Thorium Fuel Cycle: Building nuclear reactors without uranium fuel

By Fouad Sabry

What Is Thorium Fuel Cycle

The fertile material in the thorium fuel cycle is an isotope of thorium called 232Th, and the thorium fuel cycle itself is a kind of nuclear fuel cycle. Within the reactor, 232Th is converted into the fissile artificial uranium isotope 233U, which is then used as the fuel for the nuclear reactor. Natural thorium, in contrast to natural uranium, only contains minute quantities of fissile material, which is insufficient to kick off a nuclear chain reaction. In order to kickstart the fuel cycle, either more fissile material or an other neutron source is required. 233U is created when 232Th, which is powered by thorium, absorbs neutrons in a reactor. This is analogous to the process that occurs in uranium breeder reactors, in which fertile 238U is subjected to neutron absorption in order to produce fissile 239Pu. The produced 233U either fissions in situ or is chemically removed from the old nuclear fuel and converted into new nuclear fuel, depending on the architecture of the reactor and the fuel cycle. Fissioning in situ is the more efficient method.

How You Will Benefit

(I) Insights, and validations about the following topics:

Chapter 1: Thorium fuel cycle

Chapter 2: Nuclear reactor

Chapter 3: Radioactive waste

Chapter 4: Fissile material

Chapter 5: Nuclear fuel cycle

Chapter 6: MOX fuel

Chapter 7: Breeder reactor

Chapter 8: Uranium-238

Chapter 9: Energy amplifier

Chapter 10: Subcritical reactor

Chapter 11: Integral fast reactor

Chapter 12: Fertile material

Chapter 13: Uranium-233

Chapter 14: Plutonium-239

Chapter 15: Isotopes of uranium

Chapter 16: Isotopes of plutonium

Chapter 17: Weapons-grade nuclear material

Chapter 18: Uranium-236

Chapter 19: Burnup

Chapter 20: Liquid fluoride thorium reactor

Chapter 21: Nuclear transmutation

(II) Answering the public top questions about thorium fuel cycle.

(III) Real world examples for the usage of thorium fuel cycle in many fields.

(IV) 17 appendices to explain, briefly, 266 emerging technologies in each industry to have 360-degree full understanding of thorium fuel cycle' technologies.

Who This Book Is For

Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of thorium fuel cycle.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
• Release date: Oct 15, 2022

Book preview

Copyright

Thorium Fuel Cycle Copyright © 2022 by Fouad Sabry. All Rights Reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

Cover designed by Fouad Sabry.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Bonus

You can send an email to [e-mail] with the subject line Thorium Fuel Cycle: Building nuclear reactors without uranium fuel, and you will receive an email which contains the first few chapters of this book.

Fouad Sabry

Visit 1BK website at

www.1BKOfficial.org

Preface

Why did I write this book?

The story of writing this book started on 1989, when I was a student in the Secondary School of Advanced Students.

It is remarkably like the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Schools, which are now available in many advanced countries.

STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering, and mathematics — in an interdisciplinary and applied approach. This term is typically used to address an education policy or a curriculum choice in schools. It has implications for workforce development, national security concerns and immigration policy.

There was a weekly class in the library, where each student is free to choose any book and read for 1 hour. The objective of the class is to encourage the students to read subjects other than the educational curriculum.

In the library, while I was looking at the books on the shelves, I noticed huge books, total of 5,000 pages in 5 parts. The books name is The Encyclopedia of Technology, which describes everything around us, from absolute zero to semiconductors, almost every technology, at that time, was explained with colorful illustrations and simple words. I started to read the encyclopedia, and of course, I was not able to finish it in the 1-hour weekly class.

So, I convinced my father to buy the encyclopedia. My father bought all the technology tools for me in the beginning of my life, the first computer and the first technology encyclopedia, and both have a great impact on myself and my career.

I have finished the entire encyclopedia in the same summer vacation of this year, and then I started to see how the universe works and to how to apply that knowledge to everyday problems.

My passion to the technology started mor than 30 years ago and still the journey goes on.

This book is part of The Encyclopedia of Emerging Technologies which is my attempt to give the readers the same amazing experience I had when I was in high school, but instead of 20th century technologies, I am more interested in the 21st century emerging technologies, applications, and industry solutions.

