May

2

I wanted to ask Carder's opinion on this article that I came across titled:

China builds world’s first working thorium reactor using declassified US documents

It uses molten salt to carry the fuel and manage heat, while thorium serves as the radioactive fuel source. Experts have long viewed thorium reactors as the next leap in energy innovation. Some scientists estimate that a single thorium-rich mine in Inner Mongolia could theoretically supply China’s energy needs for tens of thousands of years with far less radioactive waste than current uranium-based reactors.

Carder Dimitroff responds:

Thorium is a fuel that is currently used in some commercial reactors. Canadian reactors can accept thorium and other nuclear materials in their CANDU reactors. (Read more: We can use thorium.)

One reason that the US, EU, and other reactors do not use thorium is that their reactors and related supply lines were not designed to accept that type of fuel. In US PWRs and BWRs, the reactor relies on precise fuel physics to achieve optimal performance. Changing the type of fuel would present a tough, if not impossible, outcome in terms of performance, let alone capital and operating costs.

When compared to a plant's production costs, nuclear fuel is surprisingly inexpensive, including the cost of disposal. Most of its energy is wasted. Consequently, there is little motivation to change the nuclear fuel's value chain.

Molten salt reactors are not new. In 1959, the US built the "Sodium Reactor Experiment" in California. Since then, several other countries have improved the design. Today, it is a viable technology, particularly in the Small Module Reactor (SMR) market. One example is TerraPower's Natrium Project (Bill Gates). They are currently testing the liquid sodium fuels for their Small Modular Reactor (SMR) product. (Read more: Terrapower: Natrium)


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