# Japan hit by massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake

**URL:** <https://forums.speedlife.net/t/japan-hit-by-massive-8-8-magnitude-earthquake/257296>\
**Category:** Shift518 Off Topic\
**Created:** [March 10, 2011, 11:16pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/japan-hit-by-massive-8-8-magnitude-earthquake/257296 "2011-03-10T23:16:59Z")\
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**Author:** ![SlackJ94](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/slackj94/32/6325_2.png) [@SlackJ94](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/SlackJ94)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 6:45am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/japan-hit-by-massive-8-8-magnitude-earthquake/257296/491 "2011-05-25T06:45:03Z")

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> [@RODEO!!!! Jan 26th, 2008](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/rodeo-jan-26th-2008/42475/6):
>
> Nuclear power is epic fail IMO.

No, we are just doing it wrong. Most (all?) of the worlds reactors are fueled by uranium, which is far inferior to using thorium. The uranium is used is because most of the research and funding occurred during the cold war, and governments wanted plutonium, which is a by product of using uranium, but not thorium.

Thorium is much more abundant.  
Thorium produces much less waste  
The waste produced remains radioactive for hundreds of years instead of hundreds of thousands.  
And more importantly, LFTRs (Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor) cannot meltdown.

Thorium as a nuclear fuel isn’t perfect, but it is far better than uranium.

Info:

> **[Thorium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium)**
>
> Thorium is a chemical element. It has the symbol Th and atomic number 90. Thorium is a weakly radioactive light silver metal which tarnishes olive gray when it is exposed to air, forming thorium dioxide; it is moderately soft and malleable and has a high melting point. Thorium is an electropositive actinide whose chemistry is dominated by the +4 oxidation state; it is quite reactive and can ignite in air when finely divided.
> All known thorium isotopes are unstable. The most stable isotope, 2...

[http://energyfromthorium.com/lftradsrisks.html](http://energyfromthorium.com/lftradsrisks.html)

What is happening in Japan is terrible. And I am with you in that the current nuclear power situation is epic fail, but it is only because we are doing it wrong. I’d love to see the thorium movement use this disaster as a stepping point for replacing every uranium reactor in the world with a much safer, much cheaper, LFTR.

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