'Cadillac' World Thorium Fuel concept
A US based entrepreneur is mooting plans to power cars with a steam turbine generator that uses 'an accelerator-driven thorium-based laser' as its heat source.
Being the sorts of duffers who would have done combined science as a GCSE had the option been available back in the day, we have absolutely no idea if this is remotely plausible. But the story does give us the opportunity to run a picture of Dr Evil on the PH homepage, which is itself an opportunity not to be missed.
Anyways... according to an article on txchnologist.com, Charles Stevens' firm Laser Power Systems has been working with thorium because it is only mildly radioactive, and the material is as abundant as lead.
Some more concepty/thorium stuff...
Apparently, (says txchnologist.com), thorium is a much-touted stand in for uranium in nuclear reactors because its fission is not self-sustaining, a type of reaction called 'sub-critical'.
The website also reckons the idea has energised the small but active thorium community which holds that it is the answer to our clean energy needs because it could, effectively, power a car forever. The new technology "would be totally emissions-free," Stevens says, "with no need for recharging."
A power generator of the type described making the equivalent of 335hp would weigh around 225kgs and be small enough to fit under the hood of a car, we're told. Using just 8 grams of thorium the unit could power a car for 300,000 miles of 'normal' driving.
Which all sounds like a great cue for an 'oil company conspiracy' story. It has also (it must be said...) provided quite a good opportunity for txchnologist.com's own readers to put the boot in via their comment threads
The car pictured is a thorium powered concept Cadillac conceived by Loren Kulesus in 2009, and which we managed to overlook at the time. For reasons best known to himself, he called it the World Thorium Fuel concept - or WTF.