Search Results for: LFTR

Atomic Advocacy | Atomic politics | Politics of Nuclear Energy

Independence Day Letter to President Obama – Re: Nuclear Energy Summit
ByRod Adams July 5, 2010December 15, 2022

…processed and removed by a moving batch reprocessing truck that moves from LFTR to LFTR in turn every month or so or alternatively at a centralized dedicated reprocessing facility. Rod Adams @Robert – the continual need to reprocess is one of the reasons that I have very serious doubts about the assertions of lower cost associated with LFTR. In my engineering opinion, the way to drive down costs is to simplify systems, not make them more complicat…

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Thorium

LFTR – Kirk Sorensen Visits a Tech Paradise to Share His Knowledge About Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors
ByRod Adams July 24, 2009July 18, 2020

…on talking to a group of Google employees about LFTR. I have written about LFTR’s on Atomic Insights several times in the past; I even gave it a slightly different spelling – Liftr™ – so that people realize it is pronounced Lifter. As Kirk says much better than I do, liquid fluoride thorium reactors are an approach that makes energy resources for the future almost infinite. Go and invest an hour and twenty two minutes of your time to watch the tal…

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Fossil fuel competition | Fuel Recycling | Plutonium

Plutonium power for the people
ByRod Adams September 11, 2012July 4, 2020

…10 TWe of power [1] by 2050. This corresponds to starting 10,000 new 1GWe LFTRs. To start this number of LFTRs requires a very large supply of fissile U-233 to form the initial LFTR startup charges (about 8000 metric tonnes of U-233). This fissile could be more quickly provided by use of a relatively small number of Thorium PACER fusion reactors. A small number of Thorium PACERs could contribute to LFTR’s rapid success by manufacturing new LFTR s…

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Advanced Atomic Technologies | Conferences | International nuclear | Thorium Reactors

Accelerator Driven System promoters are playing to irrational antinuclear fears
ByGuest Author November 23, 2013July 6, 2020

…far has been to little debate, not to much. Brian Mays It’s not as if the LFTR is the only thing that can burn “nuclear waste.” In fact, if you were really serious about burning the stuff, you’d get rid of the graphite … but then it wouldn’t be a LFTR. Brian Mays Debates over alternative nuclear technologies are not “pissing contests,” they are part of the quest for important truths. The future of energy matters, and our flaw so far has been to…

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Blue | Fossil fuel competition | Pronuclear ads

The golden age of nuclear energy
ByRod Adams June 8, 2011August 8, 2023

…claiming the lower upfront construction costs and lower fuel costs that a LFTR can theoretically acheive, the LFTR advocacy should be willing to mention the fact that O&M costs could possibly be higher per MW than for a LWR especially in the first several instances of implementation. Andy Dawson The AP1000 similarly – the design scenario (as per the UK GDA) is (and I quote): ” a 24-hour load cycle with the following profile (subject to achieving…

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Climate change

“Green Nukes” – Important climate change mitigation tools
ByRod Adams July 5, 2011July 6, 2020

…e advantages of Thorium implemented in Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors or LFTRs extolled in the public press. Thorium LFTR is a sidelined technology (sidelined without defensible technical justification for now four decades) that could be helping replace the energy currently produced from burning coal to produce electricity. How do you get a sidelined technology off of the sidelines and back into active consideration (the dilemma of Thorium Advoc…

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Atomic politics | Fossil fuel competition | International nuclear | New Nuclear | Smaller reactors | Water Cooled Reactors

Chinese plan to dominate nuclear market worldwide
ByRod Adams January 8, 2014July 11, 2020

…cooled.” In my ideal world that would happen.. We ought to build a couple LFTRs and find out how good it would drain. Then we could work out all the bugs. starvinglion “We ought to build a couple LFTRs and find out…” Whats the point? LWR’s are safe. Tweak LWR’s and quit opening new cans of worms. Eino “Whats the point? LWR’s are safe.” They certainly are. Why not use kerosene lamps? Why not stick with horses? Ships travel fine with sails! It’s…

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Nuclear Fuel Cycle | Technical History Stories | Thorium

Inspiring vision of hope for thorium powered future
ByRod Adams October 17, 2011July 5, 2020

…82XL – You have on multiple occasions suggested that supporters of Thorium LFTRs do not adequately address the waste and proliferation issues. As a Thorium LFTR advocate, I would like to make a friendly response, but my difficulty is that but on no occasion have you gone any further to define what you think are Thorium LFTRs waste and proliferation liabilities, and because of this, I find it difficult to address your objections. How about giving a…

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Thorium

Kirk Sorensen’s Plan to Avert Climate Change – LFTR Presentation at Manchester Report
ByRod Adams July 11, 2009July 18, 2020

…dress climate change. (I have to admit a slight bit of professional jealousy here – I also entered into the contest, made the short list and then found out that I had not been selected as presenter. Darn.) Kirk has provided an excellent summary of his experience in a post titled LFTR and the Manchester Report. I encourage you to go and read that post, download his presentation, and share in the after glow of a job well done. Hat tip to Dave Bradis…

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Alternative energy | Atomic Advocacy | Fossil fuel competition | Nuclear Communications | Politics of Nuclear Energy

Fission Fans Should Unite – Target Of Interest Is Fossil Fuel Market Share
ByRod Adams August 26, 2012July 4, 2020

…ould be valuable in generating start-up charges for a large numbers of new LFTR Thorium Reactors and allow the newly started LFTR to operate in their natural Thorium Fuel Cycle instead of having to be started on U-235 or perhaps for a epi-thermal LFTR on Pu-239 and then transitioned over to U-233 slowly after the passage of a couple of decades. Starting on U-233 would reduce the complexity and cost of a LFTR recycling chemical plant. Thanks again…

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Accidents | Technical History Stories

What does a melted nuclear core look like?
ByRod Adams May 27, 2011July 21, 2020

…ucleargreen.blogspot.com/2009/05/secretary-chus-answer-and-facts.html Many LFTR advocates thereafter wrote Dr. Chu letters to try to update the good doctor’s personal knowledge base on recent advances on LFTR materials issues (including yours truly) and we have polite DOE post card responses drafted by kind secretaries at the department to prove it. (I personally feel that all of the LFTR corrosion and materials issues now have responsible answers…

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Atomic history | Atomic Pioneers | Atomic politics | Climate change | Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy | Guest Columns | Liquid Fuel Reactors | Nuclear Fuel Cycle

Alvin Weinberg’s liquid fuel reactors
ByGuest Author February 6, 2014July 6, 2020

…s, FLiBe salt with high-purity Li-7 is a serious show-stopper for would be LFTR developers, including China. Also, like ORNL’s fluoride MSR, molten Bismuth in the LMFR does not react violently with air or water (LFTR fluoride salts react to form oxy-fluorides when exposed to air, and must therefore use an inert cover gas, like Bismuth, to avoid the formation of undesirable contaminants which may plug up or corrode the system, especially heat excha…

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