Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Uranium Is So Last Century — Enter Thorium, the New Green Nuke
Source cannot be posted | December 21, 2009

Posted on 12/27/2009 5:23:09 PM PST by Lorianne

See link in post below


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: energy; nuclear; nuke; science; thorium; uranium
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-46 next last
To: Lorianne; KevinDavis

Bomb o’ the future?


21 posted on 12/27/2009 5:56:31 PM PST by GeronL (This is a tagline)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: driftdiver
Thor movie comes out in 2011..Directed by Kenneth Branagh
22 posted on 12/27/2009 5:56:54 PM PST by GSP.FAN (These are the times that try men's souls.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: qam1
“The environmental movement is not about saving the environment, it’s about stopping American capitalism.”

Nailed it. Primarily that, but many in the leadership are simply anti-human and anti-technology.

23 posted on 12/27/2009 6:02:03 PM PST by marktwain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: GSP.FAN

“I know my periodic table fairly well so i guess your Dilithium Crystals are some sort of humour of which kind i do not know..”

Yeah...and the accompanying paragraph about the “Star Trek” material - (it’s a little known American pop culture reference to something you may have heard mentioned) probably didn’t clear that up for you, eh?

“If you want to drill for oil in your backyard what is stopping you? Want a hand out?”

Huh? Why, you got some extra money laying around?


24 posted on 12/27/2009 6:03:09 PM PST by jessduntno ("The system is working just as it should..." - Jan "The Man" Napolitano)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

Figures, there would be a nuclear power project that would satisfy everyone’s needs and fears but nope, radical environmentalists don’t want you to have cheap energy; they want you to live like peasants.


25 posted on 12/27/2009 6:06:22 PM PST by Centurion2000 (Something is seriously wrong when the .gov plans to treat citizens worse than they treat terrorists)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mamelukesabre

“awesome. Let’s get to building!”

How long would that take?


26 posted on 12/27/2009 6:13:53 PM PST by jessduntno ("The system is working just as it should..." - Jan "The Man" Napolitano)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Rudder

Rookie NASA engineer discovers a 1950s era book “Fluid Fuel Reactors”, launching him on a quest to learn more about Thorium’s potential to supply nuclear energy without the problems of uranium (waste storage and weapons proliferation).
Started a blog called “Energy from Thorium”.
Wants Thorium to replace coal.


27 posted on 12/27/2009 6:17:05 PM PST by Newtoidaho (Liberals are nothing more than drooling buffoons. Spread the word.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne
Thanks, anyhow. I got enough info from subsequent posts to satisfy my curiosity.

Cunningham police---???

28 posted on 12/27/2009 6:17:50 PM PST by Rudder (The Main Stream Media is Our Enemy---get used to it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne
Thanks, anyhow. I got enough info from subsequent posts to satisfy my curiosity.

Cunningham police---???

29 posted on 12/27/2009 6:18:16 PM PST by Rudder (The Main Stream Media is Our Enemy---get used to it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: jessduntno
OK Now i know what star trek is.. Live long and prosper..
30 posted on 12/27/2009 6:42:35 PM PST by GSP.FAN (These are the times that try men's souls.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: jessduntno

Too much Lysergic Acid Dilithium in the 60’s? {snort-chuckle-guffaw}


31 posted on 12/27/2009 6:43:25 PM PST by papasmurf (You betcha!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne; GSP.FAN; All

It’s in interesting article, thanks for posting it Lorianne.

It looks like they’re putting all their eggs in the Liquid Floride basket; is there any reason they are bypassing Sodium? (I read about it being used as the thermalizer/coolant for some reactors; in the same book, it said that it was ideal for breeder-reactors.) {Yes there is the water/air thing.}

A book titled The Radioactive Boyscout was an interesting read and the titluar character was interested in building his own breeder reactor. While reading it, I was struck with the thought that perhaps cold-welded components would be more ideal for the internals of a nuclear reactor... this article’s excitement about the floride-solution being self-regulating [w/ proper engineering] brought to mind the idea of a hydraulic-piston where the working fluid is moved from one chamber to another; couldn’t this be also used with the Thorium reactor as a control mechanism?

