Bill Gates pitching fourth-gen TerraPower nuclear reactors to China

Shawn Knight

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Microsoft founder Bill Gates met with China’s largest nuclear group this week to discuss the future of the country’s nuclear energy program. Gates is the founder and primary investor of TerraPower, a nuclear reactor design firm headquartered in Bellevue, Washington.

TerraPower is researching a type of nuclear fast reactor called the traveling wave reactor (TWR), considered a fourth generation reactor. Traditional reactors in use around the world use enriched uranium as fuel and need to be refueled every few years to remain functional. TWRs will use depleted uranium instead of enriched uranium and will be able to operate for 40 to 60 years before needing to be refueled.

Aside from not having to refuel the reactors as often, TWRs are safer than traditional reactors and generate very little waste. During a press conference on Wednesday, Gates said that TerraPower is having good discussions with CNNC (China’s biggest nuclear group) and other people in the Chinese government including the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Gates warned that things don’t move as fast in the nuclear industry as they do in digital technologies and as such, talks are still in the very early stages. TerraPower subsequently released a statement saying that the company has explored options in China, India, Russia and other countries with active nuclear programs and that the recent meetings in China are part of that effort. But as of now, there are no deals to speak to at this time.

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"wtf Bill"

He's promoting a clean, safe, modern and proliferation-proof technology to mitigate the developing worlds dependence on dirty, dangerous, polluting coal and much less worse but still polluting natural gas. Sounds good to me.
 
Here is Bill's TED appearance, in which he talks about this technology.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/bill_gates.html
 
tehbanz said:
more-so, why china bill?

Because in North America, we've yet to get over those 'Chernobyl' and 'Three Mile Island' things. I think it's because critical thought took a downward plummet during the eighties and has yet to rebound.
 
why china? because they are in big need of new energy technology and usa/canada, etc is all controlled by the 'bad guys' who want to see their coal, gas, oil, w/e, not-renewable technology so they have monthly money coming in. basicly the same reason why we dont all drive electric cars.. they want u to buy oil every week for your car.
 
DokkRokken is right. Bill is in China because that's where the market for those reactors. Here in North America we've lost the ability to think logically and we rely on our emotions instead. We'll figure it out eventually, it's just a matter of time.
 
mudvayne819 said:
basicly the same reason why we dont all drive electric cars.. they want u to buy oil every week for your car.

No, I find that an Electric car costs more to buy, run and keep on the road than a simple Diesel powered car. If its cheaper to go with the Oil powered car, why not?
 
No, I find that an Electric car costs more to buy, run and keep on the road than a simple Diesel powered car. If its cheaper to go with the Oil powered car, why not?

It's easier to get into space if you just sail a ship to the end of the ocean and fall off rather than using a rocket ship.
 
Corporate interests arent why nuclear fails here, far from it. They'd probably love nuclear; it'd provide a degree of long-term certainty about what energy prices would be as well as their availability.
 
"It's easier to get into space if you just sail a ship to the end of the ocean and fall off rather than using a rocket ship. "

Thank you, you made my day!
 
tehbanz said:
more-so, why china bill?

Probably because China stands to be the single largest power consumer AND polluter in the world. Seems pretty smart to go after them with tech that can help with their growing power needs and reduce global environmental impact.

Besides, once China is doing it, everyone else will jump on the bandwagon. :)
 
We will be back in the woods before long if we don't stop raping the world of its resources, I like Bill's vision.
 
It's easier to get into space if you just sail a ship to the end of the ocean and fall off rather than using a rocket ship.
This is perhaps the best quote I have read in my whole lifetime, thank you!

burty117 said:
mudvayne819 said:
basicly the same reason why we dont all drive electric cars.. they want u to buy oil every week for your car.

No, I find that an Electric car costs more to buy, run and keep on the road than a simple Diesel powered car. If its cheaper to go with the Oil powered car, why not?
The brain washing has worked well on you I see!
You didn't stop to think WHY a diesel powered car is cheaper to own than an electric car?
 
Per Hansson said:
burty117 said:
mudvayne819 said:
basicly the same reason why we dont all drive electric cars.. they want u to buy oil every week for your car.

No, I find that an Electric car costs more to buy, run and keep on the road than a simple Diesel powered car. If its cheaper to go with the Oil powered car, why not?
The brain washing has worked well on you I see!
You didn't stop to think WHY a diesel powered car is cheaper to own than an electric car?

Well yeah, but at the end of the day its still cheaper? Driving (well at least here in the uk) is expensive as hell in the first place, if i'm gunna shell out ££££'s on a car, i'd rather it was a bit more involved and exiting to drive than a boring hum from some silly electic car? I'm more in it for the fun/useful factor, an electric car to me seems almost utterly pointless? Takes ages to charge, the battery has to be replaced in 5-7 years and costs tons to do so, the range isn't anything to brag about and the car in the first place costs almost twice as much as a fun little hot hatch? I dunno, is there some kind of point i'm missing here?
 
guys, leave burty117 alone...it's not his fault he can't see past his nose.
 
+1 Burty
You are not, I don't believe Electric Car 'is' the future, it is not an 'cost-effective' option, and I am not going to talk about charging + range + maintenance issues. I think Hydrogen powered cars probably has the best shot for the future, however, with one caveat, a cleaner process to produce hydrogen has to be found. In other words, whoever does this, may turn out to be the next richest man in the world.
 
burty117 said:
mudvayne819 said:
basicly the same reason why we dont all drive electric cars.. they want u to buy oil every week for your car.

No, I find that an Electric car costs more to buy, run and keep on the road than a simple Diesel powered car. If its cheaper to go with the Oil powered car, why not?

You probably also think the present status quo regarding electric cars is just a coincidence, despite the brotherhood between oil and car industries.
 
The brain washing has worked well on you I see!
You didn't stop to think WHY a diesel powered car is cheaper to own than an electric car?

This thread seems kind of fragmented. I have a question. What is the "brainwashing" you are referring to?
 
red1776 said:
The brain washing has worked well on you I see!
You didn't stop to think WHY a diesel powered car is cheaper to own than an electric car?

This thread seems kind of fragmented. I have a question. What is the "brainwashing" you are referring to?
The first cars released in the 1890's where electric drive, than came petrol cars and surprassed them, which is not so strange when you look at the price of electricity at that time (See the link above to the TED talk about the nuclear reactor by Bill Gates, the price of electricity was tenfolds higher than what we have today, adjusted for inflation of course)

But then we have had 120 years of development for the petrol car, but almost none for the electric car, you don't find this strange?
What happens is the oil industry is so big so they just buy up all patents they can, therefore we have not seen any significant breakthroughs in battery capacity in the last 120 years...
For more info you can watch the documentary "who killed the electric car"
 
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