Alan B

"The paleontological record informs us we have crossed this 2-degree tipping point before! And the consequence? Nearly all life on planet earth at that time was very nearly annihilated!"

What are you referring to? What part of the paleontological record? The two degree point activists keep on talking about is one degree from now and, sorry, that's not going to extinguish life. Temperatures have been much higher than this without anything much happening. So what are you talking about?

Alan, as you may or may not know my background is engineering, and my main job is creating/designing new products and producing pre-production proto-types.
Even though, unlike you, I know nothing about this thorium or salt technology you speak of, I am curious.
How much would it cost and how long would it take to make a 'bench top' working model of this thing you speak of.
I am interested in knowing more.
My interest is mainly in the creation of three dimensional mediums,
ie; in the physical form, rather than the technical, or non-dimensional. By building something we learn all there is to know.
Just writing about it only gives us a 'taste' of it.

ATRAV: Suggested reading.

#1/ Super fuel, subtitled green energy by prize-winning, science writer/investigative journalist Richard Martin.

#2/ Thorium, cheaper than coal by ivy league Professor (ret) economist Robert Hargreaves.

Or, listen to a short summation or encapsulation of both or either, on Utube and google tech talks.

Or just get on U tube and listen to several pro-thorium speakers one of which is engineer Jam Petersen, another former NASA scientist and nuclear technologist Kirk Sorensen.

Or You could ape old Hasbeen and simply not look? Constantly question established evidence?

Kirk Saved copious notes and a small stockpile of U233, from the successful thorium reactor trial at Oak Ridge, Tenessee.

Alvin Weinberg. The patent holder of the first operational nuclear reactor was not a nuclear scientist, but rather an industrial chemist. And was troubled by the extreme pressure inside conventional solid fuel reactors, was placed in charge. And oversaw most of two decades of accident and incident free research.

Albeit, removed by the establishment for his advocacy for peaceful purpose, non-weaponised nuclear power with marvellous medical spinoffs.

And forbidden by a relatively recent act of Congress to remove the possibility of the ruination of fossil fuel or big nuclear? DT would be proud?

Shutdown by that paragon of honesty personified virtue, President Nixon (not unlike DT) in the seventies. By withdrawing their extremely modest funding, then allocating it to a subsequently failed liquid metal nuclear project in his home state of California?

Oak Ridge constantly critiqued for not producing an erg of electrical energy. Albeit, shut down just as they were about to!

Our own conventional solid fueled reactor at Lucas Heights, has yet to light a single light bulb?
Alan B.