Search Results for: LFTR

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Does “highly” enriched uranium make it easier to build more compact reactors?

ByRod Adams

…is actually very difficult to extract weapons grade materials from Thorium LFTRs (as it is difficult to obtain weapons grade plutonium from yanking fuel assemblies from operating LWRs or SFRs and reprocessing them). Once a LFTR is started on its reduced charge of fissile (1/12th the fissile required to start a typical LWR of the same size) from that point on only cheap, weapons useless, unenriched Thorium is required as fuel and only weapons usele…

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Waste Confidence – A Classic Case of Failed Leadership (Part 2 of 2)

ByGuest Author

…el to metal, breeding ratios are very high, so bred fissile will be cheap. LFTRs could potentially used recycled LWR fuel for startup fissile, but a big part of the support base for LFTR is anti-plutonium. It will be a very long time before anyone has an economic use for LWR waste. Rod Adams @Brian Mays I’ve never been a fan of Yucca Mountain, even dating from before the DOE failed to start taking used fuel when its contract said it would start (1…

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On Plutonium, Nuclear War, and Nuclear Peace

ByGuest Author

…reactors, fluid phase reactors (a class which includes the much discussed, LFTR), and a reactor based on a type proposed by Sekimoto,18 the “CANDLE” reactor, a variant which in the United States, if I have this right, is advocated by Bill Gates and other nuclear aficionados as the “traveling wave” reactor. My reactor, of course, will never be built — I have neither the resources nor prestige to accomplish it — but I have confidence that in the inc…

Pragmatic view of the Nuclear Renaissance from Dr. Moniz

ByRod Adams

…turing, construction and operations aspect of technologies like the IFR or LFTR and that there is very little science remaining to be developed. Please do not get me wrong; I believe that those challenges are going to take some time to solve and prove, but you simply cannot get better at technology without using that technology. Evolution requires the day to day trials and learning associated with that activity. As Dr. Moniz points out, the United…

LiftrTM – A Web 2.0 Name for a Nuclear 4.1 Technology

ByRod Adams

…that are working on Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors. Change the name from LFTR, a bureaucratic looking acronym to LiftrTM – a modern looking word that is easy to pronounce. Recognize that this is evolving as an “open source” reactor project. Establish a non-profit foundation similar to Mozilla that can establish the necessary infrastructure. Continue efforts to educate and promote, but bring in some business people to focus resources. Build a sup…

Joe Shuster "Gets it" – My Quibble is That He Spent too Much Time With Argonne Scientists

ByRod Adams

…ieve there are other equally viable contributing fission technologies like LFTR, advanced light water reactors, heavy water reactors, Light Water Breeder Reactors, high temperature gas cooled reactors configured as converters or breeders, and high burn-up traveling wave reactors. In other words, there is a diverse mix of technologies that all share a common basis – they all rely on splitting heavy metal to release energy. The very best fission pow…

Wonder Cornucopia of Alternative Fission Paths – Or Confusing Jumble Indicating Lack of Decisiveness?

ByRod Adams

…t during the Clinton Administration and describe what could have been, and LFTR advocates are working hard to make the case that they have been a neglected stepchild for too long. Complex arguments are getting summarized by dismissive comments like “not invented here” to explain the reluctance of specialists who have a deep understanding to change technical direction. Those who think it is easy to accept a new technology do not fully understand th…

Insisting on Yucca Mountain is a Strategic Blunder

ByRod Adams

…take advantage of their unique properties. With concepts like the IFR, the LFTR (Liftr) and some ideas that are associated with TRISO based fuels, the energy value of used fuel alone is in the hundreds of billions of dollars. There is no rush to recycle, however. The industrial process gets easier the longer the fuel rests after use, and there is still plenty of uranium to fuel all current and near term reactors. Some advocates of advanced reactor…

China's Nuclear Program Moving Fast Enough to Increase Interest in Advanced Fuel Cycles

ByRod Adams

…eutron systems like the IFR or in-core thermal conversion systems like the LFTR. The technologists often lament – at least on the email lists that I read regularly – that other countries are passing the United States by using technology that we developed and tested during our heyday of reactor development. It is not too late for the US to get back in the game. We still have a tremendous range of assets that can be applied to the task, but we canno…

Joe Romm Talks About Frustration in the Climate Change Debate

ByRod Adams

…ide range of other possibilities like the Liquid Fluoride Thermal Reactor (LFTR), the Integral Fast Reactor, and even a number of different versions of pebble bed reactors (I kind of like the Chinese plan that is moving up from their well demonstrated HTR-10.) James Hansen, Steve Kirsch, James Lovelock, Stewart Brand, Patrick Moore and many other well known people who are just as concerned as you are about reversing climate change have done their…

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Macfarlane is not qualified to be Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

ByRod Adams

…ld be noted that last month the Chinese changed their energy policy toward LFTR vs. AP 1000 type reactors. The reason was cost and an abundant supply of Thorium. This fact was not lost in Canberra and recently the Crystal Mine in Victoria is changing the way it handles Thorium. The export of Thorium to China seems more attractive than the coal they now export. After all, the Aussies are “Greenies” and Base Load power needs to change to LFTR with a…

Union of Concerned Scientists Opposes ALL Proposed Used Fuel Recycling Efforts

ByRod Adams

…Minor Actinides in SNF while producing U-233 that can be used to start new LFTRs that also breed their own fuel from Thorium. Instead of burning up the Minor Actinides in SNF one time and getting some (valuable) energy out of the burning of Actinides (MOSART), AMSTER produces the ideal startup material for new Thorium Reactors while doing an efficient job of burning the MA in SNF to fission products. This permits a sustainable chain of fuel burnin…

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