Thorium fuel cycle. The thorium fuel cycle is a nuclear fuel cycle that uses the naturally abundant isotope of thorium, 232Th, as the fertile material.
In the reactor, 232Th is transmuted into the fissile artificial uranium isotope 233U which is the nuclear fuel. Unlike natural uranium, natural thorium contains only trace amounts of fissile material (such as 231Th), which are insufficient to initiate a nuclear chain reaction. Additional fissile material or another neutron source are necessary to initiate the fuel cycle. In a thorium-fueled reactor, 232Th absorbs neutrons eventually to produce 233U.
This parallels the process in uranium breeder reactors whereby fertile 238U absorbs neutrons to form fissile 239Pu. The thorium fuel cycle claims several potential advantages over a uranium fuel cycle, including thorium's greater abundance, superior physical and nuclear properties, better resistance to nuclear weapons proliferation[1][2][3] and reduced plutonium and actinide production.[3] History[edit] [edit] Thorium-Fueled Automobile Engine Needs Refueling Once a Century. By: David Russell Schilling | October 28th, 2013 Thorium Concept Car - Image Courtesy www.greenpacks.com There are now over one billion cars traveling roads around the world directly and indirectly costing trillions of dollars in material resources, time and noxious emissions.
Imagine all these cars running cleanly for 100 years on just 8 grams of fuel each. Laser Power Systems (LPS) from Connecticut, USA, is developing a new method of automotive propulsion with one of the most dense materials known in nature: thorium. Because thorium is so dense it has the potential to produce tremendous amounts of heat. Cadillac World Thorium Fuel Concept (Image Courtesy www.cutedesign.com) Taylor Wilson: Yup, I built a nuclear fusion reactor. 03 - E-Cat - La fusion froide bientôt à la maison ? The Tantalizing Promise And Peril Of Nuclear Fusion. European Fusion Development Agreement. The way to new energy. What is Fusion?
Fusion is the energy source of the Universe, occuring in the core of the Sun and stars. Fusion is the process at the core of our Sun. New Nuclear Power. Fusion For Energy - Bringing the power of the sun to earth. Instant Egghead: What's the Difference Between Fission and Fusion? Energy from Thorium. Green nuclear power coming to Norway. Thorium-fuelled reactors might be the key to a safer, cleaner power supply Credit: Justin Randall SYDNEY: Safer, cleaner nuclear power is a step closer to reality after Norway’s state-owned energy company, Statkraft, this week announced plans to investigate building a thorium-fuelled nuclear reactor.
Statkraft (which translates to “state power”) announced an alliance with regional power providers Vattenfall in Sweden, and Fortum in Finland, along with Norwegian energy investment company, Scatec AS, in a bid to produce the thorium-fuelled plant. Incorrect information regarding Statkraft and thorium - Statkraft.
On the morning news on Monday, 6 October, NRK Dagsnytt gave the impression that Statkraft has an agenda for building of thorium power plants in Norway, and that the group is actively lobbying to gain support for such plans.
None of this is correct, and does not represent the company’s view on thorium. Safe nuclear does exist, and China is leading the way with thorium. “If it begins to overheat, a little plug melts and the salts drain into a pan.
There is no need for computers, or the sort of electrical pumps that were crippled by the tsunami. The reactor saves itself,” he said. “They operate at atmospheric pressure so you don’t have the sort of hydrogen explosions we’ve seen in Japan. One of these reactors would have come through the tsunami just fine. There would have been no radiation release.” Leading physicist calls China's nuclear programme 'rash and unsafe' Nuclear Power Reborn. The two reactors at the South Texas nuclear power plant, an hour southwest of Houston, last year churned out 21.37 billion kilowatt-hours.
By 2015, its majority owner, New Jersey-based NRG Energy, hopes to at least double that capacity if it gets permission to build two more reactors on the site. The company filed the first application on Monday for a new nuclear power plant—two advanced boiling-water reactors—in more than 30 years. "It is a new day for energy in America," David Crane, NRG president and chief executive officer, said after making the application.
