought. This explains why Mr Wilson has faded into obscurity with nothing to show for the five year plan he promised in this six year old video. That's wut
@@nrsrymj had to google balderdash and wamsr. Cool word. Wamsr seem worth pursuing even though they are only 41.6% efficient in perfect order......we have to get rid of all that waste somehow right? Even at an energy loss, this seems better than burying it and hoping no one digs it up in 1000 years.
@@gregweatherly7793 Thanks for the reply and yes that is a great word.
As for the waste. Acknowledging it's potential inherent danger as radioactive material, the fact is that all the nuclear waste We have produced would cover a football field 20 meters high. It is entirely manageable to simply store it in remote areas.
I hope people still try to improve the wamsr model. Perhaps balderdash istge wrong word, as I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm saying that it is WAY harder than Wilson and Transatomic thought, thus their failure to deliver in five years.
I'm more partial to a thorium based nuclear program, and of course the ultimate goal is nuclear fusion power, which is even harder than WAMSR but will be the greatest achievement of mankind.
We need a new nuclear renaissance as it is the only source with the energy density to get us off fossil fuels asap while meeting the ever-growing demand for electricity
I hope this young bloke has lots of protection around him. He is a super intellect and lots of people who are evil will not appreciate him as normal people would. He will change the world no doubt about it!
Thank you Taylor for joining the thorium reactor plan. I’ve been waiting for this push.
This is one of my all time favorite TED Talks. Also, the Joel Saliten one is good at well.
O MY GOD ... Absolutely Brilliant Young man.
done nothing for 7 yrs. why?
sold out to oil lobby
7 years later... still waiting.
10...
Keep on keeping on
The US and it’s capitalist doesn’t invest in infrastructure much anymore. Taylor doesn’t have the money to build one of these. The US already made molten salt fission reactors at Oakridge before this kid’s parents were out of diapers
I've long been a proponent of Thorium/Salt Reactor technology but this sounds like an interesting twist to help eliminate weapons grade materials that are just sitting around waiting for a disaster. I'm assuming you'll team-up with Kirk Sornsen on this project, like you, he also was originally inspired by propulsion.
You go taylor! Don't let anyone influence you negatively. Thank you ahead of time for all the things your doing to make the world a better place for myself and all my loved ones. THANKS.
This is an amazing discovery... this electricity thing... simply amazing. They say you can create light without a flame!!!
Indian scientist already made a fast breader reactor in kalapakkam (Tamilnadu) which use burn uranium as a fuel when used with thorium.
In INDIA we have 2/3 of world thorium as reserve. And in 2030 we will have 30 fast breader reactor.
Not only this we will also share our technology to all the nation so that we ensure easy access to electricity on every corner in this earth.
Thats fantastic, so in 2030 Tamilnadu will no longer need all the charity it absorbs.
Phillip Jones ?
From Wiki "Originally planned to be commissioned in 2012, the construction of the reactor suffered from multiple delays. As of February 2019, criticality is planned to be achieved in 2020.[2]"...
Well then get it out to the world
@@phillipjones3439 Charity? What charity?
thank you, TED for always keeping me inspired about the future. what an amazing platform!
I've been pushing this kind of idea for 20 years good luck in your endeavors Godspeed
i love this kid. and hopefully one day ill work with him with something like this.
His brilliant idea was thought up long before he was born
It’s been 69 years since that kind of fusor was invented. The inventor knew it would never have a net energy output
That’s what he says in the first couple minutes
Big one's
@@overtaxed3628 that's not necessarily a bad thing coz a couple of SMRs can be placed together and it can produce gigawatts worth of power
Way to go Taylor. Im from Gurdon,AR just barely 30 minutes NE of Texarkana. Congratulations on the wonderful things you have planned for humanity. You are truly an inspiration.👍👍
Stay excited Taylor, please. This is amazing.
Im a little lost. To me it sounds like he's describing Molten Salt Reactor designed decades ago. I'm not exactly sure what he's claiming he invented or designed.
He mostly is describing an MSR, yes. The difference is that he advocates for using downblended weapons material and skipping the reprocessing stage entirely (or perhaps doing reprocessing in-situ by using a single-fluid design). This gets around the calandria and proliferation problem of the two-fluid LFTR design, but poses some interesting challenges then at the end of the lifetime of such a power plant (mostly due to transuranic buildup, though these could then be destroyed in a fast reactor).