The Encyclopedia of Emerging Technologies will consist of 365 books, each book will be focused on one single emerging technology. You can read the list of emerging technologies and their categorization by industry in the part of Coming Soon, at the end of the book.

365 books to give the readers the chance to increase their knowledge on one single emerging technology every day within the course of one year period.

Introduction

How did I write this book?

In every book of The Encyclopedia of Emerging Technologies, I am trying to get instant, raw search insights, direct from the minds of the people, trying to answer their questions about the emerging technology.

There are 3 billion Google searches every day, and 20% of those have never been seen before. They are like a direct line to the people thoughts.

Sometimes that’s ‘How do I remove paper jam’. Other times, it is the wrenching fears and secret hankerings they would only ever dare share with Google.

In my pursuit to discover an untapped goldmine of content ideas about Thorium Fuel Cycle, I use many tools to listen into autocomplete data from search engines like Google, then quickly cranks out every useful phrase and question, the people are asking around the keyword Thorium Fuel Cycle.

It is a goldmine of people insight, I can use to create fresh, ultra-useful content, products, and services. The kind people, like you, really want.

People searches are the most important dataset ever collected on the human psyche. Therefore, this book is a live product, and constantly updated by more and more answers for new questions about Thorium Fuel Cycle, asked by people, just like you and me, wondering about this new emerging technology and would like to know more about it.

The approach for writing this book is to get a deeper level of understanding of how people search around Thorium Fuel Cycle, revealing questions and queries which I would not necessarily think off the top of my head, and answering these questions in super easy and digestible words, and to navigate the book around in a straightforward way.

So, when it comes to writing this book, I have ensured that it is as optimized and targeted as possible. This book purpose is helping the people to further understand and grow their knowledge about Thorium Fuel Cycle. I am trying to answer people’s questions as closely as possible and showing a lot more.

It is a fantastic, and beautiful way to explore questions and problems that the people have and answer them directly, and add insight, validation, and creativity to the content of the book – even pitches and proposals. The book uncovers rich, less crowded, and sometimes surprising areas of research demand I would not otherwise reach. There is no doubt that, it is expected to increase the knowledge of the potential readers’ minds, after reading the book using this approach.

I have applied a unique approach to make the content of this book always fresh. This approach depends on listening to the people minds, by using the search listening tools. This approach helped me to:

Meet the readers exactly where they are, so I can create relevant content that strikes a chord and drives more understanding to the topic.

Keep my finger firmly on the pulse, so I can get updates when people talk about this emerging technology in new ways, and monitor trends over time.

Uncover hidden treasures of questions need answers about the emerging technology to discover unexpected insights and hidden niches that boost the relevancy of the content and give it a winning edge.

The building block for writing this book include the following:

(1) I have stopped wasting the time on gutfeel and guesswork about the content wanted by the readers, filled the book content with what the people need and said goodbye to the endless content ideas based on speculations.

(2) I have made solid decisions, and taken fewer risks, to get front row seats to what people want to read and want to know — in real time — and use search data to make bold decisions, about which topics to include and which topics to exclude.

(3) I have streamlined my content production to identify content ideas without manually having to sift through individual opinions to save days and even weeks of time.

It is wonderful to help the people to increase their knowledge in a straightforward way by just answering their questions.

I think the approach of writing of this book is unique as it collates, and tracks the important questions being asked by the readers on search engines.

Acknowledgments

Writing a book is harder than I thought and more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. None of this would have been possible without the work completed by prestigious researchers, and I would like to acknowledge their efforts to increase the knowledge of the public about this emerging technology.

Dedication

To the enlightened, the ones who see things differently, and want the world to be better -- they are not fond of the status quo or the existing state. You can disagree with them too much, and you can argue with them even more, but you cannot ignore them, and you cannot underestimate them, because they always change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones or amateur, others see genius and innovators, because the ones who are enlightened enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do, and lead the people to the enlightenment.

Epigraph

The fertile material in the thorium fuel cycle is an isotope of thorium called 232Th, and the thorium fuel cycle itself is a kind of nuclear fuel cycle. Within the reactor, 232Th is converted into the fissile artificial uranium isotope 233U, which is then used as the fuel for the nuclear reactor. Natural thorium, in contrast to natural uranium, only contains minute quantities of fissile material, which is insufficient to kick off a nuclear chain reaction. In order to kickstart the fuel cycle, either more fissile material or an other neutron source is required. 233U is created when 232Th, which is powered by thorium, absorbs neutrons in a reactor. This is analogous to the process that occurs in uranium breeder reactors, in which fertile 238U is subjected to neutron absorption in order to produce fissile 239Pu. The produced 233U either fissions in situ or is chemically removed from the old nuclear fuel and converted into new nuclear fuel, depending on the architecture of the reactor and the fuel cycle. Fissioning in situ is the more efficient method.

