A Thorium-Salt Reactor Has Fired Up for the First Time in Four Decades
I think we&#x27;re making a serious PR mistake calling these &quot;Thorium Reactors&quot; even though the term is accurate.<p>&quot;Reactor&quot; evokes &quot;Nuclear Reactor&quot;. For many people, &quot;nuclear reactor&quot; is a deeply loaded term. Likewise &quot;Thorium&quot; (and other words that end in &quot;-ium&quot;) sounds dangerously like &quot;plutonium&quot; and &quot;uranium&quot;.<p>It doesn&#x27;t <i>matter</i> how much better&#x2F;safer this technology is. Don&#x27;t expect the public to respond positively when we use those words. There&#x27;s too much knee jerk, &quot;no nukes!&quot; baggage.<p>We should start calling these &quot;salt power stations&quot; or something else <i>accurate, yet non-threatening</i>. Otherwise, IMHO, it will be a steep uphill battle getting public and legislative support for building these things, <i>regardless</i> of their many benefits.