Thorium: Nuclear Energy for The Future
Published by Thorium is an interesting element that provides much promise in the nuclear energy industry, and could be the key to the solution of the current worldwide energy crisis.
This article discusses one particular promising reactor design based on Thorium: The Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor.
Thorium. It has the potential to solve many of the issues scientists and politicians deal with today. Along with the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor, it brings many benefits to the table, offering solutions to many problems faced by governments and power companies around the world. These include greatly increased efficiency, reduced waste production and pollution, added safety, secure supplies and a solid proliferation resistance.
Thorium is not new technology. In fact, the first reactors of the nuclear age and the cold war were thorium reactors. However, due to the need to supply plutonium and nuclear weapons grade material, many governments such as the USSR and the USA pulled the plug on thorium power programs, opting instead for flawed uranium reactors.
The day of the cold war is vastly different from today. Viewpoints and ideologies have changed vastly, and now the world seeks to reduce its nuclear weapons stockpiles while reaping the benefits of cheap nuclear power.
Thorium serves today’s needs.
Thorium: The Element and its Sources
The element Thorium is a naturally occurring metal of atomic number 90. Despite its slight radioactivity, one could have a piece of thorium in his/her pocket and remain unharmed.
Thorium Oxide (ThO2) and Thorite (ThSiO4) are both prominent sources of thorium, but Monazite is by far the most common source, a rare earth phosphate mineral. Thorium Oxide has one of the highest oxide melting points, at 3300 degrees Celsius.
The most common isotope of Thorium found is Th-232. While this isotope is not directly fissile, it is fertile, which means that it can absorb a slow neutron and then simultaneously undergo two beta decays in order to form Uranium-233, a fissile material.
Introducing the Reactor: The LFTR (“Lifter”)
The LFTR, or Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor, is a reactor design that runs on Thorium-232, directly converting it into Uranium-233, generating great deals of energy, cheaply and efficiently.
Thorium and Uranium are dissolved into Lithium and Beryllium Fluoride in a LFTR reactor, and the fission occurs within these salts. The chemical properties of these salts make them suitable for the job. They are chemically stable, can resist high temperatures and radiation levels, and are non-corrosive. As observed in the diagram, the fissionable U-233 core is surrounded by a blanket of fertile thorium that absorbs neutrons from the fission process and becomes new U-233 fuel to sustain the reaction.
Also different is the use of a turbine system to generate electricity from a gas heated by the liquid salt core. Rather than use a steam system, this is said to be far more efficient and safe in design. The waste heat then can be used to desalinate water or produce higher grades of coal.
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On August 8, 2010 at 11:25 pm
> Thorium is usable and employable TODAY.
BS. No one knows how to make them. There are no commercial LFTR reactors on the planet – and there won\\\’t be for decades at BEST. It may never arrive.
> Global warming and the energy crisis won’t wait for 50 years until the development of economically viable nuclear fusion.
Global warming and the energy crisis won’t wait for 20, 30 or more years until the development of economically viable LFTR.
We need to go with what works NOW – renewable energy. And that is exactly what is happening already – we just need to move faster on it.
On August 9, 2010 at 8:43 am
Its going to take years and billions of dollars before we can replace most of our coal-fired power stations with renewable resources. The energy density is just too low for it to be economically viable; each solar or wind farm would generate electricity entire orders of magnitude less than a uranium or thorium nuclear reactor.
LFTR, on the other hand, can be easily mass produced using a model similar to that of producing Boeing 747’s. A single LFTR could have the potential to replace entire batches of coal-fired stations.
Plus, renewables are too unreliable. What if there is no sun or wind?
On August 9, 2010 at 8:45 am
Oh, and I just realised that I refer to diagrams and pictures in my report, this was because it had some when it was submitted as a school assignment. I did not include them when submitting through triond.
On August 9, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Brachneos:
> Its going to take years and billions of dollars before we can replace most of our coal-fired power stations with renewable resources.
Correct. That’s why we need to start doing it *seriously* NOW.
> The energy density is just too low for it to be economically viable;
Garbage. You only need to look at Germany or Spain or Denmark or any of the many countries now rapidly deploying renewable energy.
> …each solar or wind farm would generate electricity entire orders of magnitude less than a uranium or thorium nuclear reactor.
And each solar or wind farm costs entire orders of magnitude less than a uranium or thorium nuclear reactor – so you build more of them. They can also be built MUCH quicker.
> LFTR, on the other hand, can be easily mass produced…
Again: “No one knows how to make them. There are no commercial LFTR reactors on the planet – and there won’t be for decades at BEST. It may never arrive.”
> A single LFTR could have the potential to replace entire batches of coal-fired stations.
When someone works out how to make them, then we can talk about what they “could have the potential” to do.
> …renewables are too unreliable. What if there is no sun or wind?
Garbage. The sun shines every day – even if there are clouds. The wind is always blowing somewhere. Also no one is suggesting wind + solar provides all energy. They are part of the renewable portfolio – including geothermal, biomass, biogas, etc.
LFTR does not exist except in the fantasies of people who think it is going to magically solve the world’s energy problems. The reality is that even if someone works out how to make it COMMERCIALLY viable it is DECADES away at best. We do not have DECADES to act on global warming.
Renewable energy is here now – and it works – and it is safe and clean. It is falling in cost and improving in efficiency. These reasons show why it is being deployed. See http://www.ren21.net/globalstatusreport/g2010.asp for a snapshot of REALITY.