Thorium as alternative energy source
- Carbon-free operation
- Inherently far safer than conventional light water reactors
- Abundant fuel (thorium)
- Chemically stable
- Currently being developed in China and by US companies like Flibe
- Very small amount of low-level radioactive waste. Should be much easier to manage.
- Concentrated energy source, requiring far less land than solar
- Runs round the clock, good base-load and load-following source
- Less suitable for weapons proliferation that conventional nuclear
- Could potentially be used in a distributed manner
- Technology is currently at the demonstration phase
- Requires less cooling water than conventional reactors
Natural Gas as alternative energy source
- Non-renewable fuel, supply cannot be replaced for millennia
- Emits carbon dioxide when burned
- Explosive, potentially dangerous
- Concentrated sources require long distance transmission and transportation
- Energy penalties at every stage of production and distribution
- Stored and distributed under high pressure
- Requires turbine-generators to produce electricity
- Liquefied form (LNG) used to transport over water, in tanker ships is potentially very dangerous
- Energy use competes with use for chemicals and fertilizers
- Additionally, there are significant environmental risks associated with “fracking”
- Water pollution due to runoff of fracking chemicals
- Companies are not required to disclose the composition of fracking chemicals (another example of lobbying in action).
- Water can also bring up adsorbed underground toxins including arsenic
- Fracking has been linked to earthquakes
- Casing leaks lead to gas in the water—blazing faucets
- Fracking requires a large amount of water
YOU DECIDE....
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