China bets on thorium (nuclear power)

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/02/01/china_thorium_bet/ ^

[Minus_The_Bear]

China has committed itself to establishing an entirely new nuclear energy programme using thorium as a fuel, within 20 years. The LFTR (Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor) is a 4G reactor that uses liquid salt as both fuel and coolant. China uses the more general term TMSR (Thorium Molten-Salt Reactor).

The thorium fuel cycles produce almost no plutonium, and fewer higher-isotope nasties, the long-lived minor actinides. Thorium is much more abundant than uranium, and the reduced plutonium output eases proliferation concerns. The energy output per tonne is also attractive, even though thorium isn't itself a fissile material.

Thorium reactors are also safer, with the fuel contained in a low-pressure reactor vessel, which means smaller (sub-500MWe) reactors may be worth building. The first Molten-Salt Breeder prototype was built at Oak Ridge in 1950, with an operational reactor running from 1965 to 1969. Six heavy-water thorium reactors are planned in India, which has the world's largest thorium deposits.

[Minus_The_Bear]

Obama wanted his "Sputnik moment"? China is about to use this neglected technology to provide cheaper electricity for their growing cities.

Cheap energy = higher standard of living.

Too bad the greenies talked everybody in the USA out of nuclear development.

Article in WIRED magazine.

Infographic that explains the benefits of Thorium.

[NorCoGOP]

Let's hope it's not the Balthorium G that could set of the Doomsday Device!

[Ouderkirk]

ping for later

[lack-of-trust]

ditto

[muawiyah]

Once you've exhausted the energy potentil of thorium what you have is a pile of RARE EARTHS.

Sounds like a deal eh!

[who_would_fardels_bear]

That we developed this technology in the 50's and 60's, and it is China and India that are finally deploying it is sad beyond belief.

Time to start learning Mandarin.

[DBrow]

“even though thorium isn’t itself a fissile material.”

Editor did not fact check this!

If it’s not fissionable, then what fissions inside the reactor?

Or does he mean bomb-type fissionable? Th 233, odd Z, half-integral spin, low spontaneous fission rate, hmmm....

[Army Air Corps]

Hindi.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

I prefer Chinese food to Indian food.

[BikerJoe]

That we developed this technology in the 50's and 60's, and it is China and India that are finally deploying it is sad beyond belief.

Things happen for a reason. There are probably valid engineering reasons why this technology wasn't adopted here for the first power reactors. Either the problems have been overcome, or this set of reactors is a pet government project with little economic justification.

[CPT Clay]

Just like the old Laugh In shows...Very Interesting.

[steveab]

And what is our energy policy? No Drilling, No Coal, No Nuclear just windmills and sun power. Yep, that will keeps warm at night. Throw the EPA under the bus.

[jimpick]

If I remember correctly this was not used inn the 50’s because it does not produce plutonium as a by product. At the time plutonium was needed for the cold war.

[canuck_conservative]

IIRC, under neutron bombardment, Th233 becomes U233, which is fissile

thus the need for a breeder reactor

[DBrow]

I think Th233 is fissile too, it has the correct physics. There may be issues that make it less practical than a U bomb, but to dismiss Th as “not fissile” in the article is wrong, or deliberately misleading.

Many actinide isotopes have the potential to go Pop. Manhattan project picked the most practical ones they could that would have a short development time.

[bert]

-——Things happen for a reason. ——

The reason of course is money. Oak Ridge Thorium bureaucrats/scientists lacked the salesmanship to prevail.

I see no reason it is sad. Let the Indians develop the technology and if successful, we can use it. To whine that America must do everything mostest and firstest fails to recognize it is a big world.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

I'm not saying we have to do it the mostest and the firstest. I just think we should be doing even a tiny bit of it ... by now.

We could be shipping thorium power plant components to other countries, or at least be sending engineers and architects to other countries to get them built.

Would do wonders for our balance of trade.

[bert]

via now Toshiba owned Westinghouse, we are selling reactors abroad and I’m not positive, but GE is also exporting reactors.

Westinghouse has 14 reactors in the approval process here. I think they will be approved and we will be back in the nuc business