Table of Contents

Copyright

Bonus

Preface

Introduction

Acknowledgments

Dedication

Epigraph

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Lead-cooled fast reactor

Chapter 2: Nuclear reactor

Chapter 3: Radioactive waste

Chapter 4: Fissile material

Chapter 5: Nuclear fuel cycle

Chapter 6: MOX fuel

Chapter 7: Breeder reactor

Chapter 8: Uranium-238

Chapter 9: Energy amplifier

Chapter 10: Subcritical reactor

Chapter 5: Integral fast reactor

Chapter 12: Isotopes of plutonium

Chapter 13: Uranium-233

Chapter 14: Isotopes of uranium

Chapter 15: Isotopes of plutonium

Chapter 16: Isotopes of americium

Chapter 17: Weapons-grade nuclear material

Chapter 18: Uranium-236

Chapter 19: Burnup

Chapter 20: Liquid fluoride thorium reactor

Chapter 21: Nuclear transmutation

Epilogue

About the Author

Coming Soon

Appendices: Emerging Technologies in Each Industry

Chapter 1: Lead-cooled fast reactor

Molten lead or a lead-bismuth eutectic may be used as the coolant in the lead-cooled fast reactor, which is a kind of nuclear reactor that produces fast neutrons and uses a lead-cooled design.

It is possible to employ molten lead or a eutectic of lead and bismuth as the main coolant due to the fact that lead, in particular, both antimony and bismuth, to a lesser extent, have low neutron absorption and correspondingly low melting temperatures.

Neutrons have less of a slowing effect as a result of their interactions with heavy nuclei, which means that heavy nuclei are not neutron moderators.

Contribute to the development of a fast-neutron reactor of this sort.

To put it another way, Whenever a neutron collides with another particle of a comparable mass (such as hydrogen in a Pressurized Water Reactor PWR), It has a propensity to lose some of its kinetic energy.

In contrast, if it collides with a considerably heavier atom, such as lead, it will be destroyed.

This energy will not be lost since the neutron will just bounce off.

That is due to the coolant.

however, perform the function of a neutron reflector, bringing some of the neutrons that were escaping back into the core.

Fertile uranium as a metal is one of the fuel concepts that are being considered for use in this reactor architecture.

metal oxide or metal nitride.

Natural convection is an effective method for cooling lead-cooled fast reactors with a smaller capacity, such as SSTAR.

Although bigger systems, such as ELSY, employ forced circulation in typical power operation, smaller designs use natural circulation.

However, we shall rely on natural circulation in the event of an emergency.

There is no need for any operator intervention, nor any form of pumping to alleviate the heat that was still there in the reactor after it was turned down.

The reactor outlet coolant temperature is typically in the range of 500 to 600 °C, possibly ranging over 800 °C with advanced materials for later designs.

Temperatures higher than 800 °C are theoretically high enough to support thermochemical production of hydrogen through the sulfur-iodine cycle, despite the fact that there is no evidence to support this.

The principle is quite similar to that of a sodium-cooled fast reactor, and the majority of liquid-metal fast reactors have employed sodium rather than lead as their cooling medium. There haven't been many lead-cooled reactors built, with the exception of a few nuclear submarine reactors built by the Soviet Union in the 1970s, but there are a few lead-cooled designs being considered for future nuclear reactors.

The design of a lead-cooled reactor has been put forth as a candidate for a generation IV reactor. Modular configurations with ratings between 300 and 400 MWe and a big monolithic plant with a rating of 1,200 MWe are both part of the future deployment strategies for this kind of reactor.

There is a wide variety of power ratings that may be achieved with the use of lead or lead-bismuth eutectic in nuclear reactors. During the sixties and seventies, the Soviet Union successfully operated the Alfa class submarines using a lead-bismuth cooled fast reactor. This reactor had around 30 MW of mechanical output and 155 MW of thermal power (see below).