. . . English
TheSevil it's nuclear physics you dumb animal, why would it be simple?
Even if he did design something that's already been designed, it still can be his own idea. Somebody somewhere can have an idea, and somebody somewhere else can have that same idea afterwards; it doesn't mean he stole the idea.
This means that he is poorly educated. Most "tv-pop" scientists are useless in real science. Real scientists, such as Newton or Einstein, studied everything that was achieved in their time, and then offered their ideas.
Wow!! 30 years without refueling is pretty good
For naval reactor it's pretty standard
Bill Gate's Terrapower claims 60 years without refueling and existing nuclear waste can be used.
@@leonesperanza3672 the funny thing is most of the waste is recyclable and reactors can run on plutonium
Yea my son is pretty smart
@@FowlorTheRooster1990 France has doing that for decades tho lol
This young man, could change the world, very very much for the better..... He's quite remarkable....... a True Prodigy.......
Every parents should show this to their kids.
He's the kind of guy that's so damn smart he makes you feel stupid lol
As soon as this kid's company goes public, I'm buying as many shares as I can afford.
tomsalam1 can you let me know if one day happen I would like to buy it too
I thought the company made fission power modules? Lmao
Right?!
Me too!
Me TOO!! I missed out on getting in on the ground floor of Microsoft, and Intel, but I won't miss this kid.
Nice I graduated from Memphis state Universities Center of Nuclear studies in 1979. Went to work Carolina power an lights 2 unit BWR 4's and was then recruited to be on the startup team that started up Palaverty Nuclear Generating Stations 3 combustion engineering's series 70 1300MW plant for 16 years. I love your presentation! Wow keep going!
What an exciting young man. Following his inventions with great interest.
Everybody's standing up and clapping for him, but in the end - the world refuses to use such technology. Welcome to Earth!
Words spread fast. This still hasn't been used.
I hope so. Unless you want make access to nuclear fuel easy for terrorist groups.
Probably because these ideas are fucking terrible, and the people clapping for him haven't thought the implications of this one through. Doing literally nothing is still a better proposal than the public proliferation of massive amounts of small nuclear fission reactors around every major industrialized city in the world.
Para, That is simply based on the old nuclear technology and the uninformed campaign by environmentalists against anything nuclear. A handful of depleted uranium and thorium could provide enough energy to power an electric car for a lifetime, without green house gases and cheap enough to be free, or almost so, without any of the side effects of fossil fuels. Maybe President Trump can "adjust" this problem. It would also benefit the economy and reduce the cost of fossil fuel for other uses.
Agreed but I'd go with Nancy Pelosi or Moonbeam
Very well prepared kid
May God bless him
He's really excited. Which is amazing.
With this young man humanity has a bright future.... Hope he sticks around long enough in life to make his wildest dreams come true.
Taylor:: Watch yourself.Tesla had great ideas to help the world and proved it with his inventions.He was shut down by interests who wanted to run the economy to profit themselves. Their industries are polluting our world today.I am surprised you got this far with your projects.
We need people like you with such an intelligent endowment. Gaston
It is humbling as a 34 year old to look up to this young man.
+Jon Hall Or sad....
hi
Smooth Triston, its only sad if you see it as some sort of competition, but if you see everyone on this planet as part of one team than this should make you feel better about the future and give more hope.
he is the chosen one for me. There is a reason hes here and we should recognize what this means. Hope. Real hope. Keep sayin his name to your self and others. Miracles live here on this planet and he is just beginning . Taylor Wilson
He is so happy and able to bring his vision down to the layman's understanding.
This kid gives me hope for the future and makes me want to do more to help out
gayporn
Yeah, this kid wants to make access to nuclear fuel possible for everyone. Terrorists will love his idea.
His idea is not new, but the elders knew that they can't do it because to prevent others from building nukes you must control the nuclear fuel distribution because the distribution of knowledge can't be controlled.
Here's a very informative video about the principles of nuclear weapons, watch it, than you will understand why nuclear fuel must be controlled and be kept inaccessible to individuals and small groups
/watch?v=zVhQOhxb1Mc
OpenGL4ever Why do u have to be so pessimistic. He said it's uranium waste that has been so downgraded that it is impossible to use for weapons. At least, appreciate bright ideas.
Frank Wilson
Being naive is not an option here. And i am definitely not pessimistic but realistic.
If you have the nuclear fuel to run a reactor you can also use it to breed plutonium in a breeder.
