Electric cars which are being given so importance these days are going to be made to look like not more than a donkey. What?? Yes rightly said, because the cars of future will be able to run for 100 years without refuelling. A team of dynamic researchers is working on a new propulsion technology that will use an element called Thorium as the heart of this technology. This element is incredibly dense in its structure that even a smallest grain of this is capable of producing huge amount of energy. Thorium is one of the most dense materials on the planet. A small bit of it packs 20 million times more energy than a similarly-sized sample of coal, making it an ideal energy source.
Laser Power Systems a USA based company is behind this project. They are working on using this extraordinary source of energy “Thorium” as a base to produce laser, which will convert water into stem with its intense heat to propel a turbine for power generation. The amazing fact is that just eight grams of Thorium is enough to drive a car for 100 years. It is under early stage of its development and its prototype engine is weighing about 225 Kg, comparable enough to normal internal combustion engines. This amazing element shows a ray to develop a vehicle which will die much before the fuel is over or once you fuel your car it run for 100 years without the need of refuelling. The exact specifications for how this would work are still under wraps.
Is it right to say it a nuclear car?
The design of thorium powered car by Laser Power Systems is unique in its design as it does not generate nuclear reaction, though it uses radioactive material. Therefore calling it a nuclear car is not accurate says Charles Stevens, Laser Power System’s CEO and Chairman.
Thorium can be the answer to world’s nuclear energy problem. Some of the advantages of thorium are:
1. It produces 10 to 10,000 times less long-lived radioactive waste than typical nuclear fission.
2. Mining of it produces a single pure isotope, whereas in case of uranium enriching of isotopes is required to use in reactors.
3. Priming is necessary for sustaining nuclear chain in Thorium, fission stops by default in conventional reactors.
4. It is sub-critical, unlike uranium, therefore one can hold a rock containing it in hand, therefore using it in car will not be a problem.
Kindly like us, share us and comment.
