Magdi Ragheb - Thorium Fuel Cycle Using Electrostatic & Electrodynamic Neutron Generators @ TEAC4

One of the ways to get neutrons for thorium breeding could be a Polywell device. Or a fusion device like Dense Plasma Focus.  It would use a neutronic fusion process as opposed to an aneutronic fusion process.  The goal for fusion energy production is an aneutronic process.  Neutrons thus produced from fusion may be thought of as bad, but that's not necessarily so in all cases, since we can use them for fission.

I recall Dr. Bussard mentioning that a Polywell could be used to process radioactive wastes.  I had forgotten that.

Good show.

Obama and gun control in wake of Aurora shootings

He wants to appear as nonpartisan and reasonable as he can while pursuing a radical anti-gun agenda.  When Secretary of State Clinton signs the treaty, the US will be bound by its terms.  This is gun control by treaty.



Dick Morris identifies the way to beat this strategy.

TEAC4 videos

Published by gordonmcdowell

Stuart Henderson - Thorium Energy from Accelerator Driven Reactors @ TEAC4

Subcritical neutron generator which can burn wastes and generate energy as well.



Darryl Siemer - Vitrification of Sustainable Nuclear Fuel Cycle Radwastes

Darryl runs inexpensive vitrification experiments in his basement on how to best prepare nuclear waste for storage.

Glassification is simpler & cheaper to fabricate than hot-pressed ceramics.

Direct vitrification of fluoride-based salt wastes (as one would associate with LFTR) generates an inferior product because H3PO4 doesn't displace enough of the F - the product is multiphasic "glass ceramic" containing F salts which would rapidly leach in moving groundwater.

Consequently, most of the fluoride should be removed before vitrification, possibly by boiling the waste salts to dryness with dilute nitric acid.

Use of nitric acid has been experimentally verified - a single boil-down of AlkF salts with a slight stiochiometric excess of dilute nitric acid invariably volatized most of the fluoride.

Recovery/recycle of fluoride in a deNOxed off gas should be simple & cheap.

A motive for a heinous crime?

Here's a quote from the movie Batman (1989) where the Joker says this:

Joker: I now do what other people only dream. I make art until someone dies. See? I am the world's first fully functioning homicidal artist.

If somebody who's a nobody wants to make a name for himself, he can copycat that character.  That's what some of these mass murderers must be doing.  Making a name for themselves by doing some performance "art", like the Joker in the Batman movies.

Embed taken down, sorry Charlie. Who's Charlie? Charlie the Tuna in the TV commercial. What's a "commercial"? If you haveta ax, it's befo' yo' time, honey.

First Look: China’s Big New Rockets

americaspace  via Transterrestrial Musings

Rand Simberg doesn't like heavy lifters.  But it seems that China may be building a Super Saturn V:

The new Long March 9 details were revealed by Liang Xiaohong, the Communist Party Chief at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), China’s largest rocket contractor. Vick at Global Security did an extensive review of Liang’s revelations.

Liang outlined several new Long March versions, virtually all of them testing elements that would eventually find their way into the Long March 9 that has 4 million lb. more of liftoff thrust than the 7.5 million lb. thrust NASA Saturn V.

I agree with Rand Simberg.  If you consider the American space program, the rockets don't have to be as big as they once were.  The Saturn V massiveness was unavoidable though, for the mission that was given to it.

It can be seen that with an advanced rocket design concept, launch mass can be reduced to one fourth of a Falcon 9 launch mass.

If you were to launch several of these, you could assemble enough stuff to make a more ambitious mission.  Maybe even landing on the moon.  The amount of mass needed would be reduced proportionally, and so the total mass needed to get to the moon would be far less than the Saturn V needed.

That's before considering fuel depots and in-situ resourcing.  You can mine the moon surface for oxygen, for example. You could mine the upper atmosphere for reaction mass as another example. Mass is the big enemy.  The less you launch off the surface of the Earth, the better.

Governor Welcomes President Obama to Texas By Demanding An Apology

abcnews via Instapundit

The Republican governor of Texas today welcomed President Obama to the Lone Star State by asking him to distance himself from comments made by Attorney General Eric Holder comparing the state’s 2011 voter identification law to a “poll tax,” the Jim Crow-era laws that were declared unconstitutional in 1937. 

Perry is probably right about the incendiary language, but the Holder may have a point:

While the voter ID itself is free, the Obama administration argues that the documentation required to obtain an ID – such as a birth certificate – is not.  [emphasis added]

In his remarks, the attorney general specifically said that the Texas law would be “harmful to minority voters” because 25 percent of African Americans lack the required identification needed to obtain a voter I.D., as opposed to eight percent of whites. 

If you have to obtain a birth certificate for this voter ID, and you have to pay for it, Holder can win this argument.

But there's a big caveat though in all of this.  The US Constitution does not require popular vote in order to elect a President.  If a voter ID is required for a Presidential Election, it may not be unconstitutional because the state has the plenary power in how to delegate its electors to the Electoral College.  Since the popular vote is something that a state can determine as part of its powers in who wins their electoral votes, it can also decide how those votes can be qualified, I would think.

Very interesting day blogging yesterday

Perhaps I should include a speculation alert since I'm not qualified to make the following judgments:  

A couple things that I figured out yesterday:

One of those things is that reusable spacecraft with a short turnaround time will definitely be feasible.   If Stratolaunch doesn't make it, then something else could.

It could be something like a powered beam contraption that would enable a spacecraft to avoid having to carry as much mass onboard, which would greatly assist it in getting to orbit.

The second thing is that the SSTO spacecraft called the Skylon is probably going to be feasible.  There was July 2nd Space Show I listened with Mark Hempsell, who is connected to the program.  He didn't say that the most recent tests were a failure.  Therefore, I gather then that they were a success.  The tests involve a pre-cooler which would enable the spacecraft to fly up to Mach 5 before going to rocket mode.  This is a critical finding which could lead to some revolutionary aircraft if nothing else.  The next thing is to have a dual mode air-breathing conventional rocket motor.  If that is invented, the rest appears to be well within reach.  He predicted something will be flying by 2020, if I am not mistaken.  Exciting.

Space will be conquered soon.  The effects upon society could be dramatic.