Letter to Bill Gates, Ucore, Thorium dry cell reactor Thought You all might be interested if Mr. Gate takes a look at Ucore.
Dragon
Dear Mr. Gates,
I saw your story on Sixty minutes. First off, I would like to thank you for what you are doing. At least you are trying to fix the problem. I can’t do much to help except pass along a couple of bits of information you might find useful in what you are trying to do.
First is the name of a company that will be needed to help the earth go green. The company is Ucore Rare Metals. Rare earths will be needed more and more for green tech. Mining rare earths is not the problem. Rare earths can be found in deposits but also in iron ore, coal, oil sands, and phosphate mining. The problem is in the separation of the rare earths into oxides and metals. Currently that is done with solvent extraction. This method is dangerous to both people and the planet. Which is why China does the bulk of the separation. The US government is trying to rebuild the rare earth supply chain here in the US, but is spending money on what is tried and true, which is solvent extraction. This is why you should find Ucore Rare Metals interesting, they have a new and improved method of separating rare earths, which is 90% more effective than the current method. Same chemistry as solvent extraction but different plumping, using columns instead of settling tanks.
Ucore needs a little funding help to get to the next level. I hope that you find this of interest and that it helps in getting to a green earth.
The second item is the story of the USS Glenard P. Lipscomb (SSN-685).
I serviced in and worked for the US Navy for thirty odd years. Fourteen of those years, I removed reactor compartments from US submarines, sealed them up and shipped them off to Hanford, WA for burial. The SSN-685 was an odd boat. She was the prototype for the 688 fast attack boats and they tried a lot of odd things in her design. Her reactor was a new design. In your reading of nuclear history have you read anything on the Thorium Dry Cell Reactor? It used thorium nuclear fuel in tubes made out of thermocouple material, which produced enough DC power to run a DC motor that ran a electrical generator by way of a hydraulic clutch. This would eliminate the need for a transfer medium like salt or water, the heat exchange and the whole steam cycle to produce electrical power. That was the reactor that was to be installed on 685, but in the end the Navy when with the tried and true light water reactor they were force to used. You should read the story about Adm Rickover trip to Oakridge in search of the first reactor for the USS Nautilus. This is the reason why the earth is stuck with light water reactors, the most dangerous of the five reactor designs