The Thorium Molten-Salt Reactor...

[Webster]

Thoughts? Could thorium-based nuclear energy become viable at some point in the future?

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Thoughts? Could thorium-based nuclear energy become viable at some point in the future?

I suppose anythings possible. Interesting stuff here Web, even thought I didn't watch the 36 minute video, just skipped to certain parts.

 

[Webster]

Another perspective on the issue of molten-salt reactors...

 

[DrLeftover]

The science writers on various news sites have been batting this back and forth for awhile now, and it appears to be gathering some steam, and, I think I saw something about Canada looking to put one in service.

But when somebody says "they are immune to meltdown" I always chuckle.

Yeah, they may not go all Chernobyl on you, but I'd bet you cash money to stale donuts that they are fully capable of some sort of spectacular catastrophic failure on a similar scale.

 

[Webster]

ZME Science: What's A Molten-Salt Reactor & Why Do We Need It?
Excerpt...

Since former NASA engineer Kirk Sorensen revived forgotten molten salt reactor (MSR) technology in the 2000s, interest in MSR technology has been growing quickly. Since 2011, four separate companies in North America have announced plans for MSRs: Flibe Energy (started by Sorenson himself), Transatomic Power (started by two recent MIT graduates), Terrestrial Energy (based in Canada, which recently partnered with Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory), and Martingale, Inc., which recently made public its design for its ThorCon MSR.

In addition, there is now renewed interest in MSRs in Japan, Russia, France and China, with China also announcing that MSR technology is one of its “five innovation centers that will unite the country’s leading talents for research in advanced science and technology fields, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.”

Why this sudden interest in a nuclear technology that dates back to the 1950s? The answer lies in both the phenomenal safety of MSRs and their potential to help solve so many of today’s energy related problems, from climate change to energy poverty to the intermittency of wind and solar power. In fact, MSRs can operate so safely, they may alleviate public fears about nuclear energy. Before looking at the potential of MSRs, though, it is useful to first take a high-level look at what they are and how they work.

 

[Webster]

Oak Ridge National Laboratory was the home of Alvin Weinberg's Molten Salt Reactor Experiment. The MSRE proved that a fission reaction in molten fluoride salts could be contained in Hastelloy-N, and that a molten salt fueled reactor concept was viable.

Two prototype molten salt reactors were successfully designed, constructed and operated at ORNL. The Aircraft Reactor Experiment in 1954 and Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment 1965-1969. Both used liquid fluoride fuel salts. The MSRE demonstrated fueling with U-233 and U-235. Alvin Weinberg was removed from his post and the MSR program closed down in the early 1970s. Aircraft Reactor Experiment & Molten Salt Reactor Experiment remain the only molten salt reactors ever operated.

...another perspective view on the issue of thorium/molten-salt reactors...

 

[Webster]

But when somebody says "they are immune to meltdown" I always chuckle.

Yeah, they may not go all Chernobyl on you, but I'd bet you cash money to stale donuts that they are fully capable of some sort of spectacular catastrophic failure on a similar scale.

I don't think its' so much "immune to meltdown" in regards to molten-salt reactors as it is that, unlike most nuclear reactors, they're not under high-pressure, which means that, unless I'm mistaken here, right there's a demonstrably lower risk of meltdown. There's also the "freeze plug" redundancy MSRs' have in that, if things go off-the-rails...well, I'm going to quote the Wiki on this one:

Fail safe core. LFTRs can include a freeze plug at the bottom that has to be actively cooled, usually by a small electric fan. If the cooling fails, say because of a power failure, the fan stops, the plug melts, and the fuel drains to a subcritical passively cooled storage facility. This not only stops the reactor, also the storage tank can more easily shed the decay heat from the short-lived radioactive decay of irradiated nuclear fuels. Even in the event of a major leak from the core such as a pipe breaking, the salt will spill onto the kitchen-sink-shaped room the reactor is in, which will drain the fuel salt by gravity into the passively cooled dump tank. (additional info here via. ORNL)

In other words, if there's a grid failure or an on-site power failure, the system's designed to abort w/out an active push, something that isn't present in most pressurized reactors.

 

[Webster]

...apparently, India believes to some degree, in the idea of thorium reactors....

Owing to the abundant availability of Thorium within the country, India has steadfastly pursued with its R&D programme to make use of its Thorium supply to generate electricity. As a result, two types of Reactors using Thorium -- the Fast-Breeder Reactor & the Thorium Cycle based Nuclear Reactors are being developed in India & India is considered one the leading countries in the field of Nuclear energy involving Thorium.

The NDTV report covered the experimental Thorium Fuel Cycle Nuclear currently in operation at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre [BARC] in Mumbai. The deployment of Nuclear Reactors running the Thorium Fuel Cycle is part of the third stage of India's 3-Stage Nuclear programme.

 

[Webster]

....came across this over at Reddit and thought it was interesting...

So we need to switch from fossil fuels fast for obvious reasons. To speed up the process I'm amazed why there still are no Thorium reactors built. They are building a couple in China, so the tech is there.

Instead of using outdated 50's nuclear tech which used uranium fission was mainly set up for the plutonium byproduct farmed to build nukes during the cold war squint emoticon, so the process wasn't really optimized to generate energy... we could instead maybe, I don't know, build Thorium reactors now we've grown past the whole who's got the most nukes thing?

Thorium is 4 times more abundant than Uranium, a lot cheaper and 200 times more efficient. And it can work in a passive environment so no need for immensely pressurized environments like you need with uranium fission, making it a lot safer and environment friendlier. The Fukishima nuclear meltdown could have been prevented if there were Thorium nuclear reactors instead of uranium reactors built before the earthquake and tsunami.

4 grams of Thorium supports a year in energy needs per capita . So this sounds to me like a reliable element with a lot of energy packed into it which gives us a lot of storage energy just a few meters below our feet. And this is just one of a lot of effective alternatives to fossil fuels, geo-thermal/nuclear fusion energy for starters.

I wonder if the cognitive dissonance is blinding us that climate change is real and a immediate direct and indirect threat for millions of people the next decades. We're effecting everything that lives on this planet for the worst by burning overpriced fossilized plants for corporate profit while we can get energy from rocks and sand.


(Reddit user saiphir)

...thoughts?