+OpenGL4ever
You need to get educated about the scientific facts behind the LFTR ( Liquid Flouride Thorium Reactor ) instead of going by mere ignorance and anti - nukes dogma. The LFTR is so radically different, you can't breed plutonium from it. To the contrary, it will burn - up and destroy most of the plutonium and nuclear waste. In fact, the LFTR was rejected by the government and the military decades ago for this very reason, not because the proven technology was impractical or didn't work. During the cold war, they wanted more plutonium for bombs instead of a safe nuclear reactor like the LFTR.
Absolutely right on. Start making these things 24/7 and let's DO THIS!
Brilliant, and tremendously inspiring.
Mr. Wilson sorry to be a late arrival to your coming out party. Hopefully I have arrived before they secure you away into intellectual Nirvana.
Congratulations on revolutionizing the Battery Industry. Nuclear Batteries burried in every Nieghborhood is a great advancement.
On a more pragmatic thought, Mr. Wilson you spoke the magic words that will define our Civilization, "Fukushima."
Victim of circumstance, Consequences of bad Engineering, dealing with results of no planning... Please give the problems of the Fukushima disaster a moment of thought and see what your fantastic mind can do for our future.
I have only Thanks for you with this dream of hope....
It is all nice and good I think he is very smart but molten salt reactor idea has been around for decades it just hasn't been realized yet. So he didn't invent this but I hope he can bring it forwards and make it happened.
He's well aware of this. In a Power Engineering article he states that this technology has been around since the 60s
When I start listening to a kid giving a talk I brace for either nonsense or plagiarism because that's usually where childhood ideas are derived. Mr. Wilson is brilliant enough to develop his own set of highly complex ideas, and he is socially intelligent enough to present those ideas in a interesting format (which is important for making this technology go places). I enjoyed the talk and I won't be surprised to see this guy doing big things in the future.
No, this is plagiarized...
Gary B Lame :(
He said nothing new this technology has been around for decades invented and tested by Alvin Weinberg (he also invented the light water reactor for submarines not domestic power!). The shocking truth is that it works well and is inherently safe, simple design and has vast stocks of cheap fuel waiting to be used
Rx seems to be a gimick to get people to share the idea (I'm guessing). everything he said about his design is being said by other older engineers who have been pushing the idea for much longer (as mentioned by Paul Steele).
Fukushima showed a couple of issues:
1) Don't place your backup station beneath the flood plain in an area susceptible to tsunamis
2) (Probably most important) : current reactor designs use high pressure steam, which is what caused the problems at Chernobyl and Fukushima. Molten salt reactors, which is what he is presenting here, don't use high pressure steam, are more efficient, and have a built in "shut-off" in that in the heat can be expelled from a reactor passively (instead of needing valves to be opened, which was the problem at Fukushima because the system lost power) by letting the "freeze plug" melt
Amazing young man it's a great discovery
Taylor is a Genius & will have a Very Bright Future , in what ever he sets his mind to accomplish !!! Well Done Young Man !!!
Best of luck to him; humanity needs more people like this young man!
yeah the world needs more delusional kids
How do I get a small version to bury in my back yard to supply power to my house for 30 years?
#radioactiveboyscout
make it yourself, he sold out to lobby oil and gas scum
Just AWESOME what a smart modest young man
Absolutely brilliant!
The biggest hurdle is of course the knee jerk reaction, "no nukes."
He needs to get his priorities right and work on building a reactor for the Iron Man suit.
TED, TEDx and TEDed are very good sources for information on concepts and experiences.
Fantastic Taylor! Good luck mate! A talented young man!
Funny species we are. A young mind is trying to change the world in a positive way and hundreds jump to give their negative opinions.
These are also some of the challenges great minds have to overcome before their ideas come to fruition.
A modern example of this is E Musk, the same people who thought negative of his ideas when he started are kissing his behind for advise or help with their projects.
Don’t spit up to the sky people, help young minds shine and help by clearing the path for them or move out of the way as they’re making the world better for all of us.
Thank you, Heinstein, well said. Humans always holding back and resisting other humans, the great historical farce.
Reminds me a bit of Tesla
60 year old idea ...and it is not his design!
@@pepsitwsit So what???
I said that about the first kid to do this, he got so much negativity, died in 2016 of alcoholism.
He speaks free flow which means he knows ,genius !
