MOLTEN SALT REACTORS
CONTENTS:
1) THE HARD FACTS ARE:
2) AND NOT LEAST:
3) THE POSITIVE STRENGTHS TO THORIUM POWER GENERATION ARE:
d 0 c
THE HARD FACTS ARE :
1) Climate Change is increasingly making itself felt, and people are becoming increasingly worried at the deterioration of the atmosphere due to continuous additions to the existing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.
a) Add to that the breathing and associated serious health problems for humans.
b) Not to overlook the global warming associated with the release of methane – also a harmful gas – arising from several sources.
2) Green sources of energy are proving not adequate for reliably meeting consumer demand. The power produced is less than is claimed.
3) The use of coal is a major cause of the problem and should cease. In any case, supplies cannot last for more than 70- 100 years more at most, with the price rising as demand exceeds supply.
4) Consumers depending of foreign energy suppliers are at a political disadvantage.
5) Reactor grade Uranium is in short supply, also with the price rising. It can be compared to burning valuable platinum.
6) Of 440 standard Uranium reactors around the world, many are 25-30 years old – coming to the end of their working life and need to be replaced.
7) Many (thousands) of new sources of electric power generation need to be built to meet increasing demand.
a) But after use, the waste Plutonium 239 (the Satan Stuff) material has also to be carried around each country by lorry with police escort at each stage of processing, viz: converted, recovered, stored, processed, and formed into blocks for storage. The security of transport problem becomes an impossible nightmare.
b) Dangerous radioactive materials produced by using uranium need long-term storage of for tens of thousands of years. This is also a major headache.
AND, NOT LEAST:
According to the well-established and respected Milankovich cycle calculations, we are due, around thirty years’ time, to enter a deep, but short ice-age. This, alone, is the great reason we should prepare by developing Thorium as a means of pollution-reduced heating in order for our civilization to survive.
THE POSITIVE STRENGTHS TO THORIUM POWER GENERATION ARE:
1) Thorium is quite abundant on the planet – 100 times more than Uranium 238, therefore supplies will last for thousands of years.
– Thorium Power generation (continued)
2) Cleaning or refining the Thorium is not a difficult process. India has large deposits and could supply Sri Lanka with Thorium at a very reasonable cost.
3) Thorium is not highly radioactive, it has a very slow rate of isotope decay. There is little danger from radiation poisoning. It can be safely stored in the open, unaffected by rain. It is not harmful when ingested.
4) Power generation is quite different and processing is a lot less complex.
5) Thorium is ‘fertile’ not fissile: the thorium has to be kick-started with a source of Neutrons – fissile materials, to get it to start to react.
6) Thorium reactors are “Fail – Safe”. They have walk-away safety. If the reactor overheats, cool drain plugs unfreeze and the liquid drains away to storage tanks below. There can be no “Chernobyl/ Fukoshima” type disasters.
7) It is not a pressurized system, it works at atmospheric pressure unlike Uranium reactors.
8) As long as reactor temperatures are kept around 600oC there are little effects of corrosion in the Hastalloy metal tanks, vessels and pipe work.
9) No-where is there a stage where material can be stolen and converted or used as a weapon. The waste products have a half- life of 300 years, not the millions of years for Plutonium.
10) Production of medical isotope Bismuth 213 is there to fight cancer. The nastiest cancers can be cured with this Bismuth 213 as targeted Alpha therapy.
11) A hydrogen generation unit can be added.
This information is from You Tube film clips:
1) The Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor – what Fusion wanted to be…
2) An unbiased look at Molten Salt Reactors
3) LFTR Chemical Processing .. by Kirk Sorensen
Thorium! The Way Ahead!
Roger O. Smith, 7/4/2017