00:00:16
today we still get more than 75% of the
00:00:21
global energy supply from fossil fuels
00:00:24
but we only get 1% from wind and solar
00:00:29
now we all know that we need to stop
00:00:32
using these fossil fuels because they
00:00:34
create pollution and cu2 problems but
00:00:38
how how are you going to do that in my
00:00:41
country we have been building wind power
00:00:43
for more than 40 years now essentially
00:00:46
all my life and we're still only able to
00:00:49
supply a fraction of the in the
00:00:52
country's total energy apply from wind
00:00:54
fossil fuels also create other problems
00:00:57
with wars and conflicts around the world
00:00:59
and that results in migration and
00:01:03
refugees and hardship for a lot of
00:01:06
people who didn't get a lot of benefit
00:01:09
from those fossil fuels in the first
00:01:11
place
00:01:12
but I believe that it's the
00:01:14
responsibility of our generation to find
00:01:18
a solution to this transition from
00:01:22
fossil fuels to something else and it's
00:01:27
not going to be the global energy
00:01:29
companies that are going to help us do
00:01:31
that and I don't think that politicians
00:01:33
are not going to do that for us at least
00:01:36
not on their own it's not going to be
00:01:38
the guy on the street in Bangladesh or
00:01:40
somewhere that's going to solve the
00:01:42
problems it's us it's people in the rich
00:01:45
part of the world it's people like you
00:01:47
and me and people in other rooms like
00:01:51
this that are going to solve this
00:01:53
problem and I have a great confidence
00:01:56
that we can find a way to solve it and
00:01:59
one of the reasons is I read an article
00:02:01
on the internet five years ago it said a
00:02:03
ball this size made out of thorium can
00:02:08
supply you with all the energy you need
00:02:10
for your entire life
00:02:12
and there's enough thorium on this
00:02:16
planet to power the entire humanity with
00:02:19
entity plenty of energy for more
00:02:22
thousand years and then it said in that
00:02:25
article that thorium costs next to
00:02:27
nothing I had to admit when I read that
00:02:30
I didn't believe it for one second so I
00:02:34
just put it away and I went on with my
00:02:36
life but I'm the kind of guy who reads a
00:02:39
lot of tech news and these stories about
00:02:42
molds or reactors and thorium and he
00:02:45
kept on popping up in those take new
00:02:47
streams and I read a few more of those
00:02:50
and I was curious and then I said to
00:02:53
myself hey I'm an engineer and engineers
00:02:57
are supposed to go home and calculate if
00:03:00
it's really true all the things that
00:03:03
we've been told in the media so I did
00:03:05
and thorium is an element in the
00:03:08
periodic table it was easy to find all
00:03:11
the numbers that I needed for my
00:03:12
calculation on Wikipedia and in less
00:03:15
than 15 minutes I was able to calculate
00:03:18
and get the result and it's true I was
00:03:22
stunned in a big way when I found out
00:03:24
it's really true there's all the energy
00:03:27
that I need for my entire life in this
00:03:30
ball not just for electricity but for
00:03:34
everything for heating my house and
00:03:36
cooking my food and for building roads
00:03:40
and schools and houses and hospitals and
00:03:43
to manufacture all the products and
00:03:45
goods that I need throughout my entire
00:03:47
life and transportation everything for a
00:03:52
hundred years in this ball that
00:03:54
fascinated me more than just a little
00:03:56
bit I thought this is super cool I want
00:04:00
to get me one of those balls so I went
00:04:01
on the internet and I googled wek why
00:04:03
can't I buy one of these but I couldn't
00:04:07
it turns out that thorium is slightly
00:04:10
radioactive so there are some rules and
00:04:12
regulations but more importantly we're
00:04:15
not using thorium anywhere in the
00:04:17
industry today
00:04:17
that means there's no demand for thorium
00:04:20
that means there's no supply and there's
00:04:23
no market and no market price but for
00:04:27
that research so I did find out that
00:04:29
it's true but there's lots of foam in
00:04:32
this world for many thousand years
00:04:35
and when we mind for other materials
00:04:37
that we need for high-tech products and
00:04:40
electronics we get lots of tharam out of
00:04:43
the ground in those mining operations
00:04:45
but because there is no demand for it
00:04:48
the mining companies they don't want to
00:04:50
refine it so they just put it back in
00:04:52
the ground but we have been using
00:04:54
thorium a little bit in the past and we
00:04:57
know how to refine it and it's actually
00:04:58
