Nuclear Energy and Permaculture

It can be intoxicating watching u tube videos on Thorium and molten salt reactors. Not enough so I want to dedicate my life to it, but certainly enough to binge watch and change my general attitude toward ALL nuclear energy.

Of course the whole molten salt reactor story seems to reinforce my general theory about government being the best friend of big business, and unable to see beyond the profit motives of powerful corporations/individuals. So it generally appeals to my long standing distrust of all big government, both Republican and Democrat, and as such fits nicely into my world view paradigm.

Of course many of the molten salt researchers and advocates fit very nicely into the 9-5, big business establishment, except  that they have stumbled onto one of those world changing discoveries that could actually remake civilization more toward that Star Trek world of the future where people have all their basic needs supplied for free and no one works for money but simply as a contribution to the common general well being, according to their  personal desires.

So  some of the “advantages ” of a molten salt reactor aren’t really advantages to a person who understands Permaculture, and there still needs to be some training in simple things like water and soil conservation, as well as better agriculture techniques to reduce energy inputs.

So  Permaculture principles do not disappear simply because of cheap abundant energy sources that do not pollute or cause climate change.

Bill was pretty emphatic that Permaculture needed to permeate all realms, micro and macro, and the swales and ponds I dig on my land are just as important as the molten salt reactors reducing CO2 output and consuming nuclear waste.

That’s right, consuming nuclear waste. Did you hear me?

I said Consuming all those spent fuel rods and misc items of nuclear crap trying to find a home, and turning them into electricity, or heat to melt steel, all with limited extra energy inputs, and amazing energy outputs from the process.

Without doing actual computations, it appears that these reactors would actually solve many other waste problems from man’s current activities and supply unlimited sources of energy going forward into the future. And the reality is that Our use of the thorium would simply be a more targeted application with very small quantities (relatively speaking ) of this same element that has been protecting and sustaining life on the planet.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m looking forward to the day when we lay down all our tools, stop work and simply walk around in the garden  as supreme co creators , but I also see the hypocrisy of anti nuke enthusiasts benefiting from coal and fossil energy and unwilling to support something that promises to be even less toxic than solar panels.

If I thought solar and wind could scale fast enough to meet all electrical needs I would still want to know what you plan to do with all that nuclear waste.

Where’s elon musk when you need him , he might have an idea:-)