What an incredible young man he is. Help this guy.
Wonderful presentation.....
I don't understand why the masses aren't doing more to back up ingenious people such as this young man. He could be using his knowledge to fill his own pockets but instead of doing that he's dedicating his time and energy creating solutions and ways to make our world a better place and improve everyone else's life. And not just talking about it. If the world enables him and provide him with the means to make what he just presented a reality. It would help reduce global warming, and fix a lot of the damage already created due false solutions created by other people before him who did not have the world's best interest in mind and enable us to move forward without doing further damage to our planet, not to mention the other ways his idea could probably help enable others working on different issues we are dealing with today.
[ UNITED WE STAND👆ALONE WE FALL 👇]
Although, that lemming attitude is usually the motivating force behind such wonders as concentration camps nuclear holocaust and illegal wars
Rather than globalizing energy for one man to make all the money off a singular energy source, each individual could have their own private energy source i.e water solar thermo wibd hydro any of the other sources that don't potentially lead to catastrophe. Unfortunately they will never make such technology affordable because it doesn't like their pockets
What a incredible young man, hope his ideas could be implemented in near future.
Love this idea! ❤
His knowledge comes from a spirit who needs him hopefully it is a good spirit
I hope Taylor gets to go space. I also hope Taylor is a down to Earth kind of guy.
To all who are highly intrigued by this teen-aged prodigy (as I am) I urge you to read, via Google, the Popular Science magazine article of February 2012 that goes into his history as a budding scientist, and his creating his own nuclear fusion reactor, through his own perseverance and extensive collaboration with some of the top scientists and facilities in the country. His is absolutely a person to keep an eye on in the near future (and beyond) in his field of study, on the level of any top technological innovator you can name of the past fifty years or more.
He is what all High School, College, and Post-Graduate students should be aspiring toward and emulating - not evermore ubiquitous future M.B.A.s and selfish short-term-gain-minded would-be Wall Street drones.
I hope he exceeds all his future goals, to the benefit of all society.
i agree, i have seen kids with 1.8 GPA but still have full scholarship because they are good football/basketball players. Meanwhile, a girl with 4.2 GPA got a scholarship that not even close
Truth: Growing up poor but with a knack for taking tests I got scholarships, deciding on UCLA-Physics (at the last minute REJECTING "USC SKOLARSHIP" ;-). Regret not being able to enjoy college and ending up working for a retired "ex-Military Brat" who, surprise-surprise had 'awarded' the contract to my Aerospace Co... and got a high paying job with my Co. as my manager! Early in my career I was on committees that built the standards for computer interoperations (internet/intranet are examples - and no, Vice President Al Gore never came to any of our meetings, which really just had 2 of us designing the standard and a dozen+ enjoying the company paid travel to conferences in different parts of the country ;-!)
@HEAV¥HAND thats because the ncaa exploits those athletes and makes billions a year and the schools get kickbacks and the players have incredible restrictions put upon them and get nothing except potential career ending injuries or incredible stress and they have no time to actually learn anything in case they dont get a pro career and their scholarships barely give them enough money to eat properly, and then there is the problem of dirty coaches and administrators selling entry to schools that just got brought up in the news
But everyone is claiming his reactor was invented in the 50s. If he was legit, i would assume he gives a breif history lesson, then explains he invented a way to overcome failures from the past. But he claims he invented this ideas, and wants to sell it. Sounds like the latter of the types of people you mentioned.
@@kickinrocks6055 finally someone asks the question...what do you think has and will happen again most likely and why?
Outstanding
My mom is working with then young man, Can't give you much more than that since the project is best kept under wraps.
it's 2019 now. what's Taylor been doing lately? do we have those fission reactors in the works yet?
google his name.
He’s dead.
@@user-kn2qk8ly8c Aged 69?
NICEFINENEWROBOT I think he was 49.
@@user-kn2qk8ly8c Are we talking about the same guy? Taylor Wilson (Born may 7th, 1994 in Texarkana (Arkansas)
Maybe he will hire Kirk Sorensen as his PR man. Everything this kid talked about is exactly the LFTR or MSBR reactor design that Kirk is promoting.
Yeah it a hundred year old Tesla design, people just like cute kids, whatever it takes to get us to cheap clean power, I'll play along
@@daleval2182 Are you _actually_ stupid enough to believe that Tesla was involved with _anything_ even related to nuclear fission, let alone reactor design?!? Nuclear fission was only discovered at the end of 1938, roughly 4 years before Tesla died at the age of 86. You can't honour Tesla if you're ignorant of his work!
