Thorium Nuclear Reactors Alexander Grover: BSNE/MBA

Overview Nuclear Power Key Concepts Thorium vs. Uranium Pros & Cons Examples of Working Thorium Reactors Designs PWR vs. BWR Pebble Bed LFTR (Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor) Portable and Compact Designs Desalinization Waste Management Glass Vitrification Long Term Storage Politics & Organization Conclusions Another idea that just popped into my head was what kind of organization could or should we form to pursue this? University? A corporation? A utility company? Who currently works on or produces this technology in the US. I believe that where ever we settle I think an emboldened state government would give us a lot of leeway to pursue this. What are the current restrictions to this technology?

Nuclear Power Key Concepts Fission: Energy created by splitting atoms Sub-Critical Reaction Critical Reaction Super Critical Reaction Process: Splitting atoms creates heat which boils water which in turn creates steam to run a turbine which in turn creates electricity . Contamination vs. Radiation: http://www.jlab.org/div_dept/train/rad_guide/rad.html Source of Radiation Types of Radiation Contamination Exposure http://www.nukeworker.com/study/hp/neu/Part_2_Radiation_Protection/RP-4_Radiation_Protection.pdf Inverse Square Law I2 = I / d2 Shielding: Using materials to protect against radiation : Water & Concrete Lead Iron

Thorium vs. Uranium Abundance Efficiency Comparison Thorium Uranium U-238/U-235 Abundance Occurs Everywhere Rare as Gold Efficiency Ca. 99% of fuel consumed in LFTR (Liquid Fluoride Th Reactor) > 1% fuel consumed Working Examples A few prototypes Working examples are everywhere Military and Civilian Weapons Proliferations No Yes Enrichment http://www.dauvergne.com/technology/thorium-vs-uranium/ http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/442/1/Thorium-vs-uranium.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/23/thorium-nuclear-uranium http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_fluoride_thorium_reactor

Pros & Cons of MSR & LFTR PRO CON Significantly Higher Efficiency Commercially unproven Does not Operate under Pressure Chemical intensive Fuel can not be used for weapons Molten salts pose corrosion issues http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten_salt_reactor

Working Examples of Th Reactors Oak Ridge National Laboratory – Only in an Experimental State: Molten Salt Test Reactor Experiment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten-Salt_Reactor_Experiment Nuclear Powered Aircraft Engine Experiment India: R&D Efforts http://www.huffingtonpost.com/angela-saini/indias-thorium-fuelled-dreams_b_1587166.html http://www.nature.com/news/india-won-t-pull-back-on-nuclear-ambitions-1.10735 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_fluoride_thorium_reactor http://www.orissadiary.com/ShowBussinessNews.asp?id=34546

Designs PWR vs. BWR Pebble Bed LFTR: GEN4 Energy Single Loop vs. Double Loop Most Common Designs in Use Westinghouse, GE and US Navy Pebble Bed Allows for online refueling Modular Design http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_bed_modular_reactor LFTR: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3rL08J7fDA GEN4 Energy http://www.gen4energy.com/technology/ http://web.mit.edu/pebble-bed/papers1_files/MIT_PBR.pdf

LFTR

Pebble Bed

Desalinization 783 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly 11% of the world's population. (WHO/UNICEF) Excess Heat from Nuclear Power Generation Can Make Fresh Water US Navy Already uses excess heat to desalinize water Thorium Reactors could bring water to desserts http://www.new.ans.org/pi/ps/docs/ps62.pdf http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Magazines/Bulletin/Bull372/37204782124.pdf http://www.iaea.org/NuclearPower/Desalination/

Waste Management French Model: Long Term Disposal Risk Management Spent Fuel Reprocessing recovers 96% of the waste Glass Vitrification Long Term Disposal Abondened Risk Management Creates Plutonium – This why we don’t do this in the USA 14 cu ft. of waste per Reactor per year Trade-offs Pellet of nuclear fuel vs. Trainloads of coal Thorium Reactors can burn up current Nuclear Waste http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/reaction/readings/french.html http://www.areva.com/EN/operations-1370/nuclear-waste-recycling-and-treatment.html http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/05/18/18climatewire-is-the-solution-to-the-us-nuclear-waste-prob-12208.html?pagewanted=all

Why Aren’t we doing this? Politics: U.S. policy: a state of perpetual indecision Lack of Education: Roots back to Politics & American inability to weigh decisions and evaluate trade-offs

Conclusions Thorium is viable R&D Needed Molten Salts in Reality Pebble Bed Thorium Design is Ideal Not only solves energy problem but also climate change and water problems