a easy and very simple process not very
00:05:01
expensive and that means that if we were
00:05:03
to mine thorium at an industrial scale
00:05:07
then the ball the size will cost you
00:05:12
less than $100 ladies and gentlemen that
00:05:18
is less than one dollar per year for
00:05:24
your entire energy supply think about
00:05:28
that next time you go to the gas station
00:05:29
and fill up your car of course I also
00:05:33
thought about that and it's like this
00:05:36
seems really great so we have all this
00:05:39
energy in this ball but why are we not
00:05:40
using it what's the problem what am I
00:05:44
not being told and then I find out oh of
00:05:48
course it's because we need a machine so
00:05:50
convert thorium into energy and that
00:05:54
machine is probably super duper
00:05:57
difficult to make it's probably
00:05:58
something that the scientist has been
00:06:00
spending billions of dollars and decades
00:06:02
of research and they have no idea how to
00:06:05
make it work but around that time I'd
00:06:09
also found out that there's there was a
00:06:13
small group of scientists back in the
00:06:15
60s at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in
00:06:19
Tennessee in United States and they
00:06:22
build a machine that they called a
00:06:24
molten salt reactor they had a very
00:06:28
limited budget and it took them a few
00:06:30
years to built the machine and then when
00:06:33
they turned it on it worked right away
00:06:36
and they ran it for five years
00:06:40
who
00:06:44
now that machine wasn't able to convert
00:06:49
thorium into energy but the scientists
00:06:52
knew that if they could make this
00:06:54
machine work then they could build the
00:06:57
next version and the next version was
00:06:59
highly likely able to work and it would
00:07:02
convert thorium into energy but then the
00:07:05
government at the time and the president
00:07:08
this was Nixon at that time he had
00:07:10
promised some people in California that
00:07:11
he he wanted to create jobs over there
00:07:14
and they that government they didn't
00:07:16
really understand this project of his
00:07:18
new technology in Tennessee so they
00:07:20
decided to shut it down and spent some
00:07:23
of those money in jobs in California and
00:07:25
then through some really unfortunate
00:07:28
circumstances this technology didn't get
00:07:32
to the public's attention for almost 50
00:07:35
years until a guy called Kirk Sorensen
00:07:39
heard about it and he then he started to
00:07:42
dig into this and he found out about and
00:07:44
he started to publish some of these
00:07:45
papers that the scientist had written in
00:07:47
the 60s on the Internet and then people
00:07:51
started to realize holy cow this is like
00:07:55
the holy grail of in an energy
00:07:56
production and we've been sitting on top
00:07:58
of it for all this time and then word
00:08:02
started to spread around the world and
00:08:03
and people got involved and that's of
00:08:05
course also how I got involved
00:08:08
now these molds are reactors is really
00:08:11
the key here so I want to tell you a
00:08:13
little bit more about them first of all
00:08:15
it's a nuclear reactor but it's very
00:08:18
very different from the old type of
00:08:20
nuclear reactors that we have in all
00:08:22
power plants today all nuclear power
00:08:24
plants I want to just quickly go through
00:08:30
how they are different well first of all
00:08:33
the old power plants they have cause
00:08:35
really big buildings and it takes many
00:08:38
years to build and they're very
00:08:39
expensive I think you all know that and
00:08:41
then they rely on electrical systems and
00:08:45
humans and control rooms with lots of
00:08:47
dials and buttons to make sure that they
00:08:49
run safely and then finally when we put
00:08:53
uranium into them and burn that uranium
00:08:56
those old type of reactors are only
00:08:58
capable of burning a few percent of that
00:08:59
fuel so what we get out of the reactor
00:09:02
we call spent nuclear fuel and it's
00:09:04
radioactive
00:09:05
and needs to be stored safely for a
00:09:07
hundred thousand years or more and that
00:09:09
has caused a lot of headache in those
00:09:11
countries who rely on nuclear energy
00:09:13
today but let's try to compare that to
00:09:15
moulds or reactors those reactions are
00:09:18
can be built really small and then can
00:09:21
be built on an assembly line just like
00:09:23
we build cars and airplanes and when we
00:09:27
do that we can get the price to come
00:09:28
down and the quality to go up over time
00:09:30
and once we get into volume production
00:09:33
these molds our reactors can be built at
00:09:37
