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I've run into a some advocates (assorted nuclear engineers and grad students it seems) for an unusual nuclear reactor design. It is a thermal-spectrum thorium breeder reactor. The fuel is liquid - it is a molten salt, containing the fluorides of both U-233 fuel and thorium, as well as lithium and beryllium as moderators. (As well as graphite? I'm not sure)http://thoriumenergy.blogspot.com/2006/04/brief-history-of-liquid-fluoride.htmlThe proponents claim it is a viable alternative to fast reactors, in that the fuel cycle efficiently burns all thorium fuel, and relatively little transuranic actinides are produced. They suggest fluoride salts are convenient for reprocessing based on fluoride volatility, that the closed fuel cycle would be cheaper than that of solid-fuel fast reactors (because there are fewer chemical conversions, so less reprocessing waste would be created). They claim the hot, molten fluoride salts will not corrode away the whole reactor. And they say the idea is an offshoot of a 60-year old experiment in Oak Ridge, which tested molten U-235 fluoride fuel for a reactor designed for powering nuclear bombers (airplanes).
The chief exponent is Kirk Sorensen, who is an NE grad student at UT-Knoxville.
I am not a nuclear engineer, and I have no ability to evaluate any of this. But I am intrigued by this novel-sounding idea. So, experts: is this idea interesting, or even feasible?
The chief exponent is Kirk Sorensen, who is an NE grad student at UT-Knoxville.
I am not a nuclear engineer, and I have no ability to evaluate any of this. But I am intrigued by this novel-sounding idea. So, experts: is this idea interesting, or even feasible?