Hargraves' book is much more than a description of the Thorium Reactor. It is a history and comparison of most energy sources, showing the advantages and the shortfalls of each.
I think any reasonably well informed person reading this book will be stunned at the breadth of Hargraves' knowledge. He manages to pack more topics in this book, and make clear statements about all of them, than I can recall seeing in any other book.
He demystifies Nuclear Power, and shows how fear of it has been artificially caused by misunderstandings that date back to the beginning of our knowledge of radioactive elements and radioactivity. For example, the LNT (Linear No Threshold) theory of radiation danger, which is still in widespread use, and has been a major source of needless fear and confusion, is clearly explained. The LNT theory was a complete mistake from the beginning. It ignored the obvious fact that natural background radiation, even in the parts of the world where it is much higher than the average, causes no genetic damage or illness of any kind in humans or other animals and plants living in those areas. Ridiculously enough the LNT theory declares that natural background radiation is dangerous and will result in increases in illness and cancer.
Hargraves gives a fascinating example of an apartment complex in Taiwan that was built using steel rods contaminated with Cobalt 60. (Page 327) "Over a period of twenty years, 8000 people were exposed to an average of 400 mSv of radiation." The results were stunning. The normally expected number of cancer cases in such a group would have been 186. The LNT theory predicts 242. The observed number of cancer cases in this group was 5. Five. This level of radiation exposure was beneficial, apparently by encouraging natural cellular defenses against genetic damage to work overtime. (Of course, there is a higher level of radiation at which damage and additional cancer will begin to occur, but it is far higher than the background level we are all exposed to.)
This information is from his chapter on Safety, which is one of the most fascinating.
I can not recommend this book too highly. Everyone should read it.
All persons interested in this topic should also read:
"Super Fuel: Thorium, the Green Energy Source for the Future" by Richard Martin
The two books are very complimentary in content.
Also, "Super Fuel" gives more of the history of the decisions and personalities involved in the shift to solid fuel reactors and the cancellation of the MSR program.
MSR (Molten Salt Reactor) is the general type of which LFTR is a specific design group using Thorium as the continuing fuel once the reaction has been kick-started with an initial dose of fissile material - U235, U233, or Plutonium. Once the reaction is started, the LFTR generates enough fissile fuel to start the next reactor.
Both Thorium and U238 (the common isotope of Uranium) are fertile, meaning they can be converted to fissile elements and burned in a reactor. The details are fascinating.
The fundamental facts are that the liquid fuel reactor has several major advantages:
Cannot melt down (fuel is already liquid) or explode (no hydrogen or water in the reactor, operates at nearly atmospheric pressure).
Can use present stockpiles of Nuclear Waste as fuel, burning them and leaving only 1/100th the volume of waste, which is low-level radioactive elements that need storage for only 200-300 years instead of the 20,000 years for present waste from solid fuel reactors - solving the storage problem.
Is far cheaper to build and can be built in small sizes for use in remote areas or as power for ocean vessels. These reactors are so safe that they do not require a massive containment structure. If there is a fuel leak from any kind of damage, the fuel simply falls on the floor and hardens. It can be scooped up and re-used in the reactor once the problem is fixed. A fuel spill from a LFTR is measured in square meters, not square kilometers.
Proliferation is not a problem. The fuel could not be extracted and used as any sort of weapon without extreme difficulty and major facilities to process the radioactive materials. Nobody wanting to build a weapon would use a LFTR. That is part of the reason the LFTR program was dropped by the government.
No huge cooling towers needed, no water necessary to cool the reactor. In the case of any problem the LFTR goes into automatic cold shutdown.
Finally, Thorium is several times as abundant as Uranium - about as abundant as lead. We will never run out of it, and since it is almost non-radioactive it is much easier and cheaper to mine than Uranium. Fuel costs are nearly zero since most Thorium is mined as part of the mining of Rare Earth elements, and is presently considered a waste product. We have piles of Thorium ingots lying around in desert areas right now. Since there is only one isotope of Thorium in nature, it is ready to use as mined. No processing is needed except converting it into the fluoride salt for use in the reactor.
Thorium is really neat stuff. A very friendly element.
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