Therefore, lftr technology is fundamentally different from the solid fuel technology currently in use. Liquid fluoride thorium reactor page 3 physics forums. A significant advantage of using thorium to breed u233 is that relatively little plutonium is produced from the th232 because six more neutron absorptions are required than is the case with u238. The lftr is a type of thorium molten salt reactor tmsr. Flibe energy has taken the 1960s oak ridge molten salt reactor work and enhanced the design into the liquid fluoride thorium reactor lftr. A short video of kirk sorensen taking us through the benefits of liquid fluoride thorium reactors, a revolutionary liquid reactor that runs not on uranium, but thorium. Status of thorium fluoride replacement materials nonradioactive coating materials for the infrared thorium fluoride thf 4 has been the favored lowindex ir coating material since its investigation and introduction 45 years ago. You can copy, download or print oecd content for your own use, and you. Has an experimental proofofconcept thorium reactor been built and run. Thorium fuel cycle potential benefits and challenges publications. This series will explore the pros and cons of various energy sources. Introduction any nuclear power plant has the following basic needs. Update on the liquid fluoride thorium reactor projects in.
Usa and canada to undertake research for the commercialization of msrs incl liquid fluoride thorium reactor technology and look. A slightly different type of msr can consume the uraniumplutonium waste from solidfueled reactors as fuel. Liquid fluoride thorium reactor page 4 physics forums. Heat from the reactor is transferred to another loop of molten salt not containing nuclear materials. Phwrs, liquid metal cooled fast breeder reactors lmfbr and molten salt breeder. The team at nrg is testing several reactor designs on a small scale at first. In general, a nuclear reactor is a key device of nuclear power plants, nuclear research facilities or nuclear propelled ships. Here is the short overview on lftr and thorium the fuel of the future. Liquid fluoride thorium reactors are seen as the future of energy.
Lftrs use the thorium fuel cycle with a fluoridebased, molten, liquid salt for fuel. Most common nuclear reactors are light water reactors lwr, that are based on the uranium fuel cycle and use an enriched uranium fuel 4% of u235 as a. Lftrs use the thorium fuel cycle with a fluoridebased, molten. Each and every one has its own advantages and compromises. Liquid fluoride thorium reactors an old idea in nuclear power gets reexamined. Perhaps these technical problems can be overcome, but why would anyone bother to try, knowing in advance that the msr plant will be uneconomic due to huge construction costs and operating costs, plus will explode and rain radioactive molten salt when not if the steam generator tubes leak. Molten salt reactors msr use graphite as moderator, molten fluoride salt of high boiling. For countries with nuclear capabilities, starting or reopening the research into the various methods of fueling a thorium reactor may be somewhat costly, but could also be lifechanging to future generations. In a typical design, the liquid is pumped between a critical core and an external heat exchanger where the heat is transferred to a nonradioactive secondary salt. Gram per gram, thorium is much more efficient than uranium, as around 99% of it is used in the reaction. Thorium reactors liquid fluoride thorium reactor desings fusion reactors bubble column reactors. Advantages of liquid fluoride thorium reactor in comparison with light water reactor aip, free pdf access. Thorium nuclear reactors too good to be true yes, afraid so, sorry. Liquid fluoride thorium reactor presented to presidents blue ribbon.
As fission radioactive decay occurs, heat is released and free neutrons start changing more thorium into uranium233. Last august, i posted an article on thorium reactors, a. The liquid fluoride thorium reactor lftr consists of a critical core orange containing fissile uranium233 in a. Means of attaining a critical mass for a sustained nuclear fission.
Public utilities, energy, and technology interim committee. These thorium reactor pros and cons prove that there is a lot of potential in this technology. The criticality of a molten salt reactor is controlled by varying the concentration of fissile to moderator, that is, tweaking the kinfinity of the reactor, rather than the control mechanism of a solid element reactor, where you tweak the probability of nonleakage. Since the carrier of thorium is a liquid, liquid fluoride, it allows standard pressure at igh temperatures. Thorium is much more abundant than uranium, and is significantly cheaper due to the abundance. Assessment of a molten salt reactor design the liquid fluoride thorium reactor lftr. Weve been mainly using the light water reactor, lwr, with solid fuel cooled by highpressure water. Rarick2 and rajmohan rangarajan3 cleveland state university, cleveland, ohio 44115 an overall system analysis approach is used to propose potential conceptual designs of. Researchers at nrg, a dutch firm, have started work on a fission generator that would be the first active thorium salt reactor since the closure of a reactor at oak ridge national laboratory. The approach with nuclear fuel enclosed in graphite spheres did not.
Liquidfluoride reactor concept reactor containment boundary reactor core drain tank freeze valve hx lifbef2uf4 heater lifbef2 ator urbine compressor cooler coolant inlet coolant. Is safe, green thorium power finally ready for prime time. Thorium is usually thrown away during the process of mining rareearth metals. Introduction thorium fluoride, thf 4, is the currently preferred low index material which is transparent from the uv to the ir. Pdf advantages of liquid fluoride thorium reactor in comparison. Fluoride action network funding for thorium molten salt.
Pdf advantages of liquid fluoride thorium reactor in. Aim high thorium energy cheaper than from coal solves. Molten salt reactors are generation iv nuclear fission reactors that use molten salt as either the primary reactor coolant or as the fuel itself. More on why we need the liquid fluoride thorium reactor.
Comparative neutronics analysis of mcnp6 code with srac95 reactor analysis code based on fujiu30 author links open overlay panel s. High efficiency nuclear power plants using liquid fluoride. Sorensen was advocating a littleknown nuclear reactor design based on liquid thorium fuel. Liquid fluoride thorium reactor lftr has 3,414 members. Alternatively, sign the epetition on the hm government website.
Buy what is a lftr, and how can a reactor be so safe molten salt reactors, including liquid fluoride thorium reactors. Main purpose of the nuclear reactor is to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Advantages of liquid fluoride thorium reactor in comparison with light water reactor. There is simply no other option for baseload electricity generation that is emission free. Traditionally, in lwr, water had to cool down the solid fuel since it couldnt handle the high temperatures because of high pressure, which had always been a fine line behind meltdowns sorensen, 2011. Thorium reactor liquid fluoride thorium reactor lftr. Liquid fluoride thorium reactor lftr public group facebook. Pdf liquid fluoride thorium reactor lftr is an innovative design for the thermal breeder reactor. When people started to do research in the field of nuclear energy in the midnineties, the molten salt reactors were soon invented. The concept is simple, yet thoroughly investigated. Thoriumiv fluoride th f 4 is an inorganic chemical compound. I have no qualms in trying to campaign for uk manufacture of lftrs and if any of you feel so inclined, make it happen here by voting on 38degrees, the campaigning website and search for uk manufacture of liquid fluoride thorium reactors.
Since lftr technology would allow smaller and lighter reactor housing would it be cost effective to put lftr technology in space. Thus, this paper seeks to critically examine these claims and exhaustively analyze the differences between thorium plants in particular liquid fluoride thorium reactors, or lftrs and traditional uranium plants. A thoriumsalt reactor has fired up for the first time in. Thorium and uranium233 are dissolved in molten lithium fluoride salt in the reactor. Thorium element 90, found as thorium 232 in nature, is 4 times more common than uranium and about 200400x more common than u235, the fuel we burn in light water reactors lwrs. Weinberg foundation new pressure group for liquidfluoride thorium nuclear reactors. The guardian uk environment blog september 9th, 2011. Download pdf molten salt reactors and thorium energy. Liquid fluoride thorium reactor lftr is an innovative design for the thermal breeder reactor that has important potential benefits over the traditional reactor design. High efficiency nuclear power plants using liquid fluoride thorium reactor technology albert j. Moltensaltfueled reactors msrs supply the nuclear fuel in the form of a molten salt mixture.
Molten salt reactors incl liquid fluoride thorium reactor. What if we could turn back the clock to 1965 and have an energy doover. About lftr liquid flouride thorium reactors lftr now. Manufacturing lftrs easier than other reactors molten. Thorium energy cheaper than from coal solves more than just global warming. The lftr is a liquidfueled, graphitemoderated thermal spectrum breeder reactor. If we did as evanspritchard suggestsmarshal americas vast scientific and strategic resources behind a new manhattan project to develop thorium reactorswe would forego the opportunity to develop other sources of energy, to learn how to live with less energy, etc. The first experiment is on a setup called a moltensalt fast reactor, which burns thorium salt and in theory should. The lftr is unique, having a hot liquid core thus eliminating fuel fabrication costs and the. Medical isotope production in liquidfluoride reactors. Lftrs are an example of both generation iv reactors in other words, future nuclear reactors which prioritise safety and reduction of waste products but which are. Liquid fluoride thorium reactor design have been made over conventional solid fuel reactors. The liquid fluoride thorium reactor is a type of molten salt reactor.
Liquid fluoride thorium reactors tesla motors club. Pdf current development in thorium fueled reactors shows that they can be designed to operate. It is a white hygroscopic powder which can be produced by reacting thorium with fluorine gas. Now what with ryan duffy covers some of the innovative things people are doing about some of the worlds largest problems. Should we consider using liquid fluoride thorium reactors. Using that template, the energy from thorium team helped produce a design for a new liquid fluoride thorium reactor, or lftr pronounced lifter, which, according to estimates by sorensen and others, would be some 50 percent more efficient than todays lightwater uranium reactors. Liquid fluoride thorium reactor presented to presidents blue ribbon commission on americas nuclear future 30 aug 2010 aim high. A liquid fluoride thorium reactor lftr is a type of molten salt reactor msr that can use inexpensive thorium for fuel thorium becomes uranium inside the reactor. We discussed yesterday why the lftr is a totally safe alternative not just for fossil fuels.
Juhaszl nasa glenn research center, cleveland, ohio 445 richard a. Liquid fluoride thorium reactor lftr simply too dangerous thats why it was stopped. They will look at fluorination of lithium fluoride beryllium fluoride. Despite its mild radioactivity, thorium fluoride is used as an antireflection material in multilayered optical coatings. In june of that year, the mol ten salt reactor experiment msre achieved criticality for the first time at oak ridge national laboratory. Lftr is fluoride based liquid fuel, that use the thorium dissolved in salt mixture of lithium fluoride and beryllium fluoride. Unlike conventional light water reactor designs, the liquid. Ive read that lftr liquid fluoride thorium reactors that uses very hot liquid fuel in place of solid uranium pellets, is substantially safer and more efficient than traditional nuclear reactors. Liquid fluoride thorium reactor blue ribbon commission. Maybe we can have them become interested in molten salt reactors such as liquid fluoride thorium reactor to provide power all the time, or all the time solarwind are not generating enough, replacing coal and oil.
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