Thorium

[humner]

I have been reading up on Thorium as an alternative to Uranium for nuclear power plants. I found that just because you can google it, does not mean all the facts are there. Does anyone have any input on it?

 

[Capt Worley PE]

I've heard of it, but haven't been able to find a lot of what I consider credible information on it.

Here in SC, the big push is Small Modular Reactors. They have a company interested in building them near the Savannah River Site.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-16/s...s-u-s-says.html

 

[humner]

Wow, almost looks worthwhile to relocate.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

If you're interested, here's info on the conference they are having in Columbia.

http://www.nuclearenergyinsider.com/smr/

 

[Supe]

...

 

[wilheldp_PE]

I've heard of it, but haven't been able to find a lot of what I consider credible information on it.
Here in SC, the big push is Small Modular Reactors. They have a company interested in building them near the Savannah River Site.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-16/s...s-u-s-says.html

That article seems to indicate that the small reactors would be the same, or similar, as the reactors used to power nuclear Navy vessels. Do those boats really generate 300 MW? What the hell do they use it all for?

I just don't see reactors being shipped all around the country. The way nuclear fuel is controlled in this country, it doesn't seem feasible to have reactors spread out like that. It makes more sense to generate a shitload of power in one spot so that the nuclear fuel is controlled in one location.

 

[Supe]

I've heard of it, but haven't been able to find a lot of what I consider credible information on it.
Here in SC, the big push is Small Modular Reactors. They have a company interested in building them near the Savannah River Site.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-16/s...s-u-s-says.html

That article seems to indicate that the small reactors would be the same, or similar, as the reactors used to power nuclear Navy vessels. Do those boats really generate 300 MW? What the hell do they use it all for?

I just don't see reactors being shipped all around the country. The way nuclear fuel is controlled in this country, it doesn't seem feasible to have reactors spread out like that. It makes more sense to generate a shitload of power in one spot so that the nuclear fuel is controlled in one location.

It's not necessarily that they're all spread out. It's that you can bank multiple units in one location to tailor it to the areas needs, and future expansions require less investment. Then again, if you want to talk about reactors being spread out, google "map of US nuclear stations." There's a lot more of them, and they're more spread out, than most people think.

 

[Master slacker]

My 2 cents on Thorium.

 

[humner]

My 2 cents on Thorium.

I know I am waiting for the movie!

 

[Capt Worley PE]

I've heard of it, but haven't been able to find a lot of what I consider credible information on it.
Here in SC, the big push is Small Modular Reactors. They have a company interested in building them near the Savannah River Site.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-16/s...s-u-s-says.html

That article seems to indicate that the small reactors would be the same, or similar, as the reactors used to power nuclear Navy vessels. Do those boats really generate 300 MW? What the hell do they use it all for?

Making turns for 30+ knots. Lots of machinery to run on those things, too.

Plus, I'm sure Admiral Rickover required a pretty big safety margin for 'excess power.'

 

[wilheldp_PE]

Making turns for 30+ knots. Lots of machinery to run on those things, too.
Plus, I'm sure Admiral Rickover required a pretty big safety margin for 'excess power.'

300 Megawatts translates into 402,306 horsepower. There is no way any ship requires that much power.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

The reactor for the Los Angeles class boats was 148 MW, and they had two 35000shp turbines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S6G_reactor

 

[humner]

Making turns for 30+ knots. Lots of machinery to run on those things, too.
Plus, I'm sure Admiral Rickover required a pretty big safety margin for 'excess power.'

300 Megawatts translates into 402,306 horsepower. There is no way any ship requires that much power.

Tool Time! Tim the Tool Man Taylor! More power, more power, ahr, ahr, ahr

 

[dastuff]

Saw an article on reddit about this awhile ago.. Here are the links they provided:

• >http://energyfromthorium.com/
• Thorium Energy Future (short intro video) -
  
• Energy from Thorium website - http://energyfromthorium.com/
• Energy from Thorium blog - http://thoriumenergy.blogspot.com/
• Rethinking Nuclear Power, Aim High - http://rethinkingnuclearpower.googlepages.com/aimhigh
• Energy From Thorium Discussion Forum - http://www.energyfromthorium.com/forum/
• Nuclear's next generation (The Economist) - http://www.economist.com/sciencetechnology...ory_id=15048703
• Uranium Is So Last Century — Enter Thorium, the New Green Nuke (Wired) - http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/ff_new_nukes/
• Thorium Fuels Safer Reactor Hopes (Wired) - http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2005/07/68045
• The Liquid Fluoride Thorium Paradigm (The Oil Drum) - http://www.theoildrum.com/node/4971
• Nuclear Green Blog - http://nucleargreen.blogspot.com/
• Molten Salt Reactor (Wikipedia) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten_salt_reactor
• Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (Wikipedia) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten_Salt_Reactor_Experiment
• Thorium Fuel Cycle (Wikipedia) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium_fuel_cycle
• Thorium (Wikipedia) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium
• Uranium 233 (Wikipedia) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-233
• Uranium 232 (Wikipedia) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-232
• Thorium as a clean, efficient nuclear power source. (Daily Kos) - http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/11/26/8...ar-power-source.
• More on why we need the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor - http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/3/16/037/54953
• The Benefits of the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (Left Atomics) - http://left-atomics.blogspot.com/2008/05/b...de-thorium.html
• Open Letter from James Hansen to Obama (discusses LFTR a bit) - http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/200...81121_Obama.pdf
• American Nuclear Society's statement on Thorium - http://www.ans.org/pi/ps/docs/ps78.pdf
• Thorium Fuel Links - http://www.nacworldwide.com/Links/Thorium-Fuel.htm
• General information on nuclear energy from John McCarthy (mentions thorium briefly) - http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/progress/nuclear-faq.html
• A comparison between thorium and natural gas in terms of energy density - http://thoriumenergy.blogspot.com/2009/07/...nergy-than.html
• Thorium Energy Independence and Security Act - http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-3680

 

[Wolverine]

All this talk about thorium reminds me of the time I hade a greasy plate of chicken fingers and french fries for lunch and...uh, nevermind. I'm not telling that story.

 

[cement]

thorium is like that.

 

[humner]

so, Thorium stinks and fouls your cloths, or if you feed it crap and overwork it all you get is a biological mess that can be carted off in a plastic bag?

 

[IJustWentAndFudgedYourMama]

What are you getting at?