a very very different price point than
00:09:40
old type of nuclear power you know very
00:09:43
small price and then with regards to the
00:09:46
safety molds our reactors is known to be
00:09:48
one of the safest reactor types that we
00:09:51
know of and I want to point out two
00:09:53
things there's one safety theme called
00:09:56
walkaway safety and it simply means that
00:09:59
if all the human operators were to walk
00:10:01
away from it and reactor that is running
00:10:03
and we lose the control systems or the
00:10:06
electricity then these reactor types are
00:10:08
still capable of shutting themselves
00:10:10
down and come to a stop for using simple
00:10:13
physical and mechanical properties and
00:10:15
when they stop they don't release any
00:10:18
harmful materials to the surroundings
00:10:19
the other principle is called the
00:10:22
prime-minister safety and it simply
00:10:24
means that no matter how many stars you
00:10:26
have on your shoulders you will not be
00:10:28
able to operate these reactors in a way
00:10:30
where they become dangerous or unsafe
00:10:32
even better if somebody tries to fiddle
00:10:36
with the reactor in ways that they
00:10:38
shouldn't then these reactors are
00:10:40
capable of letting the world know about
00:10:41
it before things get out of hand but
00:10:45
what really got me hooked is feature
00:10:48
number four about the waste because
00:10:51
these moons our reactors are capable of
00:10:53
burning all the fuel that we put into
00:10:55
them that means if I put this ball or
00:10:57
throw them into that reactor and burn it
00:10:59
then I what I get out is it is a small
00:11:01
the same science of waste and the tiny
00:11:04
fraction and that is radioactive and it
00:11:06
needs to be storage safely for 300 years
00:11:09
but we already know how to store
00:11:11
something very safe for 300 years so
00:11:14
essentially all the headaches have been
00:11:16
cleared up but what's really great is
00:11:19
that we can take the spent nuclear fuel
00:11:21
from these old type of reactors and
00:11:23
bring it over here and then we can mix
00:11:25
it with the thorium and then we can burn
00:11:28
it one more time and get additional
00:11:30
energy out of it but also really
00:11:33
importantly when we burn it the second
00:11:35
time in the molten salt reactors we
00:11:37
reduce the number of years that the
00:11:38
wastes have to be stored also to 300
00:11:41
years so let me just know so when I
00:11:47
heard about all of this I decided this
00:11:50
is really great well you know why are we
00:11:52
not using it and I decided I could not
00:11:55
just sit around and wait for this to
00:11:56
happen I had to get involved so I
00:11:59
started to travel the world to go to
00:12:01
conferences about 4 amenity and molten
00:12:03
salt reactors and build an international
00:12:04
network of scientists and engineers that
00:12:07
I could work with and then here in
00:12:09
Copenhagen I was also able to meet with
00:12:11
some really great scientists and
00:12:14
engineers and we formed a group and
00:12:15
eventually we decided to start a company
00:12:17
together and that call that company is
00:12:20
called Copenhagen Atomics and our dream
00:12:23
or our vision in coming Atomics is we
00:12:25
want to bring we want to help bring this
00:12:27
new energy source to market bring this
00:12:31
technology to market and we want to do
00:12:33
that through openness and through
00:12:36
collaboration we want to collaborate
00:12:38
with people from other countries
00:12:39
scientists and engineers and we have
00:12:43
this a long-term vision that we want to
00:12:47
build these molds or reactors inside a
00:12:49
40-foot shipping container on an
00:12:51
assembly line and then we want to ship
00:12:54
them out into the world to where the
00:12:55
wasters and help burn that waste out of
00:12:57
existence so those those molds or
00:13:01
reactors should be configured as waste
00:13:03
burners and that's why we call it the
00:13:05
Copenhagen atomic waste burner
00:13:10
now let's step back and talk about or
00:13:14
rephrase what it is that I've told you
00:13:16
here first of all there's this new type
00:13:18
of fuel that we didn't realize most of
00:13:21
us that it existed and there's lots of
00:13:24
it and we can use that to replace fossil
00:13:27
fuels and then there's this machine that
00:13:31
allow us to burn it in a way where it
00:13:32
produced no pollution no see you - and
00:13:35
it can even help us reduce the stockpile
00:13:39
of radioactive waste that we have around
00:13:40
the world but I don't think that's
00:13:43
that's really great but the biggest
00:13:45
thing for me it's the last point is that
00:13:49
