Introduction
Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors
Bibiliography
- Research in nuclear energy started in the mid-nineties, but only a few years ago LFTRs were seriously considered
- Possible solution for earth's energy problem by increasing the resources and meeting the global energy demand
Research Question
1. Historical Background
2. Recent Investigations and Current Situation
3. Basic Scientific Concept
4. Advantages and Disadvantages
5. Social and Economic Point of View
6. Summary
7. Conclusion
Is it feasible to apply liquid fluoride thorium reactors to generate renewable energy?
Andreev, L. 2013. Certain issues of economic prospects of thorium-based nuclear energy systems. Bellona Report 2013.
Energy From Thorium Foundation. 2014. Retrieved on 27-04-2015 from www.energyfromthorium.com.
Ergen, W.K., Callihan, A.D., Mills, C.B. and Dunlap Scott. 1957. The Aircraft Reactor
Experiment-Physics. Nuclear Science and Engineering.
Flibe Energy. 2014. Retrieved on 27-04-2015 from www.flibe-energy.com.
Hargraves, R. and Moir, R. 2010. Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors: An old idea in nuclear power gets reexamined. American Scientists.
International Panel on Fissile Materials. 2010. Reducing and Eliminating Nuclear Weapons: Country Perspectives on the Challenges to Nuclear Disarmament.
Machine Design. 2010. Thinking Nuclear? Think Thorium.
Miller, G.T. and Spoolman, S.E. 2012. Living in the environment. Canada: Nelson Education, Cengage Learning.
The Weinberg Foundation, 2013. Report for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Thorium
Energy: Thorium-Fuelled Molten Salt Reactors.
United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 2014. Plutonium. Office of Public Affairs.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1998. Toxicological Review of Beryllium and
Compounds.
Weinberg, A. M. 1994. The First Nuclear Era: The Life and Times of a Technological Fixer. New York: Springer.
Nuclear Power
Conclusion
Historical Background
- LFTRs are definitely safer and more efficient than uranium reactors
- Drawbacks will be solved over time when more research has been done
- In addition to the other renewable resources, liquid fluoride thorium reactors have the potential to generate more clean energy to meet the global energy demand
- Is it feasible to apply liquid fluoride thorium reactors to generate renewable energy?
- Enrico Fermi created the first nuclear reactor in 1942
- Alvin Weinberg publicly identified three fissile isotopes
- Uranium-233, Uranium-235 and Plutonium-239
- 'At the very beginning of nuclear power, we had to choose which possibilities to pursue, which to ignore.'
- Uranium-235 was the only fissile material on earth
- Light water reactors
The Future of Energy?
Summary
Recent Investigations and Current Situation
- The current uranium breeder reactors use solid uranium fuel rods to generate heat
- When power is lost, the control rods could fail to work
- Backup energy power still requires active energy
- Meltdown is likely when the system is not cooled properly
- Reputation has declined
- The liquid fluoride thorium reactors are nuclear reactors that use uranium-233 instead of uranium-235 and Uranium-238.
- The light water reactors which are being used nowadays work well, they produce a reasonable amount of energy, but they have proven to be dangerous.
- The liquid fluoride thorium reactors are the perfect substitution for these reactors.
- Economics, politics and education can help us implementing the thorium reactors in the current society and the government plays a major role in that. Together with private companies, it is economically possible to fund the research and the realization of the liquid fluoride thorium reactors.
‘The fuel choices, reactor configuration, and power conversion system of LFTR have all been chosen to make efficient energy from thorium a reality. It will take research, substantial development effort, and national will to achieve this goal, but the payoff will be immense. A world powered by thorium safely for many tens of thousands of years is the goal of those working to realize the potential of thorium.’
(Machine Design, p. 27)
Basic Scientific Concept
Economic Viewpoint
- Governmental funds and independent organizations and companies will be main sources of income for research and realization
- The economics are hard to speculate, prices depend on the process flow
- ‘The main economic advantages of thorium reactors do not apparently lie in the cheaper energy that they produce, but rather in the lesser cost of management of spent fuel generated by conventional, uranium-based nuclear reactors’.
Impressing Highlight
That one special feature normal uranium reactors do not have
‘A plug of frozen material keeps salts in the reactor core. If power is lost, the plug thaws, draining the
salts into passively cooled dump tanks where nuclear reactions would cease and prevent the spread of any radioactive material’
(Machine Design, 2010 p. 26).
Advantages
Social Viewpoint
Disadvantages
- LFTRs produce remarkably less nuclear waste than the light water reactors (Plutonium-239)
- Nuclear engineers can extract 100% of thorium’s usable energy, compared to just 0.7% for uranium
- The nuclear waste has a shorter half-life, waste will only have to be stored for 300 years instead of 50.000 years
- No possible resource for potential nuclear weapons
- Lower pressure, less chances for outbursts
- In emergency situations, the salts can be extracted without human intervention
- Chemical stability, no explosions
- Excess neutrons are absorbed by the outer shells, risks of radiation poisoning significantly less
- Economics, politics and education can help us shift to more sustainable energy resources, government plays a major role
- 1. Keep prices of selected energy resources selectively low to encourage the use
- 2. Keep prices of other energy resources higher
- 3. governments can emphasize consumer education to inform people about the availability, (dis-) advantages and hidden environmental costs of various energy resources.
- However, in the end it is up to the people to support the process, to accept and believe in these reactors, and to invest in them, either economically or by doing research
- It is hard to finish the start-up sequence
- Due to the high temperature, the salt gets a higher viscosity. This might be a problem when the heat exchanger converts the energy in the salt to another medium. The flow might be disrupted.
- Toxicity of beryllium, fluoride and uranium hexafluoride
Cato Bui - 12/05/2015
Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors
Rhine Waal University of Applied Sciences - Environment and Energy Economics