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User:Limulus

===Interesting Items===

===Articles I've Done Significant Work On===

(though not necessarily recently)

Image:Linnaeus Lapland Waypoints.png

===Thorium===

By 1946, only eight years after the discovery of nuclear fission, three fissile isotopes had been publicly identified for use as nuclear fuel:{{cite news |title=Atomic Energy 'Secret' Put into Language That Public Can Understand |author=UP |url=http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4jgbAAAAIBAJ&pg=1842%2C3115323 |newspaper=Pittsburgh Press |date=29 September 1946 |accessdate=18 October 2011}}{{cite news |title=Third Nuclear Source Bared |author=UP |url=http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ckxBAAAAIBAJ&pg=6357%2C2252004 |newspaper=The Tuscaloosa News |date=21 October 1946 |accessdate=18 October 2011}}

Th-232, U-235 and U-238 are primordial nuclides, having existed in their current form for over 4.5 billion years, predating the formation of the Earth; they were forged in the cores of dying stars through the r-process and scattered across the galaxy by supernovas.[http://www.gsi.de/forschung/kp/kp2/nuc-astro/HeavyElements_e.html Synthesis of heavy elements] Their radioactive decay produces about half of the earth's internal heat.{{cite journal|author=The KamLAND Collaboration|date=2011-07-17|title=Partial radiogenic heat model for Earth revealed by geoneutrino measurements|journal=Nature Geoscience|volume=4|pages=647–651|doi=10.1038/ngeo1205|url=http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v4/n9/abs/ngeo1205.html}}

For technical (outlined in a section below) and historical reasons, the three are each associated with different reactor types. U-235 is the world's primary nuclear fuel and is usually used in light water reactors. U-238/Pu-239 has found the most use in liquid sodium fast breeder reactors. Th-232/U-233 is best suited to molten salt reactors (MSR).{{cite journal|last1=Hargraves|first1=Robert|last2=Moir|first2=Ralph|year=2010|month=July|title=Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors|journal=American Scientist|volume=98|issue=4|pages=304–313|url=http://www.energyfromthorium.com/pdf/AmSci_LFTR.pdf}}

Alvin M. Weinberg pioneered the use of the MSR at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The Aircraft Reactor Experiment in 1954 and Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment from 1965 to 1969 both used liquid fluoride salts; the latter notably demonstrated the use of U-233 as a fuel source.{{citation|title=Molten-Salt Reactor Program: Semiannual Progress Report for Period Ending August 31, 1971|volume=ORNL-4728|publisher=Oak Ridge National Laboratory|first1=M.|last1=Rosenthal|first2=R.|last2=Briggs|first3=P.|last3=Haubenreich|url=http://www.energyfromthorium.com/pdf/ORNL-4728.pdf}} Unfortunately for MSR research, Weinberg was fired and the MSR program closed down in the early 1970s,{{cite journal|author=H. G. MacPherson|title=The Molten Salt Reactor Adventure|journal=Nuclear Science and Engineering|volume=90|pages=374–380|date=1985-08-01|url=http://home.earthlink.net/~bhoglund/mSR_Adventure.html}} after which research stagnated in the United States.{{cite book |title=The First Nuclear Era: The Life and Times of a Technological Fixer |last=Weinberg |first=Alvin |authorlink=Alvin M. Weinberg |year=1997 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1563963582 |url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=otQDyt9PeswC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA199#v=onepage&q&f=false |accessdate=12 November 2011}}{{cite web |url=http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev25-34/net725.html |title=ORNL: THE FIRST 50 YEARS--CHAPTER 6: RESPONDING TO SOCIAL NEEDS |accessdate=12 November 2011}}

File:Keplers supernova.jpg|The earth's uranium and thorium originated in the death throes of ancient stars

File:NAMrad Th let.gif|Thorium is relatively abundant in the earth's crust

File:Amr-thorite.jpg|Tiny crystals of Thorite, a thorium mineral, under magnification

File:FLiBe.png|Liquid FLiBe salt

File:MSRE Reactor.JPG|Molten Salt Reactor at Oak Ridge

Sorensen-related

  • [http://www.energyfromthorium.com Energy From Thorium] Sorensen's website "Devoted to the discussion of thorium as a future energy resource, and the machine to extract that energy–the liquid-fluoride thorium reactor."
  • [http://www.thoriumenergyalliance.com/ThoriumSite/TEAC_Proceedings.html Thorium Energy Alliance Conference Proceedings]
  • [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLGpgbg_AXY Kirk Sorensen - A Global Alternative @ TEAC4] Kirk Sorensen's presentation at Thorium Energy Alliance Conference #4 in Chicago.
  • [http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/13/manchester-report-nuclear Manchester Report: Thorium nuclear power]
  • [http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/ff_new_nukes/all/1 Uranium Is So Last Century — Enter Thorium, the New Green Nuke]
  • [http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampentland/2011/09/11/is-thorium-the-biggest-energy-breakthrough-since-fire-possibly/ Forbes article: Is Thorium the Biggest Energy Breakthrough Since Fire? Possibly.]

===Thorium in India (map)===

For Occurrence of thorium based on :File:India-locator-map-thorium2012.svg updated with [http://www.dae.nic.in/writereaddata/parl/winter2016/lsus2377.pdf]

File:India-locator-map-thorium2016.svg belt of eastern coastal states as placer sands. 2016 monazite reserve estimates:{{cite web |url=http://www.dae.nic.in/writereaddata/parl/winter2016/lsus2377.pdf|title=RESERVES OF URANIUM AND THORIUM |date=30 November 2016 |website=Department of Atomic Energy (India) |accessdate=18 January 2017}}

{{legend|#000000|Andhra Pradesh (31%)}}

{{legend|#550000|Tamil Nadu (21%), and Odisha (20%)}}

{{legend|#AA0000|Kerala (16%), and West Bengal (10%)}}

{{legend|#FF8080|Jharkhand (2%)}}]]

===Selected Pictures I've Taken===

Image:Saskatoon-butterfly.jpg|Limenitis arthemis arthemis

Image:Harris_Train_and_Tower.jpg|at the Harris Museum

Image:Saskatoon-Frost.jpg|Frost

Image:Ginkgo_branch_laden_with_fruit.jpg|Ginkgo biloba

Image:Flowering Maple.jpg|A houseplant from the genus Abutilon

Image:Harris_Rock.jpg|Large rock at the Harris Museum

Image:Paypass_chip_front.png chip]]

Image:Saskatoon blue-eyed grass.png]]

===References===

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