I'm interested in researching & developing small thorium reactors. What classes/subjects should I take?

It often seems that when you finally know enough of what areas to study you have already covered 80% of the field. Thorium like all Nuclear Energy has tremendous potential. It is the downsides that worry some. Optimists don't see the downsides. Our experience with reactors has not been with "small" reactors and so for "topics of study," the reference must go with our experience so far.

Thorium Reactors were suggested at the dawn of the Nuclear age as a safer alternative with fewer wastes, but there are no commercial Throium Nuclear Reactors. Unfortunately the US wanted the waste nuclear fuel of "reactors for peace" to supply its Nuclear Weapons program. For that they needed Uranium Reactors. Concentrated and Powerful political forces have always been attracted to Nuclear Energy, the powerful and concentrated energy source. And so it is unlikely to ever be part of such a democratic concept as an Electric Car. You might wish to review something of the politics of nuclear energy as you begin to commit yourself to a life and career change.

Nuclear Energy has been pushed on to the public to achieve military goals. It promised economical power that would be "too cheap to meter." Instead the history of Nuclear Reactors have been full of cost overruns final costs several times original budgets. You might want to study the economics of Nuclear Energy.

There have been some very infamous Nuclear Accidents when the public has been told that it will never be possible. The accidents seem to come from human error and contracts not being completed as designed. You might want to study nuclear regulations from both a compliance and an enforcement level. Another area of concern is the insurance of the nuclear industry. The US government (ie taxpayers) covers some important aspects which amounts to a subsidy of the industry.

A look at the list of nuclear accidents also shows that the problem rarely starts in the Reactor Core yet that is the focus of everyone's attention. Many more accidents are reported in the course of every year that are outside of the primary focus. Natural disasters like Earthquakes and tsunami's somehow to have not been considered adequately. You might want to review the psychology of nuclear focus. Sometimes the push for nuclear almost seems like the careless mad sex of teenagers.

Small Nuclear Reactors have been suggested for many years. But creating the reactor is never the issue. It is always a matter of the size of the required shielding and the concerns the widespread use of nuclear energy as a commercial product. You might wish to review the commercial potential and concerns and issues for nuclear energy.

Nuclear Reactors (like all the non-nuclear combustion energy sources) produce heat. When used in a Rankine cycle thermal power plant they then also use tremendous volumes of water. So much water that during water shortages Nuclear Reactors must be shut down. There are regulations in place that also require the shutdown if the ambient temperature goes too high as this then requires the reactor waste water to be excessively hot. You might wish to study the environmental concerns for Nuclear Energy.

Best of luck to you.

I recall that Cadillac had a concept car designed to be powered by Thorium a few years ago...neat idea but perhaps too many concerns with nuclear powered cars. Doubtful it will ever fly for general use even with safer thorium. Ford floated a similar concept back in the 50's called the Nucleon. Other designs seem more geared to nuclear lasers. I can't offer any specific info on which courses to take other than perhaps to contact some people in the field that are researching such designs and see what they advise on courses/curriculum/online degrees to get into the field.

Another option is mini nuke plants which are being developed by a few companies...they can be buried in the ground and left for years with no maintenance, fewer issues with nuclear proliferation, lower costs, shorter build scales and can be daisy chained together to provide power to small cities, hospitals, factories, etc.. That may be worth getting into.

Mini nuke plants info....

https://www.google.com/search?q=standard+dimension...

Nuclear cars...

"As a design exercise to show what a vehicle capable of lasting 100 years without maintenance could look like, Cadillac debuted at the 2009 Chicago Auto Show its World Thorium Fueled concept car powered by nuclear energy. While the vehicle didn't contain a working thorium-fueled nuclear reactor, one researcher says that the technology is within our reach.

Charles Stevens, a researcher at the Massachusetts R&D firm Laser Power Systems, is creating a prototype of a thorium-powered laser that can be used to generate enough energy to power a vehicle while producing zero-emissions, according to an article in the Txchnologist. Rather than a small-scale thorium-powered nuclear reactor--as floated by the Cadillac concept--the prototype system Steve is designing uses a proprietary high-intensity "MaxFelaser" laser that is fueled by thorium.

According to the article, the MaxFelaser laser beam turns water into pressurized steam, spinning a turbine and generating electricity. The system can produce a total of 250 kilowatts (equivalent 335 horsepower), weighs about 500 pounds, and can fit under the hood of a car. That sounds great, but how realistic is this?

Thorium has been touted by several nuclear scientists, and some have given lectures at Google and TEDx promoting thorium as a better nuclear fuel source than uranium. Less radioactive and more plentiful than uranium, thorium is being tested by researchers in China as a potential fuel for nuclear reactors."

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-20100035-48/i...

Another article on nuke cars ...past and future..

"The invention of Charles Stevens of the Massachusetts-based R&D company Laser Power Systems, the system is far short of the Nucleon’s full-fledged nuclear reactor. The key is thorium, which is radioactive but not on the same scale as uranium (though it can sub for it in reactors). In the proposed car, “an accelerator-driven thorium-based laser” is used not to send a beam of energy but to generate concentrated heat.

Stevens says his thorium car would be “emissions free” and never need recharging. A gram of thorium has the same energy content as 7,500 gallons of gas, and eight grams could power a car for 300,000 miles. I’m still wondering what happens when two of these cars come together.

Cadillac’s car has styling right out of Star Trek and is called the World Thorium Fuel Concept. It doesn’t have any actual onboard thorium, but it theoretically could.

Stevens doesn’t have a working model, either, because according to Txchnologist it’s having some difficulties integrating the laser with the turbine and generator. And, my guess, he’d also have just a few minor challenges GETTING THE CAR LICENSED. Sorry for the screaming there."

http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/transportation/blogs...

http://www.damninteresting.com/the-atomic-automobi...