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Graduated from high school in May 2012, Taylor Wilson has already been called “The Boy who Played with Fusion” by Popular Science and Forbes has suggested that he may just be “The Bill Gates of Energy.”
In his second TED talk titled “Good energy comes in small packages”, he unveiled his plan to commercialize a molten salt reactor. |
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When I set out to design a reactor, I knew it had to be passive and intrinsically safe. |
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Wilson first received attention at the age of 14 after building a nuclear fusion reactor he’d dreamed up in his parents’ garage.
“I realized that the biggest problem we face — what all these other problems come down to — is energy,” says Wilson. “This is a talk about fission — about taking something old and bringing it into the 21st century.” He focuses on Small Modular Fission Reactors to bring down the cost of molten salt reactors that will run for about 30 years before they run out of juice. The juice, he says, is the waste from old nuclear weapons. “Everybody after Fukushima had to reassess the safety of nuclear,”says Wilson. “When I set out to design a reactor, I knew it had to be passive and intrinsically safe.” He has taken the step from fusion to fission. Next, he might reveal the potential of adding some thorium! Good energy comes in small packages, Taylor Wilson at TED2013 Is This the Bill Gates of Energy?, Forbes The Boy Who Played With Fusion, Popular Science Yup, I built a nuclear fusion reactor, TED2012 |