AmiCOUR IP Group News and Opinions

Welcome to the AmiCOUR IP Blog.  We invite your comments.  Past Issues. 

June 15, 2010 - With news reports dominated by the BP oil spill, few have mentioned the alternate of two evils: nuclear power.  Fast Company today reported that Bill Gates backed TerraPower received a $35 million investment round to team with Toshiba to develop small sized "traveling wave" nuclear reactors.  Why return to nuclear power?  It turns out that traveling wave reactors run for 60 - 100 years on one load of readily available depleted uranium. The company believes its reactors could supply power for thousands of years without having to process fuel.  Some believe the novel reactors might even be disposable by being loaded only once with fuel and buried deep in the earth. They could run for a hundred years and then be safely abandoned, waste fuel and all. The technology could deliver electrical power all over the world. Gates, or might we say inventor Gates, recently unveiled a laser mosquito zapper designed to hone in on the noise of buzzing wings and zap away to kill thousands of mosquitoes in a few seconds. In the old days, they used to spray oil on the swamps to kill the mosquitoes. Gates may once again have the better mosquito trap. Read comments.