- #1
kiskrof
- 13
- 1
Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors might be a fantastic source of energy for the future. It looks like the world is divided into two clans and the moment: those who have heard of LFTR and are enthusiastic, and those who have hardly ever heard of it because it is hardly mentioned even in the most recent textbooks.
At some moments I even wonder if LFTR is not a hoax along with perpetual motions or Martian technology. But the more I read, the more I am convinced about it. Everyone who does not know about LFTR should google it immediately or look for information on this very forum.
LFTR would produce only fission products radioactive a few centuries and no transuranians radioactive for thousands of years. Among the often quoted advantages of LFTR is the possibility of eliminating transuranian waste from "archaic" (I mean "present") nuclear technology by feeding some of it into the LFTR. I have no reason to doubt that but I wonder how long it might take.
It is claimed that about two kilograms of Thorium a day would be enough to make an average LFTR (1 GW) work. It is absolutely awesome. But if we imagine that the quantity of transuranians fed into the reactors represents a 10% fraction of the Thorium, it would be 200g a day. I read there are about 20000 tons of Plutonium on Earth at the moment. It means 100 LFTRs would need about 250 years to "burn" all this plutonium. Am I in the right time scale or not at all?
At some moments I even wonder if LFTR is not a hoax along with perpetual motions or Martian technology. But the more I read, the more I am convinced about it. Everyone who does not know about LFTR should google it immediately or look for information on this very forum.
LFTR would produce only fission products radioactive a few centuries and no transuranians radioactive for thousands of years. Among the often quoted advantages of LFTR is the possibility of eliminating transuranian waste from "archaic" (I mean "present") nuclear technology by feeding some of it into the LFTR. I have no reason to doubt that but I wonder how long it might take.
It is claimed that about two kilograms of Thorium a day would be enough to make an average LFTR (1 GW) work. It is absolutely awesome. But if we imagine that the quantity of transuranians fed into the reactors represents a 10% fraction of the Thorium, it would be 200g a day. I read there are about 20000 tons of Plutonium on Earth at the moment. It means 100 LFTRs would need about 250 years to "burn" all this plutonium. Am I in the right time scale or not at all?