Units that have long-life, pre-manufactured cores are another alternative; these cores do not need to be refueled for many years and do not need replacement.

The lead-cooled fast reactor batteries is a compact power plant that operates on a turnkey basis and utilizes cassette cores or completely replaceable reactor modules. It operates on a closed fuel cycle and has a refueling interval that ranges from 15 to 20 years. It is intended for use in the production of electrical power on localized networks (and other resources, including hydrogen and potable water).

When compared to alternative strategies for cooling a reactor, the use of lead as a coolant offers a number of distinct benefits.

Neutrons are not greatly moderated by lead that has been molten. Neutrons enter a state of moderation when their velocity is reduced as a result of several collisions with a medium. When a neutron collides with atoms that are much heavier than itself, very little energy is wasted as a result of the collision. Because of this, lead does not have the effect of slowing down the neutrons, which guarantees that the neutrons maintain their high energy. This is comparable to other proposals for fast reactors, such as the designs that include molten liquid sodium.

Neutrons are reflected by lead that has been melted down to its liquid state. The neutrons that are able to escape the core of the reactor are, to a certain degree, guided back into the core, which enables a more efficient use of neutrons. This, in turn, makes it possible to increase the distance between the fuel components in the reactor, which improves the lead coolant's ability to remove heat.

Neutrons don't seem to be able to activate lead very much at all.

Thus, A negligible amount of radioactive elements are produced as a result of lead's ability to absorb neutrons.

In contrast to the lead-bismuth eutectic that was used in the development of several other quick designs, this

included in the submarines of the Russian navy.

Because bismuth in this composition has a lower melting point than the other elements, 123.5 °C, than that of pure lead) is activated to some degree to ²¹⁰Po, Polonium-210, This releases alpha particles into the air.

Lead is a particularly efficient material for absorbing gamma rays and other forms of ionizing radiation, despite the fact that it almost completely blocks the absorption of neutrons. As a result, radiation fields outside the reactor will be reduced to an extremely low level.

Although the combustion of sodium in air is a mild reaction, not to be confused with the violent reaction between sodium and water, lead does not have issues with flammability and will solidify in the event of a leak. This is in contrast to molten sodium metal, which is another relatively popular coolant that is used in fast reactors.

The very wide temperature range at which lead remains liquid (more than 1400 K or °C) implies that any thermal excursions are absorbed without any pressure increase.

In practice, the operational temperature will be kept at around 500 °C (932 °F)-550 °C (1,022 °F), mostly as a result of other material characteristics.

Because of the high temperature and the high thermal inertia, it is feasible to employ passive cooling in an emergency circumstance with any fast reactor design. This is the case with all fast reactor designs. As a result, electrical pumping is not necessary since the natural convection of air is sufficient to remove remaining heat once the system has been turned off. In order to do this, reactor designs have specialized passive heat removal systems, which do not call for the use of any electrical power and do not need any activity from the operator.

Each and every design of fast reactor operates at temperatures in the core that are much greater than those of water-cooled (and moderated) reactors. This makes it possible for the steam generators to operate at a substantially greater thermodynamic efficiency. As a consequence, a greater proportion of the nuclear energy is transformed into electrical energy. As opposed to only reaching approximately 30 percent efficiency in water-cooled reactors, it is possible to achieve above 40 percent efficiency in real life.

In a similar vein, the pressurization of the coolant is not present in any quick spectrum reactors. This implies that there is no need for a pressure vessel, and the pipes and ducts may be made using steel and alloys that are not pressure resistant. Any leaks that occur in the main coolant circuit will not be expelled even when the pressures are very high.

Since the thermal conductivity of lead is much higher than that of water (0.58 W/m.K), it is possible to efficiently transfer heat from the fuel components to the coolant thanks to lead's high thermal conductivity.

After a significant amount of time in service, the whole core may be swapped out in lieu of being refueled. A reactor of this kind is an option for nations who do not intend to construct their own nuclear facilities in the near future.

Because of its nuclear characteristics, lead is able to avoid big sodium fast reactor cores from having a positive vacancy coefficient, which is something that is notoriously difficult to do.

In contrast to sodium, which rapidly ignites when exposed to air and may detonate when brought into contact with water, lead does not appreciably react with either air or water. This makes the design of containment that is simpler, more affordable, and safer, as well as heat exchangers and steam generators.