"Advanced nuclear technology is the only currently viable large-scale alternative to traditional coal-fueled generation to produce none of the traditional air emissions," including the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change. Armed with the backing of the White House and congressional leaders—and subsidies, such as $500 million in risk insurance from the U.S. Could thorium make nuclear power safe. Is Thorium the Future of Nuclear Power. So following the near meltdown of several reactors at Fukushima Nuclear Power, it’s dead is it?
Well, to follow one FT article, you could be mistaken for thinking that will be the likely outcome. As the article reports, impact on the industry has been dramatic, from miners like Cameco, a major Canadian uranium producer, whose share price has fallen 20 percent since March 10th, to major deals like Russian ARMZ’s acquisition of Mantra Resources for A$1.2 billion that has been called off after the buyer’s (an ARMZ subsidiary Uranium One) share price fell 34 percent. Apparently by the end of last week, the (admittedly thinly traded) spot uranium price had fallen 27 percent since Friday to $50/lb. More importantly for nuclear power, it is not the markets that have been spooked but public opinion and the governments that react to that opinion – at least in democracies.
Select the reports you are interested in:NO-SPAM: Under no circumstances will we EVER rent, sell or give away your email By. “Green Nukes” An Important Climate Change Mitigation Tool. Adam Curry interviewed Curt Stager, the author of Deep Future: The Next 100 Years of Life on Earth for his Big Book Show.
During the interview, Curry and Stager spent several minutes discussing the potential for “green nukes” to be an important climate change mitigation tool. Aside: Adam Curry interviewed me four years ago about Adams Engines; he has been interested in new nuclear power plants for a long time. End Aside. There are many terrific reasons to favor the rapid development of nuclear fission technology.
For some odd reason, possibly having to do with certain brands of political ideology, many nuclear professionals are reluctant to emphasize that last feature. Don't believe the spin on thorium being a greener nuclear option. In a world increasingly aware of and affected by global warming, the news that 2010 was a record year for greenhouse gases levels was something of a blow.
With the world's population due to hit nine billion by 2050, it highlights the increasingly urgent need to find a clean, reliable and renewable source of energy. India hopes it has the answer: thorium, a naturally occurring radioactive element, four times more abundant than uranium in the earth's crust. New age nuclear. Credit: Justin Randall What if we could build a nuclear reactor that offered no possibility of a meltdown, generated its power inexpensively, created no weapons-grade by-products, and burnt up existing high-level waste as well as old nuclear weapon stockpiles? Nuclear Power - a Sustainable Energy Resource. Thorium. (Updated March 2014) Thorium is more abundant in nature than uranium.It is fertile rather than fissile, and can only be used as a fuel in conjunction with a fissile material such as recycled plutonium.Thorium fuels can breed fissile uranium-233 to be used in various kinds of nuclear reactors.Molten salt reactors are well suited to thorium fuel, as normal fuel fabrication is avoided.
The use of thorium as a new primary energy source has been a tantalizing prospect for many years. Extracting its latent energy value in a cost-effective manner remains a challenge, and will require considerable R&D investment. This is occurring preeminently in China, with modest US support. Accelerating Future » A Nuclear Reactor in Every Home. Sometime between 2020 and 2040, we will invent a practically unlimited energy source that will solve the global energy crisis. This unlimited source of energy will come from thorium . A summary of the benefits, from a recent announcement of the start of construction for a new prototype reactor: There is no danger of a melt-down like the Chernobyl reactor.
It produces minimal radioactive waste. It can burn plutonium waste from traditional nuclear reactors. If nuclear reactors can be made safe and relatively cheap, how popular could they get? It depends on how cheap we’re talking about. State-of-the-art nuclear reactors, such as Westinghouse’s AP1000 , cost $1.5 billion to build and produce 1.1 gigawatts of electricity.