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A thorium reactor would produce roughly half the amount of Cesium-137 per GWh versus a U-235 reactor. Start with half the waste, deal with half the radioactivity. It's a somewhat similar story for Strontium-90.I'm just talking about the radioactivity of the waste products themselves. Cesium-137 and strontium-90 are fairly nasty.
I doubt anybody would want to launch large quantities of radioactive cesium and strontium on a vessel that could explode in the atmosphere.Could it launched towards the sun*, or is it a cost problem?
* - only partially tongue-in-cheek
China builds world’s first thorium reactor with US secret files
After years of research and US data analysis, China has built a working thorium reactor and run it through a successful fuel reload.interestingengineering.com
Online searches can brief you on the potential advantages of this new source of energy, but in short, there are many. It's only 2MW so still quite small, but it's operationalized with the ability to replace the molten salt while the reactor remains operational, which was one of the final remaining problems to solve. Sounds like they'll now move on to developing a 10MW demonstrator.
Very impressive work.
Start with half the waste, deal with half the radioactivity.
I know how a uranium reactor works they react uranium-235 with uranium-238 and that generates heat. Is there a similar way a thorium reactor works?China builds world’s first thorium reactor with US secret files
After years of research and US data analysis, China has built a working thorium reactor and run it through a successful fuel reload.interestingengineering.com
Online searches can brief you on the potential advantages of this new source of energy, but in short, there are many. It's only 2MW so still quite small, but it's operationalized with the ability to replace the molten salt while the reactor remains operational, which was one of the final remaining problems to solve. Sounds like they'll now move on to developing a 10MW demonstrator.
Very impressive work.
Same basic mechanism - fission generating heat, converting that heat to a generator. Just different fissile materials. In fact the thorium is bombarded with protons and converted to U-232 which then undergoes fission.I know how a uranium reactor works they react uranium-235 with uranium-238 and that generates heat. Is there a similar way a thorium reactor works?
Interesting. I remember a few years ago hearing about a thorium the doctor and I was wondering if you have a different types of thorium but you can bombard it with something that isn't necessarily thorium. If that's the case that's why it won't melt down typically when a fishing reactor that runs on uranium melts down it's because the do isotopes stick to one another it'll be confused and then it's a runaway thing.Same basic mechanism - fission generating heat, converting that heat to a generator. Just different fissile materials. In fact the thorium is bombarded with protons and converted to U-232 which then undergoes fission.
We have uranium power plants. Thorium is just a fuel sourceWe have coal.
Thorium itself isn't fissile the isotope is 232 it has to absorb a neutron becoming uranium-233 in order to be fissile.Same basic mechanism - fission generating heat, converting that heat to a generator. Just different fissile materials. In fact the thorium is bombarded with protons and converted to U-232 which then undergoes fission.
What you said mostly makes sense, but the Experimental Breeder Reactor I article in Wikipedia says it used highly enriched uranium.Oh, and that thorium reactors are by how they operate breeder reactors, so can be used to breed weapons grade uranium. The first experiments into this actually date all the way back to Glenn Seaborg in 1940. And probably the first purpose built "thorium reactor" was in reality EBR-1. But the same techniques were used for production of fuel for atomic weapons.
Well the way I heard it said it's difficult to make weapons out of thorium but it's difficult to make it out of uranium as well.What you said mostly makes sense, but the Experimental Breeder Reactor I article in Wikipedia says it used highly enriched uranium.
The argument that thorium reactors hinder nuclear proliferation seem mostly reasonable, though as you point out they can be used to breed plutonium anyway.
I'm more worried about China's history with quality. No put toxic chemicals in rice to save a few pennies poisoning their own children. And there's a term that use for construction that seems to be very flimsy called tofu dreg. We're not talking about the stuff built in the 80s that's falling apart today we're talking about stuff built in 2019 that's falling apart today.It should be noted that back when the U.S. was a free country, a future Eagle Scout actually earned one of his badges by building a thorium breeder reactor in a potting shed. Spoil-funs from the government did haul away some of the stuff as radioactive waste, though as far as I know the stuff his Mom threw out is still in a landfill somewhere.
It is still moderately commendable that China is exploring less-abusable nuclear reactors, I think. Though if they put one on every big container ship around the world we could get pretty tired of the fallout.
I remember some years ago China was making progress in treating spinal cord injuries using stem cells. Meanwhile, the Bush administration put limits on stem cell research, which only slows our scientific progress.
It should be noted that back when the U.S. was a free country, a future Eagle Scout actually earned one of his badges by building a thorium breeder reactor in a potting shed. Spoil-funs from the government did haul away some of the stuff as radioactive waste, though as far as I know the stuff his Mom threw out is still in a landfill somewhere.
China builds world’s first thorium reactor with US secret files
After years of research and US data analysis, China has built a working thorium reactor and run it through a successful fuel reload.interestingengineering.com
Online searches can brief you on the potential advantages of this new source of energy, but in short, there are many. It's only 2MW so still quite small, but it's operationalized with the ability to replace the molten salt while the reactor remains operational, which was one of the final remaining problems to solve. Sounds like they'll now move on to developing a 10MW demonstrator.
Very impressive work.
I read they treated a cord injury patient who showed some recovery as a result.How'd that go for China?
I'm more worried about China's history with quality. No put toxic chemicals in rice to save a few pennies poisoning their own children. And there's a term that use for construction that seems to be very flimsy called tofu dreg. We're not talking about the stuff built in the 80s that's falling apart today we're talking about stuff built in 2019 that's falling apart today.
I read they treated a cord injury patient who showed some recovery as a result.
I just said it was something I read.And who verified that? Was this a Chinese government announcement?
I just said it was something I read.
I dont remember. It was quite a while ago.Did the something you read fail to attribute the claim to anyone, or independently verify it?
I dont remember. It was quite a while ago.
Well, to quote my source:It should be noted that David Hahn did not built a thorium breeder reactor. He attempted to build one, and it used a mish-mash of multiple radioactive isotopes, including thorium, americium, radium, and tritium. However, he did not make any kind of nuclear reactor, all he made was a large radioactive mess. When his house and neighborhood in 1985 started showing 1,000 times the background radiation expected in the area, he got scared and started to dismantle his experiment. Then the FBI, NRC and EPA got involved, and his home was declared a Superfund site.
That's not just a mishmash - it's an authentic effort to convert thorium to uranium. As he had also made an effort to collect U-238, it is at least plausible that his reactor produced some plutonium. It is also highly plausible that it produced a dangerous radioactive mess ... indeed, that's pretty much a requirement for us to believe it was a thorium breeder reactor.As it decays, americium-241 emits alpha rays composed of protons and neutrons. David put the lump of americium inside a hollow block of lead with a tiny hole pricked in one side so that alpha rays would stream out. In front of the lead block he placed a sheet of aluminum. Aluminum atoms absorb alpha rays and in the process kick out neutrons. Since neutrons have no charge, and thus cannot be measured by a Geiger counter, David had no way of knowing whether the gun was working until he recalled that paraffin throws off protons when hit by neutrons. David aimed the apparatus at some paraffin, and his Geiger counter registered what he assumed was a proton stream. His neutron gun, crude but effective, was ready.
I watch that, was recommended it by close friends that lived in China.I watch a weekly YouTube channel called The China Show, and it's a real eye opener to how bad things really are in China.
So imagine these people with a nuclear reactor and yes thorium reactors can be just as bad. If you caught Friday's show they recommended a video about thorium reactors by t folse nuclear he's a nuclear physicist.The push to massively build up Chinese infrastructure under Xi Jinping has lead to a lot of disastrous shortcuts in building code. Some of the worst:
* Make new cities and major developments have no drainage. The streets have drain grates, as required by law, but the law doesn't require and actual sewer to drain into. This is why flooding in China is getting worse. They guild up land with streets and buildings that impede natural drainage, and put nothing in it's place, so even moderate rains cause major flooding.
* Same as above, but with fire hydrants. New developments have the proper number of prescribed fire hydrants, but they aren't connected to water, they and just installed in the dirt like a fence post.
* The use of sea sand in concrete manufacturing is creating an infrastructure time bomb and sea sand doesn't bind like proper sand for concrete. Concrete made with sea sand dissolves after a couple of years and can be crumbled in your hands.
* The demand for steel in the Chinese construction has lead to massive shortcuts to save cost and maintain supply. The worst is the rebar that is not properly heat treated by dowsing and is instead allowed to cool in the air, which causes the steel to crystalize which makes it very brittle to the point that you can snap the rebar over your knee.
Many major building projects in China are now failing in their first year do to a combination of the 4 items above and it's only going to get worse.
IndeedThe only good news to be had from this is that Chinese military build up isn't fairing much better than their public works.
The problem is the lack of funding and support. Some people have this irrational qualm about using stem cells, even for research.Which is mostly my point. If anything actually came of that line of study it wouldn't have been an obscure article "quite a while ago" that you can't remember much about.
Stem cell study continues in the US, but uses created stem cells from already differentiated cells which makes them more built to purpose. But even that is slow going and still in the "might" phase. Putting foreign stem cells into the body wouldn't be the optimal, anyway.
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