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Thorium-based nuclear power
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Thorium-based nuclear power
Thorium-based nuclear power generation is fueled primarily by the nuclear fission of the isotope uranium-233 produced from the fertile element thorium. A thorium fuel cycle can offer several potential advantages over a uranium fuel cycle—including the much greater abundance of thorium found on Earth, superior physical and nuclear fuel properties, and reduced nuclear waste production. Thorium fuel also has a lower weaponization potential because it is difficult to weaponize the uranium-233 that is bred in the reactor. Plutonium-239 is produced at much lower levels and can be consumed in thorium reactors.
The feasibility of using thorium was demonstrated at a large scale, at the scale of a commercial power plant, through the design, construction and successful operation of the thorium-based Light Water Breeder Reactor (LWBR) core installed at the Shippingport Atomic Power Station. The reactor of this power plant was designed to accommodate different cores. The thorium core was rated at 60 MW(e), produced power from 1977 through 1982 (producing over 2.1 billion kilowatt hours of electricity) and converted enough thorium-232 into uranium-233 to achieve a 1.014 breeding ratio.
After studying the feasibility of using thorium, nuclear scientists Ralph W. Moir and Edward Teller suggested that thorium nuclear research should be restarted after a three-decade shutdown and that a small prototype plant should be built. Between 1999 and 2022, the number of operational non molten-salt based thorium reactors in the world has risen from zero to a handful of research reactors, to commercial plans for producing full-scale thorium-based reactors for use as power plants on a national scale.
Advocates believe thorium is key to developing a new generation of cleaner, safer nuclear power. In 2011, a group of scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology assessed thorium-based power as "a 1000+ year solution or a quality low-carbon bridge to truly sustainable energy sources solving a huge portion of mankind's negative environmental impact."
The use of thorium to breed uranium-233 (233U) was first discovered in 1940 by Glenn Seaborg, from the neutron bombardment of thorium in a cyclotron. During the Manhattan Project, after the construction of the X-10 Graphite Reactor, Seaborg quickly realized the potential of uranium-233 as a fissile material. Research continued throughout the Manhattan Project; however, it was largely sidelined in the weapons program in favor of plutonium, which had been discovered by Seaborg in February 1941.
With the formation of the Atomic Energy Commission, uranium-based nuclear reactors were built to produce electricity. The first to do so was the experimental uranium breeder EBR-I. In the United States, many of these reactors were light-water reactors starting with the Shippingport Atomic Power Station. These were similar to the reactor designs that produced the propulsion for propelling nuclear submarines. Several other types of reactors were constructed, such as the Liquid metal cooled reactors like EBR-I, or gas-cooled reactors such as Peach Bottom Unit 1 and Fort St. Vrain.
During this period, thorium was investigated by the AEC for use in nuclear weapons, as well as for power generation. Several tons of uranium-233 were bred from thorium in AEC reactors, some of which was processed at the Rocky Flats Plant. Uranium-233 was used in the MET shot of the Operation Teapot series of nuclear tests.
Several commercial power-generating reactors were also fueled with thorium-uranium mixed oxides, including Indian Point, Peach Bottom, and Fort St. Vrain. Around the same time, the government of the United States built the Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment, a prototype molten salt reactor, using uranium-233 fuel. The MSRE reactor, built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, operated critical for roughly 15,000 hours from 1965 to 1969 (at a power level somewhat under 8 MWth). In 1968, Glenn Seaborg, the chairman of the AEC, publicly announced that a 233U-based reactor had been successfully developed and tested. For its final year of operation, the reactor was briefly fueled with plutonium fluoride. The project's leaders also proposed a test run using plutonium fuel, however this was never carried out due to the project's cancellation.
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Thorium-based nuclear power
Thorium-based nuclear power generation is fueled primarily by the nuclear fission of the isotope uranium-233 produced from the fertile element thorium. A thorium fuel cycle can offer several potential advantages over a uranium fuel cycle—including the much greater abundance of thorium found on Earth, superior physical and nuclear fuel properties, and reduced nuclear waste production. Thorium fuel also has a lower weaponization potential because it is difficult to weaponize the uranium-233 that is bred in the reactor. Plutonium-239 is produced at much lower levels and can be consumed in thorium reactors.
The feasibility of using thorium was demonstrated at a large scale, at the scale of a commercial power plant, through the design, construction and successful operation of the thorium-based Light Water Breeder Reactor (LWBR) core installed at the Shippingport Atomic Power Station. The reactor of this power plant was designed to accommodate different cores. The thorium core was rated at 60 MW(e), produced power from 1977 through 1982 (producing over 2.1 billion kilowatt hours of electricity) and converted enough thorium-232 into uranium-233 to achieve a 1.014 breeding ratio.
After studying the feasibility of using thorium, nuclear scientists Ralph W. Moir and Edward Teller suggested that thorium nuclear research should be restarted after a three-decade shutdown and that a small prototype plant should be built. Between 1999 and 2022, the number of operational non molten-salt based thorium reactors in the world has risen from zero to a handful of research reactors, to commercial plans for producing full-scale thorium-based reactors for use as power plants on a national scale.
Advocates believe thorium is key to developing a new generation of cleaner, safer nuclear power. In 2011, a group of scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology assessed thorium-based power as "a 1000+ year solution or a quality low-carbon bridge to truly sustainable energy sources solving a huge portion of mankind's negative environmental impact."
The use of thorium to breed uranium-233 (233U) was first discovered in 1940 by Glenn Seaborg, from the neutron bombardment of thorium in a cyclotron. During the Manhattan Project, after the construction of the X-10 Graphite Reactor, Seaborg quickly realized the potential of uranium-233 as a fissile material. Research continued throughout the Manhattan Project; however, it was largely sidelined in the weapons program in favor of plutonium, which had been discovered by Seaborg in February 1941.
With the formation of the Atomic Energy Commission, uranium-based nuclear reactors were built to produce electricity. The first to do so was the experimental uranium breeder EBR-I. In the United States, many of these reactors were light-water reactors starting with the Shippingport Atomic Power Station. These were similar to the reactor designs that produced the propulsion for propelling nuclear submarines. Several other types of reactors were constructed, such as the Liquid metal cooled reactors like EBR-I, or gas-cooled reactors such as Peach Bottom Unit 1 and Fort St. Vrain.
During this period, thorium was investigated by the AEC for use in nuclear weapons, as well as for power generation. Several tons of uranium-233 were bred from thorium in AEC reactors, some of which was processed at the Rocky Flats Plant. Uranium-233 was used in the MET shot of the Operation Teapot series of nuclear tests.
Several commercial power-generating reactors were also fueled with thorium-uranium mixed oxides, including Indian Point, Peach Bottom, and Fort St. Vrain. Around the same time, the government of the United States built the Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment, a prototype molten salt reactor, using uranium-233 fuel. The MSRE reactor, built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, operated critical for roughly 15,000 hours from 1965 to 1969 (at a power level somewhat under 8 MWth). In 1968, Glenn Seaborg, the chairman of the AEC, publicly announced that a 233U-based reactor had been successfully developed and tested. For its final year of operation, the reactor was briefly fueled with plutonium fluoride. The project's leaders also proposed a test run using plutonium fuel, however this was never carried out due to the project's cancellation.
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