Kirk Sorensen is an inspiring speaker and teacher who is motivated by an incredible vision. As he eloquently describes in the video below, he has excavated and dusted off ideas and documentation from the archives at Oak Ridge National Laboratory about using thorium in molten salt reactors. According to back of the envelope calculations by Alvin Weinberg, the leader of the effort, the thorium resources on earth could power a civilization of 7 billion people at a US level of energy use for approximately 30 billion years.

It is a compelling story that should fill you full of hope as you start your working week.

PS – My own belief is that there are so many opportunities for society to prosper using fission that we should be pursuing multiple developmental paths. I am sorry that my vision may disrupt a lot of current business models, but as they say in the movies – you have to improvise, adapt and overcome as the world changes. A fission based energy infrastructure will enable more prosperity for far more people than is possible with our current combustion focused economy.

Hat tip to Charles Barton at Nuclear Green for the link to Kirk’s talk.