The high density of lead and lead-bismuth contributes to an increase in the overall weight of the system, which in turn necessitates additional structural support and possibly seismic protection. This results in an increase in the cost of building, although a more compact structure may be advantageous.

While lead is readily available and inexpensive, bismuth is not very common and may be fairly pricey. Depending on the scale of the reactor, hundreds of tons of lead-bismuth are needed for it to function properly.

In the event that the lead-bismuth solution were to solidify, the reactor would become unusable.

However, lead-bismuth eutectic has a comparatively low melting temperature of 123.5 °C (254.3 °F), making the process of melting a pretty simple procedure to do.

Lead has a higher melting point of 327.5 °С, However, it is often employed as a pool-style reactor, which prevents the great majority of lead from rapidly freezing.

If efforts to limit such leaks are not implemented, the coolant may destroy equipment (like the Soviet submarine K-64) by leaking and then hardening. For an example, see Soviet submarine K-64.

The neutron activation of bismuth results in the production of a significant quantity of polonium in lead-bismuth reactions. This radioactive element has a half-life of 138 days and will dissolve in the lead-bismuth. It is an alpha emitter. Because of this, plant maintenance may become more difficult, and there may be an increased risk of contamination. The alpha particle that was released has a high energy and, as a result, should be avoided at all costs.

Pure lead creates far less polonium than lead-bismuth does, giving it an advantage in this respect over the combination of the two elements.

The risk that the interior components of the reactor would corrode is the most difficult challenge that lead presents. New specialty materials such as alumina producing austenitic steels are candidates that are now under development. These materials maintain a protective oxide layer on the components of the reactor.

In the Soviet Alfa class submarines of the 1970s, two distinct kinds of lead-cooled fast reactors were used. Both the OK-550 and the BM-40A designs have the capability of generating 155MWt of power. They were noticeably more portable than conventional water-cooled reactors and had the benefit of being able to rapidly switch between modes of operation that maximized power while minimizing noise emissions.

In 2010, it was stated that a partnership to create a lead-bismuth reactor for commercial use will be formed under the name AKME Engineering.

Since Russia disclosed a significant amount of research material in 1998 that was gained from their experience with submarine reactors, the United States has seen an increasing interest in the use of lead or lead-bismuth for compact reactors.

The MYRRHA project, which stands for Multi-purpose hYbrid Research Reactor for High-tech Applications, is an innovative and groundbreaking concept for a nuclear reactor that is connected to a proton accelerator. This design is referred to as a accelerator-driven system (ADS).

This will be a Lead-bismuth-cooled fast reactor, and it will have the ability to operate in either a sub-critical or critical mode.

The project is managed by SCK•CEN, the nuclear energy research facility in Belgium.

It will be constructed on the basis of the first successful demonstration, which goes by the name GUINEVERE.

MYRRHA has garnered a lot of attention from people all around the world, and in December of 2010, the European Commission named it one of the top 50 initiatives that might help Europe maintain its position as the leader in high-tech research for the next 20 years.

Quartz as a reflector, lead-bismuth eutectic as a coolant, and uranium nitride fuel enclosed in HT-9 tubes were all components that were planned to be included in the first iteration of the Hyperion Power Module's design. In 2018, the company opened its doors for business.

Lead was used in the construction of SSTAR, which was created by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

The dual fluid reactor, also known as the DFR, is a project that was developed in Germany. It combines the benefits that are associated with the molten salt reactor and the liquid metal cooled reactor. The DFR is a breeder reactor, which means it is able to recycle nuclear waste while also being able to burn natural uranium and thorium. The DFR is an intrinsically safe reactor because of the high thermal conductivity of the molten metal (the decay heat can be removed passively).

Insofar as the development of the lead-cooled fast reactor is concerned, Russia seems to be in the front of significant research and development efforts. In its present state, the BREST (reactor) is undergoing construction. This reactor will use lead as its coolant, will burn plutonium and uranium nitride as fuel, will be a pool type reactor, will produce 300 MWe (electric) from 750 MWth, and will generate a total of 750 MWth. In November of 2021, the construction of the base was finally finished. The Siberian Chemical Combine (SCC) calls the location where the reactor is located the Seversk site.

The business LeadCold is working with the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and Uniper to develop a new product.

{End Chapter 1}

Chapter 2: Nuclear reactor

A nuclear reactor, which was