Thorium-based nuclear power
[9] In 2011, a group of scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology assessed thorium-based power as "a 1000+ year solution or a quality low-carbon bridge to truly sustainable energy sources solving a huge portion of mankind's negative environmental impact.
Several commercial power-generating reactors were also fueled with thorium-uranium mixed oxides, including Indian Point, Peach Bottom,[15] and Fort St.
The MSRE reactor, built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, operated critical for roughly 15,000 hours from 1965 to 1969 (at a power level somewhat under 8 MWth).
[19] Despite the project's apparent success, the MSRE was shut down in December 1969 due to pressure from Milton Shaw, the director of the AEC's Reactor Development and Testing Division.
The reasons were that uranium-fueled reactors were considered more efficient, the research into uranium was proven and thorium's breeding ratio was thought insufficient to produce enough fuel to support development of a commercial nuclear industry.
[23] Weinberg himself recalls this period: [Congressman] Chet Holifield was clearly exasperated with me, and he finally blurted out, "Alvin, if you are concerned about the safety of reactors, then I think it may be time for you to leave nuclear energy."
[24]At the time, Martin claimed that Weinberg's unwillingness to sacrifice potentially safe nuclear power for the benefit of military uses forced him to retire.
According to Chemical & Engineering News, "most people—including scientists—have hardly heard of the heavy-metal element and know little about it", noting a comment by a conference attendee that "it's possible to have a Ph.D. in nuclear reactor technology and not know about thorium energy.
Summarizing some of the potential benefits, Martin offers his general opinion: "Thorium could provide a clean and effectively limitless source of power while allaying all public concern—weapons proliferation, radioactive pollution, toxic waste, and fuel that is both costly and complicated to process.
[58][59][60] At the 2011 annual conference of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, it was announced that "China has initiated a research and development project in thorium MSR technology.
[25] China also finalized an agreement with a Canadian nuclear technology company to develop improved CANDU reactors using thorium and uranium as a fuel.
[64][65] In March 2014, with their reliance on coal-fired power having become a major cause of their current "smog crisis", they reduced their original goal of creating a working reactor from 25 years down to 10.
Part of the thermal energy, 10 MW will be used to create electrical power; the remainder will be used to evolve hydrogen by splitting water molecules at high temperature.
[70][71][72] In August 2022, the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment informed the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP) that its commissioning plan for the LF1 had been approved.
[10] On 16 June 2023 China's National Nuclear Safety Administration issued a license to the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to operate TMSR-LF1, a 2 MWt reactor.
The Copenhagen Atomics Waste Burner is a single-fluid, heavy water moderated, fluoride-based, thermal spectrum and autonomously controlled molten-salt reactor.
[77] In July of 2024, Copenhagen Atomics announced that their reactor is ready to be tested in a real life scenario with a critical experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland in 2026.
[81] According to Ratan Kumar Sinha, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India, "This will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, mostly imported, and will be a major contribution to global efforts to combat climate change."
The challenge is to develop technology for converting this to fissile material," stated Srikumar Banerjee, the former Chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission.
[95] KAMINI is cooled and moderated by light water, and fuelled with uranium-233 metal produced by the thorium fuel cycle harnessed by the neighbouring FBTR reactor.
[99] In 2010, Aker Solutions purchased patents from Nobel Prize winning physicist Carlo Rubbia for the design of a proton accelerator-based thorium nuclear power plant.
[100] In late 2012, Norway's privately owned Thor Energy, in collaboration with the government and Westinghouse, announced a four-year trial using thorium in an existing nuclear reactor.
House of Lords member Bryony Worthington is promoting thorium, calling it "the forgotten fuel" that could alter Britain's energy plans.
[105] In its January 2012 report to the United States Secretary of Energy, the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Future notes that a "molten-salt reactor using thorium [has] also been proposed".
[109] Alvin Radkowsky, chief designer of the world's second full-scale atomic electric power plant in Shippingport, Pennsylvania, founded a joint US and Russian project in 1997 to create a thorium-based reactor, considered a "creative breakthrough".
[112] On the research potential of thorium-based nuclear power, Richard L. Garwin, winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and Georges Charpak advise further study of the Energy amplifier in their book Megawatts and Megatons (2001), pp. 153–63.
But as per Mehul Shah, the founder and CEO of Clean Core Thorium Energy, operational CANDU reactors and its derivatives, such as IPHWR can accommodate ANEEL.
To advance the creation and implementation of ANEEL, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) and Clean Core inked a Memorandum of Understanding in April 2023.
World monazite resources are estimated to be about 12 million tons, two-thirds of which are in heavy mineral sands deposits on the south and east coasts of India.
However, if thorium-based power plants were adopted on a large-scale, virtually all the world's thorium requirements could be supplied simply by refining monazites for their more valuable REEs.
