Thorium Reactor Problems - Why Is There No Real Research Done In The Us On Thorium Uranium Reactors When It Held So Much Promise 50 Years Ago Quora
At the same time that Thorium has advantages it has disadvantages. If 232Th is loaded in the nuclear reactor the nuclei of 232Th absorb a.
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Thorium reactors have long held an elusive appeal for nuclear scientists.
Thorium reactor problems. But to use Thorium is to use breeding and we dont do deliberate breeding. Thorium reactors do not eliminate problems. Four commercial thorium reactors were constructed all of which failed.
Another claim is. Chinas experimental reactor wont be the worlds first. But actually with LFTRs yes there is a smaller volume of waste but it is more intensively radioactive.
The small number of neutrons per fission is a drawback for the design of the reactor. Thorium has been tested as a fuel in other types of nuclear reactors in countries such as the US Germany and the UK and is part of a nuclear program in India. The reactor itself at the end of its lifetime will constitute high level waste.
They still pose problems and opportunities for the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The bottom line is this. Thorium Rare Earth Elements REE and Molten Salt Reactors MSR covered in brand-new book by Victoria Bruce.
When you add a neutron poison like thorium into your core you need to add extra enriched uranium which is extra expensive. Thorium reactors avoid the problem of radioactive waste. I think the claim that thorium reactors are more proliferation resistant has to do with the fact that the process of converting thorium to uranium 233 also results in generating uranium 232.
Uranium 232 has a half-life of 689 years and its daughter radionuclides emit intense highly penetrating gamma rays that make the material difficult to handle. Others caution that thorium reactors pose waste and proliferation risks. If necessary more thorium fluoride can also be bled.
And because of the complexity of problems listed below thorium reactors are far more expensive than uranium fueled reactors. Thorium reactors still produce high-level radioactive waste. Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory ORNL pioneered thorium-based MSRs in.
All other issues aside thorium is still nuclear energy say environmentalists its reactors disgorging the same toxic byproducts and fissile waste with the same millennial half-lives. Conferences with experts from as many as 32 countries are held including one by. Research and development of thorium-based nuclear reactors primarily the liquid fluoride thorium reactor LFTR MSR design has been or is now being done in the United States United Kingdom Germany Brazil India China France the Czech Republic Japan Russia Canada Israel Denmark and the Netherlands.
Sitting just two positions to the left of uranium on the periodic table of chemical elements nearly all mined thorium is. Thorium has other advantages as well. The naturally occurring isotope thorium-232 cannot be fissioned but when irradiated in a reactor it absorbs neutrons and forms uranium-233 a fissile material that generates heat.
Taxpayers billions of dollars while billions more dollars are still required to dispose of the highly toxic waste emanating from these. These must be shut down every 18 months in order to exchange fuel rod batches. Thorium 232 is only a fertile material and the main problem can be directly in the breeding of fissile uranium 233.
Thorium fuel cycles offer their own unique approach to a breeding fuel cycle. Uranium 232 is quite easy to detect from large distances which makes it undesirable for nuclear weapons ie it is too easy to find them. Ira Flatow and guests discuss the pros and cons of thorium reactors.
Thorium fuel was included alongside uranium in the first core of the Indian Point 1 reactor in New York in. The longstanding effort to produce these reactors cost the US. Once that is done on thorium it produces uranium 233 the fissile material needed for nuclear power generation.
The uranium 233 produced in thorium reactors is contaminated with uranium 232 which is produced through several different neutron absorption pathways. They still present opportunities for catastrophic accident scenarios -- as potential targets of terrorist or military attack for example. That then becomes another problem with thorium.
The result is that in contrast to light water reactors thorium reactors can run for years without interruption.
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