3 HN users recommended this talk4 months2009–2011score 4
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
HN used it as the go-to introduction to LFTR and thorium reactor technology in energy threads.
Kirk Sorensen's Google Tech Talk on liquid-fluoride thorium reactors, a design that could burn nuclear waste and use thorium as fuel. It draws on Oak Ridge National Laboratory work from the 1950s and 60s.
“If you don't know about the LFTR, check out this talk by Kirk Sorensen” (HN, 2010)
He should probably draw a liquid fluoride thorium reactor, then.. (If you don't know about the LFTR, check out this talk by Kirk Sorensen: [this video] )
> Of course, if we had fusion we could easily solve this problem, but that's a good 40 years away. I'm not sure if Fusion would be much better than fission (which isn't to say that it's not good, just that it doesn't seem nearly as much of an improvement as some would want us to believe (many of those people writing grant proposals)): [link] What I'd really like to see is a liquid-fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR). Check out this Google Tech Talk about it: [this video]
Google Tech Talk on liquid-fluoride thorium reactors
However the events unfold I wonder if this will cause more nations to investigate other reactor technologies like Thorium. The abundance of Thorium and its inherent safety mechanisms (as a liquid at least) make the technology very exciting. Check out the Google Tech Talk [this video]
Thorium reactor tech with inherent safety mechanisms
Here are the original videos: The Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor: What Fusion Wanted To Be [link] Aim High: Using Thorium Energy to Address Environmental Problems [link] Lessons for the Liquid-Fluoride Thorium Reactor (from history) [this video]
Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.
5 Hacker News comments
From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.
Citations, criticism and jokes