Sentences with phrase «thorium fuel»
"Thorium fuel" refers to the use of thorium, a naturally occurring radioactive element, as a source of energy. It is an alternative to other fuels like coal or uranium. When thorium is used as fuel, it can be transformed in a nuclear reactor into energy, such as electricity, through a process called nuclear fission. Thorium fuel is considered advantageous because it is more abundant, produces less waste, and is less prone to accidents compared to traditional nuclear fuels. Full definition
More exotic designs remain on the horizon, such as reactors powered by thorium fuel, but the AP1000 and other more conventional designs are important for one simple reason: they are being built.
newscientist.com
Some of them run on thorium fuel rather than uranium.
Today, there are a range of nascent, smaller nuclear power plant designs, some of them modifications of the current light - water reactor technologies used on submarines, and others, like thorium fuel and fast breeder reactors, which are based on entirely different nuclear fission technologies.
It is intended to irradiate a Thorium blanket for the purposes of producing U-233 necessary for the initiation of a proper Thorium fuel cycle which may well be a decade or two or more away.
Another potential benefit is that because the reactor uses its thorium fuel more efficiently, it could reduce radioactive waste by a factor of around 100 compared with conventional reactors, says Per Peterson, a professor of nuclear engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.
While the fission products in a thorium fuel cycle have a half - life of about 66 years; it is also so highly radioactive that it can not be used to make bombs.
If that thought is not enough, consider this, the current fission products from the uranium fuel cycle may be mitigated using some of the reactors that are capable of initiating the thorium fuel cycle.
Testing of thorium fuel in the Halden Reactor should be encouraged, taking benefit of the well recognized nuclear fuel competence in Halden.
If that thought is not enough, consider this, the current fission products from the uranium fuel cycle may be mitigated using some of the reactors that are capable of initiating the thorium fuel cycle.
While the fission products in a thorium fuel cycle have a half - life of about 66 years; it is also so highly radioactive that it can not be used to make bombs.
Human civilization can flourish for centuries and millennia on energy delivered from a closed uranium or thorium fuel cycle, or from hydrogen - deuterium fusion.