ABSTRACT
For just as a man-made nuclear reactor supplies us with an energy flow, so the nuclear reactions inside stars supply them with energy flows. And stars have a continuing need for energy to make good what they are losing as they shine out into space. For reasons of nuclear physics concerning the method used to induce break-up, the technology for doing so exists only for the use of uranium and thorium. The importance of breeding for the economy of nuclear power is that it offers the hope of obtaining the break-up energy of all the uranium instead of only the 0.715 per cent. The problem of long-term access to an adequate energy source is therefore solved. It is solved for many thousands of years without needing any really major projections beyond what has been done already – the technology is either accessible now or accessible within a comparatively short-term future, a decade or two at most.
