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C00002 00002		Dithering about energy will cause much suffering, but
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	Dithering about energy will cause much suffering, but
dither as we will, by the end of the century the energy problem
will be solved by building a large number of breeder reactors.
Right now at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, there are three million tons
of uranium from which the U235 has been removed.  With the breeder,
this is enough energy, already above ground, to supply the U.S.
for 700 years.  At the present price of coal, this is 20 trillion
dollars worth, about five times more than the value of all the
other property in the United States.

	There are other ways of getting energy, but breeder reactors
have so many cost advantages that the countries that adopt them
will be rich, and the others will be poor.  The ideology of scarcity
is quite powerful in America today, but it isn't strong enough to
make Americans accept poverty when other countries are rich.

	Let us review the technical facts and history.  There are
two isotopes of uranium, U235 and U238, and natural uranium is
a mixture of the two - .7α% U235 and 99.3α% U238.  Present reactors
are fueled by uranium that has been enriched to about 2.5α% U235
in a separation plant.  After the fuel element has spent about two
years in the reactor, there is some U235 left, some of the U238
has been converted into plutonium which is also usable in present
reactors, most of the U238 is unchanged, and the nuclear reaction
has been "poisoned" by the accumulation of waste that absorbs
neutrons.  The plutonium can be separated by a chemical process
and used as reactor fuel, the waste can be separated for disposal,
and the U238-235 mixture, with a greatly reduced concentration of
U235 can be sent back to the enrichment plant.  The enrichment
plants have accumulated the afore-mentioned three million tons
of U238 though most of it has been produced as a by-product of
separating out U235 for use in nuclear weapons.

	Breeder reactors can use the U238 once they are properly
primed with U235 or plutonium.  They can also use thorium, an
element somewhat more abundant than uranium.  If we can't use
U238 or thorium, our nuclear resources are less than our coal
resources.  Once we can use it, our resources are multiplied by
140 directly and by another large factor because much lower grade
ores can be economically mined.  In fact, we have already mined
a 700 year supply of energy.

	If this is so obvious, why are we dithering?

	In order to explain this, we can't confine ourselves to
technical issues, but must consider ideology as well.