In an exclusive interview with the Floridian Press, Scott Jewett, the Libertarian candidate for Florida governor, is still betting big on thorium.
Thorium, a naturally occurring metal that is more common than uranium, which is used in today’s nuclear power plants, could be Florida’s next energy source. Texas is already exploring the option.
The Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TESS) has received a 5.4 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to develop technology that would convert long-lived nuclear waste into fuel for advanced reactors.
The project, titled Turning Nuclear Waste into Fuel with a Thorium Molten Salt Reactor, is led by Lin Shao, a professor in Texas A&M’s Department of Nuclear Engineering.
Jewett, who’s all-in on thorium, said that there’s “momentum” to move Florida to thorium, noting, “I’ve connected and got an NDA in place with Copenhagen Atomics,” a company founded in 2014 with the goal of building molten salt reactors powered by thorium.
“We gotta get the nuclear regulatory commission to give us approval,” Jewett commented, noting that “China has a couple of these in place.”
Thorium, he argues, is a no-brainer, because it’s affordable and efficient.
“A golf ball size of thorium would power everything in your life, from the moment you’re born to the day you die,” Jewett claims.
“When we get inexpensive or very cheap, safe – no Co2, no environmental impacts, no using of fresh water, energy in the state – it’s gonna make everything more affordable. I mean, drastically. That’s like a renaissance coming in my opinion."
However, to move Florida to thorium, there are obstacles that a Jewett administration would have to navigate.
“I know that there’s fights against this, and you know who’s fighting against this? The coal companies, the oil companies, the wind companies, the solar companies.”
When asked how he would navigate legislative setbacks, Jewett called himself a “unifier.”
“I enjoy being an underdog, and I think I’m tactful in a fight. I think I can align people better than anybody else,” he commented. “What I’ve found in the Libertarian Party is that I’ve been that force that’s brought people together and made them say ‘hey, we gotta work as a team here.’”
Moreover, Jewett argues that legislators could be opposed to the move because they don’t have all the information.
“When I’m testifying at this hearing at the special session for property tax, the legislators were saying, ‘Well, I don’t have a budget. How’s this gonna impact that?’ Nobody brought them the information. I’m a business guy. You don’t say ‘buy this piece of equipment’ without looking at the budget and understanding what its impact is. What’s it gonna do for productivity and profitability?” Jewett argued. “I think the legislators are hungry for that. They’re just not getting the information.”
For Jewett, thorium would solve many of Florida’s energy concerns, namely those surrounding data centers.
“It solves data centers because now you can power them and have the excess energy go right into the grid,” Jewett argued. “It’ll actually lower costs.”
“[Data centers have] been turned into a hobgoblin that you’re supposed to be afraid of,” Jewett added. “Jolly says he’s gonna study it for a year, and Byron says ‘let’s bring more in.’”
“Solve the problem. Don’t just say yes or no to something,” Jewett affirmed.
