8 grams of thorium could replace gasoline in cars

Re:8 grams of thorium could replace gasoline in cars by uvdiv on Friday August 12, 2011 @10:44AM (#2877448)

For an auto engine it is beyond hopeless (economics, safety). This particular case is a crackpot/scammer with no substance at all.

Very small nuclear-powered engines are possible. There were several launched on space satellites by the US and USSR, i.e.

http://www.etec.energy.gov/history/Major-Operations/SNAP-Ove...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_954

SNAP weighed under 430 kg for the entire power system (note this is a real fission reactor, not a radioisotope heat source like many space probes). These use highly-enriched uranium (weapons grade) to get very small cores.

Nuclear reactors have been proposed for interplanetary probes, such as the (recently cancelled) Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter, which would have used a nuclear reactor powering an ion thruster. It's completely viable.

http://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/miscellaneous/jupiter/JIMO_Bac...

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Re:8 grams of thorium could replace gasoline in cars by ahi on Friday August 12, 2011 @11:34AM (#2877680)

Also tested for aircraft propulsion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_Nuclear_Propulsion

tl;dr They discovered it was a bad idea.

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