Re: Iran to Begin Enriching Uranium for Nuclear Weapons

On 22 Jan 2006 21:14:28 GMT, Earl <neptune@xxxxxx> wrote:

>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.


I read in the first of the above sites, under "USES" and
"HEALTH", that the radiation hazard from Thorium is greater
than for Uranium, and even han for Plutonium.

The Thorium idea sounds like a good way of getting nuclear
power with less potential to bomb-making, and apparently
there's plenty of Thorium around. It's good for the USA too, if
the best deposits are in Idaho.

Since Radon's a gas under normal conditions, that seems
to me to make it all the more dangerous to have around as
a product of Thorium decay.



.

Relevant Pages

  • Thorium Rocket Questions
    ... does Thorium use a neturon moderator? ... assuming the external neutrons are slowed down, ... WHY is Uranium 233 a fissionable substance when Uranium 234 ... Do I need a neutron moderator to complete the picture? ...
    (sci.energy)
  • Re: Iran to Begin Enriching Uranium for Nuclear Weapons
    ... >>>You need 1 for the next fission in the chain reacton leaving ... most of the neutrons will end ... >>>thorium back in the blanket. ... >> a product of Thorium decay. ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: Thorium Nuclear Reactors
    ... I was wondering if a thorium nuclear reactor could be built by ... fission can be induced not only by neutrons splitting a ... By alpha capture instead of neutron capture. ... The latter spontaneously decays into fission products plus 3 new ...
    (sci.energy)
  • Re: Iran to Begin Enriching Uranium for Nuclear Weapons
    ... > First I've heard of using thorium. ... > apparently can be mined much like uranium. ... > get all the neutrons to bombard it with to make U233. ... A blanket around the core/other component of the fuel rod is ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: Energy Solution
    ... One approach is to use a high-power accelerator to generate spallation neutrons that invade the Thorium core and induce transmutation and fission. ... This is an "energy amplifier" proposed by Rubbia et al several decades ago; accelerator technology is just now approaching the state-of-the-art necessary to build such a system. ... sustained nuclear reaction can occur. ...
    (sci.physics.relativity)