OUTSTANDING, keep it UP, towards the skies!
I appreciate his positive attitude. kindly explain MR. Taylor Wilson your plan to combat cancer. waiting for your upcoming videos on that.
Well, it's 2019 (6 years on) and it seems like his largest accomplishments include this ted talk and some home tinkering.
America doesn't spend on its citizen unless the 1% benefits or control every bit of your creation
@@anthonybanayat9841 Like what? Provide lists and sources, because I've googled him and can't find anything outside of him working with some company called Helena that attempts to solve world problems.
Hehehe like max loughan who turned to solve madella effect problem :)))))
What have you done or accomplished in your life for humanity
@@johnbach2075 Don't be fresh, this is a legitimate question. The answer is that WAMSRs have been shown to be bullshit.
I get the impression that lot of amazing technology on Ted talks could not exist, if it could, they would implement it already.
miiiikku guess what, you just used 'amazing technology' to post your idiotic comment
sam spin No, my computer is powered by regular second generation light water nuclear reactor.
It's not a fault of the technology, but the politics and economics that go into implementing it.
brilliant idea
This kind of reactor would be a great idea, and an improvement on an old design that has previously been tested here in Southern California and New Mexico.
To the sceptics saying this guy is not really special (straight from Wikipedia's List of child prodigies):
"Taylor Wilson (born 1994), nuclear scientist and engineer who built a bomb at age 10, and a nuclear fusion reactor at age 14. Improved nuclear technology and made a low-cost cherenhov particle detector at age 17, as well as winning the Intel Science Fair."
Anybody can add info on Wikipedia... it is based on that... the kid might have written that about himself.
***** except this guy is known in the academic community. Also Wikipedia requires sources and the bots + community is good at weeding out crap. Feel free to check the listed sources if you dont trust the article itself.
Made a bomb? Like a pipe bomb out of gunpowder? He didn’t build no nuclear weapon I guarantee you that.
I'm a fan for sure!!!
Eduard Gherasim: People like you're those people who decelerate the evolution.
Nothing wrong with taking something that's already been done before and making it a little better or just explaining why its better to make it more popular. Why so many salty people in the comments? what were you all doing at 14 I wonder? Personally I mostly played video games lol :(
played rock music in a band
excuse the pun
Salty comments because the kid sounds like a used car salesman, something fake and creepy about him...not genuine...! ;)
Looking and. Chasing girls!
trying to sell stolen ideas as your own is disgusting. that's why people are salty.
Wow.... This guy is amazing. Has all the tools and all the ambition, but beyond that he's doing everything the right way.
he did not do anything so far
and in hte video he was advocating for more molten salt reactors to be built
not that is not his invention...those exist since 1960
In the beginning of the talkWhen he said he had done well it rang my alarm bell.
This reactor type has been know for almost 100 years.
But if it takes a kid to make it sound new, great. Thorium is much better than uranium.
The elders don't build it because it has a BIG flaw. The flaw is called "no control over nuclear material". But control over nuclear material is needed to prevent small groups from building nukes.
You are ill-informed. Three nations tried using U-233 for nukes. After trying it, they all ran away from it. U-233's radiation (actually the U-232 that accompanies it) screws up the electronics relatively quickly, so you simply cannot put missiles anywhere, even in underground silos, because they are likely to blow up in your own territory. NOT a good result. U-233's radiation also bleeds out, making it supremely easy to detect. Also not a good thing. U-233 bombs will never be made again. It is too dangerous.
We already had a Thorium salt reactor running 21000 hours with no problems in the start of the 70´s . Thorium is the biggest gift the Universe could ever give us. So ofc Governments ignore it. China have a MASSIVE thorium program. They are working on 2 designs and very soon they will prototype the first design. Also Oak Ridge America is building a test Thorium reactor. Thorium is the solution to basically all our short term problems
I don't care who came up with it first.... This kid is actually going to see that it gets put to use.. That's what we need.
