First nuclear fission power plant2/26/2024 The reasons were that uranium-fueled reactors were more efficient, the research was proven, and thorium's breeding ratio was thought insufficient to produce enough fuel to support development of a commercial nuclear industry. In 1973, however, the US government settled on uranium technology and largely discontinued thorium-related nuclear research. In 1968, Nobel laureate and discoverer of plutonium, Glenn Seaborg, publicly announced to the Atomic Energy Commission, of which he was chairman, that the thorium-based reactor had been successfully developed and tested. The MSRE reactor, built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, operated critical for roughly 15,000 hours from 1965 to 1969. During that period, the government of the United States also built an experimental prototype molten salt reactor (MSR) using U-233 fuel, the fissile material created by bombarding thorium with neutrons. These were similar to the reactor designs that produced material for nuclear weapons. History Early thorium-based ( MSR) nuclear reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the 1960sĪfter World War II, uranium-based nuclear reactors were built to produce electricity. Development of breeder reactors in general (including thorium reactors, which are breeders by nature) will increase proliferation concerns. In 2011, a group of scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology assessed thorium-based power as "a 1000+ year solution or a quality low-carbon bridge to truly sustainable energy sources solving a huge portion of mankind's negative environmental impact." However, development of thorium power has significant start-up costs. Īdvocates believe thorium is key to developing a new generation of cleaner, safer nuclear power. īetween 19, the number of operational thorium reactors in the world has risen from zero to a handful of research reactors, to commercial plans for producing full-scale thorium-based reactors for use as power plants on a national scale. Moir and Edward Teller suggested that thorium nuclear research should be restarted after a three-decade shutdown and that a small prototype plant should be built. One advantage of thorium fuel is its low weaponization potential it is difficult to weaponize the uranium-233/ 232 and plutonium-238 isotopes that are largely consumed in thorium reactors.Īfter studying the feasibility of using thorium, nuclear scientists Ralph W. A thorium fuel cycle can offer several potential advantages over a uranium fuel cycle -including the much greater abundance of thorium found on Earth, superior physical and nuclear fuel properties, and reduced nuclear waste production. Thorium-based nuclear power generation is fueled primarily by the nuclear fission of the isotope uranium-233 produced from the fertile element thorium. Nuclear energy extracted from thorium isotopes
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