by implementing this system for
00:13:51
producing energy we will be able to
00:13:53
produce enough energy for all of us in
00:13:55
this world so we don't have to fight
00:13:57
over anything anymore in wars and
00:14:00
conflicts and hopefully this will help
00:14:02
us reduce the wars and conflicts and all
00:14:04
the problems that are related to that
00:14:06
and I think it would be really great if
00:14:09
our generation could achieve that to
00:14:12
implement a new energy system like that
00:14:14
that could achieve all these things
00:14:16
instead of the fossil fuel so I want to
00:14:20
ask you to reconsider how should we
00:14:23
build a newer energy system in this
00:14:26
world if you were responsible how would
00:14:30
you design such a system I'm pretty sure
00:14:34
that you would probably not give special
00:14:37
rights and unfair advantages to a few
00:14:40
rich countries or a few global
00:14:41
corporations and then allow them to take
00:14:44
advantage of the fact that we all need
00:14:46
energy if we want to live a prosperous
00:14:48
lives and you will probably not allow
00:14:52
them to influence our political systems
00:14:54
and many of the decisions that are made
00:14:56
around the world and then there's also
00:15:01
these problems where decisions are made
00:15:04
about our environment for example I'm
00:15:07
thinking about tar sands and gas
00:15:09
fracking
00:15:10
I mean we've really become so hungry for
00:15:13
fossil fuels that we're trying really
00:15:15
hard to destroy the world around us so I
00:15:19
think it would be great if we can find
00:15:20
ways to solve that by rethinking how
00:15:24
we have the energy system and finally I
00:15:30
want to take it to your home and think
00:15:33
about in your home you probably have
00:15:35
running water and internet connection
00:15:38
now nobody owns the water in this world
00:15:42
nobody owns the Internet but still for a
00:15:47
small monthly fee usually a flat fee you
00:15:50
can get utility providers to provide
00:15:52
those services to your home and it's of
00:15:54
great benefit to you so what if nobody
00:15:59
owned the thorium in this world and
00:16:01
nobody owned the technology to convert
00:16:03
or to build these molten salt reactors
00:16:06
then maybe someday in the future we
00:16:11
could have an energy system where for a
00:16:13
small flat fee per month you would be
00:16:16
able to get all the energy you want into
00:16:18
your house you can use that in your 3d
00:16:20
printer to print all kinds of products
00:16:22
you need and of course to heat your home
00:16:24
and and cook your food but also to
00:16:26
charge your electrical vehicle whether
00:16:28
it's a car or some kind of flying device
00:16:30
I think that's the kind of future that
00:16:35
we should try to aspire to but of course
00:16:38
now I told you all the great things
00:16:40
about 4 amenity but so why don't we have
00:16:43
it already and of course that's because
00:16:46
there's there's still some things that
00:16:47
needs to be solved
00:16:48
there's a stack of people problems and
00:16:52
has to be solved and then there's a
00:16:53
smaller stack of technical problems but
00:16:56
the real big problem is that they really
00:16:59
interconnected and it's like the hen and
00:17:02
the egg problem you cannot solve one
00:17:04
without having solved the other one
00:17:05
first and vice versa so it it makes it
00:17:08
really difficult to get started and
00:17:10
nobody wants to be the first one to come
00:17:12
in and invest if everyone everyone else
00:17:15
can just come later and get a free lunch
00:17:17
so there's some hurdles that we need to
00:17:20
attack and that's where we need you I
00:17:23
think it's going to be people like you
00:17:26
people in the rich part of the world you
00:17:28
should bring this forward and how can
00:17:31
you help
00:17:31
well the the least thing you can do is
00:17:34
to tell your colleagues and friends and
00:17:36
family
00:17:37
that this new energy system exists that
00:17:41
it's possible because before as a
00:17:44
society before we know about this we
00:17:46
cannot have a debate about it and then
00:17:48
we're definitely not moving anywhere but
00:17:51
then the next steps is that we need a
00:17:53
lot of people with skills in
00:17:54
communication and law and design and
00:17:57
graphics and many of these soft skills
00:17:59
to help us build this energy system so I
00:18:02
invite all of you who have an interest
00:18:04
in building a better world for the
00:18:06
future to come along and help with this
00:18:09
task so that we can build yeah better
00:18:12
future for you for me and for the next
00:18:14
generations thank you
00:18:23
you