{The cold-welding comes to mind specifically for the materiel in the heat exchanger, which could (and arguably should) be a closed system. Perhaps the heat-exchanger’s and reactor’s thermalizer’s volume/pressure couldbe linked like in the example of the hydraulic-piston as a means of automatically regulating it.}


32 posted on 12/27/2009 6:47:38 PM PST by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne


Yellow cake, anyone?
33 posted on 12/27/2009 6:49:52 PM PST by green pastures (Cynicism-- it's not just for breakfast anymore...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

Interesting read. I am old enough to have read of thorium’s potential as a nuclear fuel source in the early 1960’s and enjoyed this update.


34 posted on 12/27/2009 6:51:59 PM PST by Rockingham
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GSP.FAN
I know my periodic table fairly well so i guess your Dilithium Crystals are some sort of humour of which kind i do not know..

Cluebat below.



























Cheers!

35 posted on 12/27/2009 7:01:01 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

The article is interesting, but lacks lots of information.

First - Thorium in nature is 100% Th-232, which is fertile, but not fissile. You can’t build a reactor with only Th-232 and have it go critical.

Thorium is principally the “blanket material” - add Uranium as the seed material (either U-233 or U-235) that is fissile, and if you add enough that the reactor goes critical, then the Thorium is a great neutron absorber, and the Th-232 that absorbs a neutron becomes transmuted to U-233. So a reactor with a seed/blanket - can go critical, and the Th-232 becomes a source of make-up fuel.

If Thorium is mixed with partially enriched Uranium fuel for reactors - it “breeds” much better than U-238 (which becomes Pu-239 when it captures a neutron.) When the fuel rods need to be discharged - any Plutonium is easily chemically separated and makes good bomb material, because it can be effectively highly enriched ( greater than 90%). On the other hand, if the fuel was 5% U-235, 95% U-238, with Th-232 added in ....the transmuted U-233 can’t be easily separated from the U-238 - making the discharged fuel not easily diverted for bomb material.

So - the article might lead someone to think that you can have a reactor that runs ONLY on Thorium .....but it can’t!! What is actually doing the fissioning in a reactor is Thorium that has been transmuted to Uranium 233.

But heck - why confuse people with more details!


36 posted on 12/27/2009 7:24:39 PM PST by Vineyard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: grey_whiskers

OK enough with the trekkie i get it.


37 posted on 12/27/2009 7:31:33 PM PST by GSP.FAN (These are the times that try men's souls.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

Get ready for a ban on Thorium mining in the US.


38 posted on 12/27/2009 7:34:28 PM PST by mowowie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: OneWingedShark

Sodium is used as coolant for Uranium to Plutonium breeder reactors.
Sodium is heavy enough that the neutrons released from fissions are not thermalized too quickly, thereby giving the Uranium 238 a better chance of absorbing a neutron and being converted to Plutonium 239. (These breeder reactors are referred to as Intermediate Reactors, vs. Thermal reactors - and both terms refer to neutron energy levels.)

Uranium fissioning releases, on average, 243 neutrons per 100 fissions - and when at power, steady state - you want every “life cycle” to have 100 fissions for every 100 fissions in the previous life cycle, and you want as many of the remaining 143 neutrons to be absorbed by U-238 to create Pu-239. Realistically, there is leakage, neutron capture by other materials - but to optimize reactor design - you want to maximize fuel breeding.

For this article - Thorium is an easier breeder at Thermal neutron energy levels - so water moderator is okay. Other fluids are okay, if they have suitable heat conduction, minimal corrosion characteristics, etc.

(US civilian reactors were never used for weapons production of Plutonium. Some Plutonium production reactors use Graphite as the moderator - not as efficient as sodium, but far better than water. The Soviets used graphite moderated reactors in the civilian realm, but diverted Plutonium produced to weapons use. Think Chernobyl!)

Mike


39 posted on 12/27/2009 7:36:18 PM PST by Vineyard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: GSP.FAN; sionnsar; neverdem; grey_whiskers

Oh come on .... Ya mean you haven’t been hoping for a Th reactor since the mid-70’s?

(I personally like the pebble-bed continuous feed reactors myself. Need to get a few going for their Pu by-product production, even if they don’t become full-scale breeders themselves.)


40 posted on 12/27/2009 8:10:07 PM PST by Robert A Cook PE (I can only donate monthly, but socialists' ABBCNNBCBS continue to lie every day!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-46 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson