Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor

mheslep

Some are proposing a sodium based salt rather than lithium for just that reason.

sliebsch

I actually chose to write a paper on this topic in undergrad. Very very interesting topic. They come with a unique set of problems, but nothing insurmountable. They use familiar, abundant materials (fluoride and thorium), and have a reliable passive safety feature(the salt plug). However, nobody in my class had ever even heard of this reactor type, even though it appears to be competitive with or even superior to LWRs in size and safety. I think more research needs to be done, that's just my two cents.

sliebsch

If I remember right, they didn't become popular because LWR technology had already been developed for submarines, so there was a great deal of research and investment momentum in that direction, even though it might not be the best option for commercial power production.