[ RadSafe ] Thorium! Thorium reactor remixed lecture in 16 minutes

[Ahmad Al-Ani]

Thanks George for the clear analysis. I have been watching the related work of a 
company named Light Bridge (was Thorium Power) http://www.ltbridge.com

They have a Thorium Fuel Fact Sheet, here 
 http://ltbridge.com/assets/Thorium_Fuel_Fact_Sheet.pdf

Ahmad

________________________________
From: George Stanford <gstanford at aya.yale.edu>
To: Michael McNaughton <mcnaught at lanl.gov>
Cc: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
Sent: Fri, February 4, 2011 1:26:07 AM
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Thorium! Thorium reactor remixed lecture in 16 minutes

Michael:

     The short answer is that it's pretty much equivalent, if not a little 
worse.  The thorium reactor is no more exempt from the need for safeguards than 
any other type of reactor.

     Details:

(A)   First of all, any uninspected reactor can be modified to irradiate special 

U-238 fuel elements for short periods of time, to yield high-quality Pu-239 for 
weapons.  But with a thorium reactor, the modifications might have to be much 
more extensive than with a uranium reactor.

(B)  However, be aware that, regardless of how many reactors a nation has, it 
will not me able to make any A-bombs without one of these:  (a) an enrichment 
capability (for U-235 bombs), (b) a PUREX-type of fuel reprocessing facility 
(for Pu-239 bombs) or (c) a facility for extracting Pa-233 from thorium fuel 
(for U-233 bombs).  Hence the need for inspectors, and for international 
supervision of enrichment and fuel-processing facilities.

(C)  Some thorium enthusiasts (not all) like to point out (correctly) that the 
U-233 in a thorium reactor is hopelessly contaminated with U-232.  But what they 

sometimes don't mention (and didn't in that rapid-fire YouTube video) is that at 

least some of the proposed thorium cycles involve running the liquid fuel 
through a processor that chemically separates Pa-233 from the mix before it 
decays to become pure U-233 (which is a superior bomb material) -- easily 
diverted for bombs.  But see (D), next.

(D)  The standard thorium-supporter's response to that Pa situation seems to be 
that the breeding potential of thorium reactors is so poor that diverting Pa 
would shut the reactor do\wn for lack of fissile material.  However, the initial 

charge of a thorium reactor has to be spiked with enough fissile in 
(low-quality) Pu-239 or low-enriched uranium to permit it to become critical in 
the first place.  Thus the infrastructure would be in place for substituting 
crappy uranium of plutonium for the Pa-233 diverted from the operating reactor.

(E)  The bottom line is that an unsafeguarded thorium reactor could rather 
readily serve as an efficient mechanism for converting weapons-useless uranium 
or plutonium into highly usable U-233.  Inspectors would be needed.

     Does this help?

     --  George Stanford
     Reactor physicist,retired

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael McNaughton" <mcnaught at lanl.gov>
To: "The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List" 
<radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
Sent: Thursday, February 3, 2011 2:40:11 PM
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Thorium! Thorium reactor remixed lecture in        16  
      minutes

Is the "proliferation" problem with a thorium reactor better or worse than with 
a conventional reactor?


-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu 
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Jim Darrough
Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2011 1:06 PM
To: 'The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Thorium! Thorium reactor remixed lecture in 16 minutes

If you talk to a Nuclear Engineer, and mention Th or U-233, the deal is
dead. They start parroting "proliferation" and become focused on the
possible production of weapons.

I think the Thorium fuel cycle is well worth the investment, but the
political rhetoric that has clouded the thinking of the people who can make
the decision to utilize it must be overcome. That is the real issue here.

Jim Darrough

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