Re: Iran to Begin Enriching Uranium for Nuclear Weapons

Rumpelstiltskin <PleaseDoNotReplyByEmail@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:a1a6t1hpj5ki38a87ho4gc39uuadtu9fri@xxxxxxx:

> On 22 Jan 2006 05:50:16 GMT, Earl <neptune@xxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
> First I've heard of using thorium. I checked on google
> and found it's three times as common as uranium and
> apparently can be mined much like uranium.
>
> I wonder, just because of my ignorance, where we'd
> get all the neutrons to bombard it with to make U233.
> I found a short site at:
> http://www.francenuc.org/en_mat/thorium_e.htm
> but it didn't say where we'd get all the neutrons. The
> following site didn't seem specific enough to me, but
> did suggest there are problems getting the neutrons
> with adequate intensity, which harmonizes with your
> "if you were really determined ..."
> http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev30-12/text/neutron.htm
>
>


The reactor is fueled with U233 (or can start out with U235 or
Pu239)

A blanket around the core/other component of the fuel rod is
Th232. The advantage is that Th232 is for all practical purposes
the only isotope and it is the one we want.

A fission in the fuel produces a number of neutrons, generally
abot 2.5 (depends on isotope U233 a little less). You need 1 for
the next fission in the chain reacton leaving about 1.5 to make
things with.

With a surrounding of Th232, most of the neutrons will end up
being absorbed in the blanket and not escape to be lost to the
surrounding world. This is the basis for any breeder reactor.

A single neutron converts Th232 to U233 (after several
radioactive steps). You then take the thorium blanket and
process it chemically to separate out the Uranium (newly made,
consisting mostly of U233 plus a bit of other trash). You make
new fuel elements with the Uranium and put the thorium back in
the blanket.

It is similar to the Plutonium breeder program (which converts
U238 to Pu239) with the exception of eleminating the plutonium
which is prized for bombs and is easily contaminated by excess
neutron adsorption.

The worlds larget thorium deposit happens to be in the Idaho
National Nuclear Reactors Testing Site. We had loads of problem
from it because the Radon gas given off formed a precipitate
that set off all the alarms during temperature inversions. It
was like having you fire alarms go off every few minutes once a
week.
.

Relevant Pages

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