Jamie Ingels - Good point. If this kid can make molten salt reactor sexy i will certainly not argue against it. But did he mention Thorium in his speech ? can´t remember. He said 600-700 degree Celsius and that sounds like Thorium. American Government hate Thorium because Uranium power distributors own the Government through the legal corruption/bribery system in America. When Kirk Sorensen group wanted to pay the bill for getting Thorium data acknowledged by Us Administration under Obama, they were told that would be to expensive so they refused. Imagine i give you 8000 dollars, and you refuse with the reason that 8000 free dollars is to expensive. That is the prof that Us Government works against free and green energy, on behalf of oil and Uranium. China will 100% own the future of energy production and distribution. A thorium program only cost 10 billion dollars. With the potential of earning infinite quadrillions back
So Taylor seems to be talking about a Liquid Floride Thorium Reactor (LFTR, also called a "Lifter" for short) which has the benefits he talks about when the coolant is a molten salt, but what is his innovation? He talks about using a "super-critical" gas or Helium to turn a turbine. What advantage does that have over using steam to turn the turbine?
Strange if you google Lockheed Martin, you'll see they are running a reactor with a gas on the turbine side ..and they were doing this in 2015 ..tested!!
What I want to see is a 1 cubic metre box of 10 Kilowatts of power that will run my house for 52 years and be self contained. What they have to do is find a means outside of nuclear batteries which have limited capabilities to generate power via some form of radiation.. and get beyond gas, steam turbine ..
I’m very impressed with him
I graduated high-school in may! Mind blown!
I'm a fan of thorium!
me too it totally has the potential to solve the world's energy problems although its not like it was taylor's idea
Ben Freed his reactor is all about the liquid part... which is the most important part, and burning our nuclear "waste" is a good thing to focus on. It's a great story t hough... given that it seems we really could be in the nuclear age as we were told in the 50's but it was sold out to a faction.
Simon Farre
Firstly the main benefit comes from using a liquid fuel, and you only need uranium to start the reaction and actually you don't need uranium, you need a neutron source. Thorium reactors don't have melt downs and they can burn "waste" from classical reactors. I have looked into the myths and research, and liquid fuel thorium is a obviously superior design for nuclear reactions. Also, thorium right now is being produced as waste as part of mining rare earth metals, it's much more abundant than Uranium and is all fissable, whereas only 4% of Uranium is still fissible. It's funny how you think it's ok to buy "debunking" hood line and seeker and that somehow will be more incisive than buying anything else you're told. I have researched it.
Simon Farre
1. There is no “thorium reactor.”
*who said there was... however there HAVE been. basically, so what?*
2. You still need uranium - or even plutonium - in a reactor using thorium.
*No, you need a neutron source, however, again, so what? Once giong the thorium produces enough Uranium to sustain the process.*
3. Using plutonium sets up proliferation risks.
*If you don't like nuclear energy then say so... E=mc^2 sets up a proliferation risk.*
4. Uranium-233 is also excellent weapons-grade material.
*Remember, we're comparing this to Uranium reactors, yes... nuclear energy is related to nuclear weapons. However, thorium plants are much less friendly to proliferation and don't produce plutonium that has to be used or stored away.*
5. Proliferation risks are not negated by thorium mixed with U-238.
*just lessened. Last I checked we had no plan to give up our nuclear weapons.*
6. Thorium would trigger a resumption of reprocessing in the US.
*Instead of just letting long lived (tens of thousands of years) radioactive waste pile up. Evidently the myth is that it's totally safe... as if the material is not radioactive... no... it just can't melt down, you won't have the type of clean up problem they have in Fukushima, because clean up will be possible. Yes, accidents are possible in coal plants too.*
7. Using thorium does not eliminate the problem of long-lived radioactive waste. Fission of
thorium creates long-lived fission products including technetium-99 (half-life of over 200,000
*this pretty much counts as a lie... thorium is very long lived... and almost not radioactive at all, it's in the rocks all around us. And how much technetium is created... what's important is the quantity, funny he doesn't mention that.*
8. Attempts to develop “thorium reactors” have failed for decades. No commercial “thorium reactor” exists anywhere in the world. India has been attempting, without success, to develop a thorium breeder fuel cycle for decades.
*SOLID ONES. As if the first an only reactor design, designed by the military is the end all be all of nuclear reactor design. Perhaps you don't understand technology. The military spend decades and billions developing flat screen technology. Material science toiled away decades to get control of chemical processes and there are things still doing on. But again, this is mostly a lie, India playing with thorium cycles is not the same as Oakridge and LLNL doing it, and they havn't.*
Other countries including the US and Russia have researched the development of thorium fuel for more than half a century without overcoming technical complications.
*Lol, a lie... you see, there was some research 50 years ago which was stopped and not pursued... that's "half a century of research"... if the debunkers lie, that's not debunking, that's their own myth, that nuclear energy cannot be done safely. Perhaps they own coal mines.*
9. Fabricating “thorium fuel” is dangerous to health.
*no, the hell you say! really!? you can't drink it!?!?!*
10. Fabricating “thorium fuel” is expensive.
*ignorance, lie? perhaps just leveraging that we don't have such an industrial process and research is needed? It's clear it will be simpler because one, it's abundant, two, it comes in one fissile isotope whereas only 4% of the Uranium is fissile, and the shit is piling up in China as we speak, creating radioactive pools.*
Using a breeder reactor makes costly reprocessing necessary.
*this is one of the main areas of research, and the science does not imply the reprocessing of the fuels has to be costly, and many of the isotopes that need removal are useful, short half-life materials. Another area needing tackling is finding the best material for holding highly corrosive salts. Neither of these are insurmountable. *
Simon Farre Actually, you only need pure Thorium and a neutron source strong enough. Yes, it breeds to U-233, which is the fissile component. It's not a myth; it's chemistry. And with an external neutron source, you never need to have a critical mass of fissile material in the core at any one time- hence "breed and burn". And as Taylor Wilson mentions in the video, while Thorium has a ton of advantages, both molten salt reactors like he's working on and the sub-critical reactor I'm working on will burn just about any combination of fissile and/or fertile material - aka "nuclear waste". In my design, you just have to limit the quantity of fissile material to keep it below a critical mass for the size and shape of the core.
This kid seems to have watched all the same CZcams videos I have. who do I need to talk to about getting on one of these Ted talks? I'm ready to show the would my drawings of a small box that will change the world that i just came up with all on my own.
Yeah true ..i am fedup from all this trend of youngsters genius game changers impacters on the world and that BS i didnt see anyhhing except basics from eikipedia abd youtube
yeah, he drew the box underground and thought it's gamechanging because it is underground
Except for the fact that this kid built a actual true working nuclear reactor at 14 in his parents garage so give the dude some credit
He did not build it in the garage, it was built at Arizona Univ
I assume you also achieved fission at the age of 14 in your garage? Oh right, you did not and are just a loudmouth who massively underestimates the amount of effort this guy has put into educating himself about this topic, more than a dumbed down 12 minute talk could show. Next time think before you talk.
He is not the only one working on this and I am GLAD.
The current design was developed in the 50 under a timeline that is very flawed.
The safer design needs to be implemented SOON.
Amazing mind! We all have a lot to learn from him!
Yes, Thorium salt reactors !
These kind of talks are fun but they feel like scientific fast food
Great analogy
Excellent.
Amazing young man.
I love it.........We "the United States" new this a long time ago.....But now the new gens are going to bring it back in the form of energy....not a weapon......The sun is rising in the west........
Taylor became the 32nd individual on the planet to achieve a nuclear-fusion reaction. Just read his life story at Popular Science 'The Boy Who Played with Fusion' The young lad creates the bomb-sniffing application in which Intel CEO Paul Otellini mentions in a conversation, "All I could think was, I am so glad that kid is on our side."
What happened to the first 32 individuals?
@@larryvaughn5843 you mean 31 individuals, this one is fine... :-)
This fascinating love it
The bsc consulting group in the uk proposed small module reactors some years ago, is he building on the work?
Build a scaled down version 1st
Molten salt reactors really are the answer to our energy problems until fusion reactors can be developed. They are a lot smaller, cost a lot less to build, and are intrinsically safe. Boiling water reactors were a step along the way that we got tricked into by tricky Dick's desire to bring some pork home for his district.
It is time to move beyond the BWR but there are reasons why it's not popular in the nuclear industry. There is a tremendous amount of money to be made with fuel pellets (reprocessing and production); there is also a lot of inertia to keep doing what we have been doing because we are already doing it, companies are loathe to kill a cash cow.
Kill a cash cow = political. It is time for the newer technology to be used. Lower cost per unit benefits man kind and probably our planet. Reduced world pollution benefits us all.
Im in awe of this dude he hasn't even got to the age were he's mastered the science of shaving but good god he knows his stuff keep it up dude hope your rather high reaching ambition is a really big success
Knowing how to control the earth magnetic feild should be more important to be able to enjoy Taylors good work.